hawkhill97
Retro Guru
Thanks for the comments!
Im 5’6” so for me 26” is always a good idea. I have tried 27.5” in the rear but there’s little clearance so that makes decisions a little easier.
I’ll try it out in local trail centres and some less well organised rides and throw some things at it but by all accounts this should be a magic carpet ride when ready.
130mm up front seems ungainly and too much as the middle bounce is 100mm so I’ll even it out with 100mm and adjust if necessary with a longer fork.
One thing I've found on 2000s FS bikes is that the BB can sometimes be relatively high - when I've tried increasing fork length / travel (more with the intention of slackening the head angle a smidge then getting loads of front squish) this has pushed things from a nice "allows continuous seated pedalling over rough terrain" sort of high-ish BB to "feels a bit perched up on high and ungainly in the corners".
If I was doing another build on a high BB frame, I'd consider keeping to the intended travel/length of fork to keep the BB where it should be, and using an angleset instead if I felt I wanted to slacken the front end a couple of degrees, and higher rise bar/stem if I felt the front end needed to be higher.
All part of the fun of a build!
Are you planning on sticking to period parts (or even a catalogue-ish build), or picking out a mix of period & modern stuff? Will look (and I'm sure ride) awesome either way!