Is shortening my forks the only solution?

[Scarfacexxx08]

A 24" front disc wheel would lower the front end. You might struggle to get a disc

Alternative a zero degree or even a negative rise stem, and/or maybe a flat bar would put a bit more weight over the front end which might help the way it feels.

Its the look he doesn't like not the ride

 

[taffy]

i'll stick my neck out...

if it ride good then.. why change.

the bombers are probably only 30 mm longer than the quadras And the reason they feel better is more travel (and a better quality of suspension medium and damping)

You could run them with no preload or a softer spring to get more sag and lower the front. This will steal some suspension travel from them but drop the front.
That or a shorter travel set of bombers or Judy's (or older forks such as mag21, manitous2/3/4 or marzocchis XC's)

 

[Scarfacexxx08]

i'll stick my neck out...

if it ride good then.. why change.)

Exactly!!

 

[JohnH]

Case closed

Yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, but...

The preload thing alters how much the fork sags under your weight - less preload, more sag, lower ride height. But also more inclination to move under small forces so will feel a bit squishier. It doesn't affect the static length, just how far it settles with a rider on board. A quarter to a third of the available travel is a good place to be - stick a ziptie on the upper leg, push it down to the seal, get on the bike next to a wall or something to lean on, stand up a bit as if riding over something bumpy, get off carefully without squashing the fork and see how much it's moved. If it's less than 15mm, less preload. If it's more than 25mm, more preload.

What the preload won't do (unlike adding more air to an air fork) is make it harder to bottom out. You need a firmer spring for that.

An excellent explanation -- thank you very much for that, Mike.

I think it looks fine tbh

i'll stick my neck out...

if it ride good then.. why change.

Like I say guys, I wasn't that bothered until I found the deflated front tyre -- but the flatter top-tube and the steeper fork angle made me say "Wow! That's the retro look that my bike didn't seem to have any more!".

... But maybe I'm just being a big girl's blouse.

A 24" front disc wheel would lower the front end. You might struggle to get a caliper for that Marzocchi disc mount.

Alternatively a zero degree or even a negative rise stem, and/or maybe a flat bar would put a bit more weight over the front end which might help the way it feels.

Thank you for all of the suggestions, Dave. Your post got me thinking and measuring....

The bottom cup of my headset measures about 14mm in depth, so swapping that for something skinnier might be an option (although the adjusters on my forks would be much more likely to clang my frame)...

And looking again at the photo of my bike in Eartham Woods, those Panaracers look like tractor tyres on my retro steel frame...

And then I remembered that the Panaracer Fire XC Pros are available in a 1.8 size as well as a 2.1. Here's a picture of a bike with the 1.8 on the front and the 2.1 on the back...

And here's the 1.8 on both the front and the back...

...which I think might suit my narrow Bontrager BCX3 rims much better anyway, regardless of how it looks.

So I'm gonna dash out to my LBS and see if they've got any 1.8s in stock and stick one on my front wheel to see how it looks. I'll post photos and you can all tell me what a pillock I am for worrying about such things...

 

[JohnH]

See if you can guess which is the 1.8 and which is the 2.1...

I'm pleased with the new rubber and I'm kicking myself for having a "chunky tyre obsession" for so long. The 1.8 is going to make the bike lighter, faster and look a lot better.

Right, I'm just plucking up the courage to spend another £29 on one for the back wheel... :roll:

 

[JohnH]

Well, whatever was bugging me about the way the bike looked has been mostly cured by replacing those Fire XC Pro 2.1s with 1.8s...

I'll keep the forks as they are...