Thanks for sharing. I'm 5'7" and ride a 2018 KX250F. The bike often feels oversized when comparing myself with taller riders. Does anyone 5'7" or shorter raise their fork height from 5mm to 10mm to reduce overall height? I trail ride and race C class. Hard pack and sand tracks. But generally don't ride very fast due to my skill level.
Lowering the fork height that much will adjust the bike geometry. If you feel you need a "shorter bike", I would look at lowering the suspension. A good suspension tech will know how to properly shorten a bikes suspension so your geometry stays the same, but it sits a tad lower. Lowering links are an option, but look for ones that lessen the geo changes.
It’s important for dudes to test. When I got my new bike I tried it will different fork height and sag settings to find the blend that felt best to me.
@@SeatTime I have a GasGas EC300. I pushed the forks up to the third line from second (manual value) and rider sag at 115. I tried 110 (manual value) and 105 but it came together for me at 115 in terms of handling. Which is weird but it worked. Feels predictable and had a bit of an effect of feeling like I had lowered the bike. KTECH ORVS in forks and a KTECH bladder kit and revalve on the shock. I don’t really ride fast (😀) but I’m in a lot of rocks, abrupt (surprise) up and downs and off camber doo doo here in PA. So I set the suspension fairly soft to take the sting out of riding on rubble all day. But not so soft that it collapses on a sudden up or down. I generally run about four more out on rebound on the shock and the forks versus the corresponding compression setting. Let’s the suspension recover quickly from all the lumps. Prevents packing through a long string of larger rocks and gives me good traction.
Excellent clip on this subject!
Agreed! The entire podcast with Doc was another learning experience for me!!! Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for sharing. I'm 5'7" and ride a 2018 KX250F. The bike often feels oversized when comparing myself with taller riders. Does anyone 5'7" or shorter raise their fork height from 5mm to 10mm to reduce overall height? I trail ride and race C class. Hard pack and sand tracks. But generally don't ride very fast due to my skill level.
Lowering the fork height that much will adjust the bike geometry. If you feel you need a "shorter bike", I would look at lowering the suspension. A good suspension tech will know how to properly shorten a bikes suspension so your geometry stays the same, but it sits a tad lower.
Lowering links are an option, but look for ones that lessen the geo changes.
It’s important for dudes to test. When I got my new bike I tried it will different fork height and sag settings to find the blend that felt best to me.
How far off the manufacturer specs did you wind up?!?!
@@SeatTime I have a GasGas EC300. I pushed the forks up to the third line from second (manual value) and rider sag at 115. I tried 110 (manual value) and 105 but it came together for me at 115 in terms of handling. Which is weird but it worked. Feels predictable and had a bit of an effect of feeling like I had lowered the bike. KTECH ORVS in forks and a KTECH bladder kit and revalve on the shock.
I don’t really ride fast (😀) but I’m in a lot of rocks, abrupt (surprise) up and downs and off camber doo doo here in PA. So I set the suspension fairly soft to take the sting out of riding on rubble all day. But not so soft that it collapses on a sudden up or down.
I generally run about four more out on rebound on the shock and the forks versus the corresponding compression setting. Let’s the suspension recover quickly from all the lumps. Prevents packing through a long string of larger rocks and gives me good traction.