[Trailbait]

Okay, the stock fork on my '05 Giant Yukon seems to have finally bitten the dust. I've been slowly but surely replacing stock parts on the bike and used it for a little more aggressive riding other than straight cross-country - maybe a bit more "trail" oriented. I've wanted a bike with a bit slacker head angle - hoping it'd make me feel a bit more confident when doing technical downhill sections of trail.
Sooo, I ordered a 2010 Rock Shox Tora SL 120 air fork. So I'm increasing the travel by 20mm. From my understanding, that should slacken my head angle by ~ 1 degree. I already have a shorter stem and a longer handlebar than what came stock on the bike (60mm and oh, ~ 27" respectively). Other than BB height being raised a little bit and the head angle being a little more slack, are there really any downsides you think to doing this? I guess the only thing that I may be concerned with is a bit more wandering on the front during climbs and the possibility the front will want to wheelie a bit more on climbs, I'm sure. What about putting on a slightly longer stem - say up to 70mm? Does anyone think this will change the performance of my bike that much?

 

[jonKranked]

nope. you should be fine.

 

[HAB]

Those forks are also really easy to lower back to 100 (or whatever else you may want) if you decide you don't like the way the bike feels at full travel.

 

[Mr Jones]

A longer stem should solve any wheelie problems you encounter because of the slacker head angle. Just keep in mind that its a tradeoff. With the longer stem, more weight is placed forward keeping your front wheel glued while climbing, but you will lose some steering control at higher speeds and during descents.

 

[sanjuro]

I wouldn't do anything but change the fork.

 

[Trailbait]

Got the fork swapped out last weekend with some help. Ran into a few little glitches. Not really glitches, maybe, but challenges? Fork went on relatively easily itself. But had some "fun" lining up the 20mm thru-axle adapter dust caps (or whatever you want to call them) with the fork dropouts and then had difficulty easily sliding the maxle lite through the dropouts, the dust caps and then the hub. Kept getting hung up at the second (left) dropout. The thru-axle went in easily through the dropouts of the fork itself. It also slid in easily through the hub, no issues. But putting all the pieces together was a major PITA. The dust caps on the Azonic Outlaw Wheels do not screw or affix themselves in any way to the ends of the hubs...they have a rubber o-ring that I guess is supposed to allow it to kind of suction to the ends. Needless to say, they come off pretty easily, so it's a matter of holding them in place and then trying to hold the wheel level as you are lining up all the parts and then try to do this while sliding the maxle through. It was the darndest thing. Finally able to do it, but we were getting worried. Next was the lack of good directions supplied with the fork in regards to properly using/adjusting the thru axle. This is my first fork with a thru axle, so it was a bit confusing. Think we have it adjusted okay now, but that took a little while, too. I looked in vain online for some clear, precise directions and was surprised that the only thing I could find was how "easy" they are to use. It took us a while to get enough tension on it where the release didn't want to just flop open. Anyway, after all of that, it was time to put some air in her and give it a try!
It's a Rock Shox Tora SL 120mm fork. Not a lot in the way of adjustability, but that's fine, to me it's a HUGE upgrade from the stock Suntour fork my bike came with. Interestingly enough, it appears the 100mm fork my bike came with had a lot of extra stanchion showing, so when I put the new fork on, I didn't notice a whole lot of difference, if any in the front. Oh, another thing we did was cut the steerer shorter than what the stock fork was, effectively lowering the front end a bit and thus eliminating the need for about 1" or so of spacers. BEST decision I made! My bars are now slightly below my saddle and I feel a bit more stretched out in the cockpit. I took the bike around the block a few times and it's the best it's ever felt! Can't wait to take it out on a maiden voyage today and tweak it where it needs it, before putting it through the paces tomorrow with the gang. So far I'm very happy with the decision to do this and even though the Tora isn't a light fork, it feels quite a bit lighter than the Suntour - nice!