Ideal travel for a -98 GT LTS 1000 DS?

[fjpshaw]

Re: Re:

My current fork is a Marzocchi Bomber Z.2 with 80mm of travel. Is there a (somewhat cheap) way of increasing it's travel to 120-130mm?

Simple answer is no. The design of the fork (i.e. stanchion length, lower leg 'end-plate' height, cartridge stroke, etc) simply couldn't accommodate an additional 50mm travel.

Z1s go for around the £100 mark, and are superb forks. The easy answer to the above is to sell your Z2s (also an excellent fork btw), and put the money you would have spent on a travel kit towards a spanking set of Z1s!

@fjpshaw & anybody - Will I benefit from getting a Judy XL other than having a bike closer to original spec??

Your original problem was to do with misaligned geometry. XLs would correct that. But so would many other forks. In my opinion (and it is only that), there are better forks out there than XL to spend your money on. And I've never been a huge fan of triple clamp forks.

Depends how "period correct" you want your bike to be. Personally, it's not something that's ever bothered me (just look at my bikes! ), but plenty of people on here will have a different view. What's yours?!

 

[count_zero]

@fjpshaw - Thanks for the insights! I'm actually not very concerned about the bike being "period correct" at all. I just want a fun bike that works, with no fuss, and so far my LTS DS have served me really well in this regard (I've named it TrailTrakktor btw ).

Talking about getting a new fork, I'm actually waiting for a 2006 Fox Vanilla (130mm travel) to arrive! I'll post pictures and a evaluation of the new set up when they arrive if someone is interested!

 

[shogun]

I don't think you can go 80-130mm with the Z2 but I am fairly sure if the parts still existed (main spring and top out spring) you could go 80-100mm.

 

[fjpshaw]

I've named it TrailTrakktor btw

:facepalm:

Talking about getting a new fork, I'm actually waiting for a 2006 Fox Vanilla (130mm travel) to arrive! I'll post pictures and a evaluation of the new set up when they arrive if someone is interested!

I'd be interested to see that. I like a retro/modern mix. Breathing new life into classic kit. Nice!

 

[SeeingisBelievingGTMuseum]

98ish post in the 97 and older thread.....gm throws the snoozing mods some no doz....

 

[count_zero]

I've named it TrailTrakktor btw

:facepalm:

Well, it is not the most refined bike by today's standard and I wouldn't call it agile (not compared to my Cannondale F500 anyhow) but I can quite effortless just steamroll over any terrain I encounter (even though I run 1x9) I've ordered stickers that say TrailTrakktor now so soon it is official!

Talking about getting a new fork, I'm actually waiting for a 2006 Fox Vanilla (130mm travel) to arrive! I'll post pictures and a evaluation of the new set up when they arrive if someone is interested!

I'd be interested to see that. I like a retro/modern mix. Breathing new life into classic kit. Nice!

Great, I'll post some pictures and some thoughts of the new set up as soon as I can! Still haven't arrived though.


@gm1230126 - My bad, I totally got it wrong, sorry about that!

 

[count_zero]

Ok, so my "130 mm travel"-project went down the drain... I got a set of Fox vanilla forks quite cheap but the steerer turned out to be too short :facepalm: . I knew it was going to be a tight fit but apparently I was a bit sloppy when taking the measurements before I bought the forks :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: ... And since I won't afford another set of forks (unless I can sell the Vanilla), and since the bike is pretty awesome as it is really, I will put this project on a more or less permanent halt. But I can't end this thread without showing off my dear TrailTrakktor, so here it is!



I did at least manage to accomplish this!



And as an apology for posting a -98 bike in the ≤97 forum here is my workbike, a -95 Cannondale M500 which just went singelspeed (I'm not quite finished though)!



Cheers!

 

[fjpshaw]

That is very nice mate! LTS is such a nice looking frame, especially unpainted IMO. Good job.