Fork Offset - WWMD

[jm2e]

What Would Maggots Do?
(There was once a time when What Would Marshal Do would suffice. But he's gone and there are more sharp minds in here now)

Getting mrs jm2e a new rig. For the sake of this discussion, let's just say it's a 2019 29er Stumpjumper with 150mm travel front and back. The bike is already paid for, so no need to discuss that.

Her first order of business is to pull off the 29" wheels and the low end fork and put on a 170mm Float 36 with 27.5" wheels. Likely to be starting off with 2.8" tires, so planning to get a 29er fork for the job.

Question/Answer:
1. Go with a 51mm offset?
2. Go with a 44mm offset?
3. You're stupid. The whole idea is stupid. Stupid people won't notice offset anyway.

Feel free to enlighten me with your wisdom regarding our stupidity and/or the way offset might affect anything at all.

Cheers.

[simple]

I'm going with #3

The bike industry is fucking filled with millimeter nerds

[smmokan]

Go with whatever you can find for a better price... because no one will ever know the difference anyways.

Oh, and you suck for buying Specialized.

[toast2266]

I'd say shorter offset for someone that rides with the intention of hauling ass downhill, and most rides involve a sustained climb to an extended descent. A longer offset might be preferable for more rolling terrain and more moderate, consistent speeds.

Based on the bike, it sounds like a shorter offset might be the ticket. But [shrug].

[Andeh]

4. Plus sucks. Why would you convert a 29 to 27.5+? Wrong direction.

The feeling between the 2 offsets is very, very minor. Shorter offset will feel slightly more dead steering, longer slightly more responsive. On the flip side, the shorter offset makes feel slightly more stable when going fast through rough stuff. If you're buying a SJ (non-Evo), I'm guessing that's not the case.

[toast2266]

^^^ also true. Especially with a 150 / 170 mm setup. Plus tire + lots of suspension = gooey mess.

[jm2e]

All valid points and appreciate. There's value though in actually being able to ride a bike on rowdy terrain before deciding. Especially for a little person. Lifetime warranty and local dealer support helps. So, decision made.

Oh, and you suck for buying Specialized.

Yup. Feelin' it.

4. Plus sucks. Why would you convert a 29 to 27.5+? Wrong direction.

Little person. No likey big wheels. Can always switch to 2.6.

^^^ also true. Especially with a 150 / 170 mm setup. Plus tire + lots of suspension = gooey mess.

I hear you. She rode the bike, set up this way, and really liked it.

[toast2266]

I hear you. She rode the bike, set up this way, and really liked it.

Fair enough.

For whatever it's worth, based on my own experience riding a bike along those lines, as well as a number of other folks I know that have gone down that road, initial impressions don't last. Yes, the bike is easy, you can run into shit without consequence, and traction seems impressive. All of which is fairly apparent on a test ride and sucks people in. But, for everyone I know, there eventually came a realization that the benefits were only there on the absolute rowdiest terrain, and at all other times the thing is a fucking pig. And really, test rides are tough for small / light people because the suspension setup is almost guaranteed to be wrong for their weight, and thus "normal" bikes don't ride great without further tuning. But Plus tires mask shitty suspension performance, so a Plus bike is likely to feel way better on a first ride because there are big dumb tires ironing out the trail, and it's easy to (initially) overlook all of the downsides of those big dumb tires.

[jm2e]

Yup. Definitely anticipating a possible change to 2.6” tires.
Curiously, the most notable thing she observed was disliking the Lyric that the bike was spec’d with.
This all came about after riding the Enduro, which on paper suits her style of riding better. But it’s really one dimensional, just ploughs, nothing else. The small frame is also clearly designed by a tall man and got farked a couple different ways.
The Stumpy by contrast was just a better bike all around, and still charges down steep & chunky stuff. But too gangly for her with 29” wheels. That’s why she tried it with basically the Enduro wheels & 180 fork. Kind of a Goldilocks bike for her.


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[toast2266]

Yup. Definitely anticipating a possible change to 2.6” tires.

A 29" stumpy with 27.5" wheels and 2.6" tires is gonna be loooooow.

[lifelinksplit]

4.a. who notices 7mm? Your mom, that's who!


Carry on.

[Andeh]

Yup. Definitely anticipating a possible change to 2.6” tires.
Curiously, the most notable thing she observed was disliking the Lyric that the bike was spec’d with.
This all came about after riding the Enduro, which on paper suits her style of riding better. But it’s really one dimensional, just ploughs, nothing else. The small frame is also clearly designed by a tall man and got farked a couple different ways.
The Stumpy by contrast was just a better bike all around, and still charges down steep & chunky stuff. But too gangly for her with 29” wheels. That’s why she tried it with basically the Enduro wheels & 180 fork. Kind of a Goldilocks bike for her.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

I tried to "save" plus on my Chameleon with 2.6 tires (on the stock 40mm wheels). It still felt like clown shoes. It's something about the big round volume of plus that just makes them bouncy and squirmy. 27.5+ with 3.0 tires will have almost the same effective diameter as 29, so not sure how it's going to be less gangly.

[grskier]

Only thing I can think of for the smaller offset is making the front wander a smidge less when climbing steeper stuff... with the longer fork up front that may help some.

[XXX-er]

Go with whatever you can find for a better price... because no one will ever know the difference anyways.)

I would bet this^^ and since the shorter offset forks are newer/sexier they might be in shorter supply mo money ?

[wkd-rdr]

Handling in rough at speed (so hot right now), is improved. It's like a shorter stem, just on the underside. Will it matter with 27.5? Maybe. Its a smaller window of wow.