Early Bontrager Race Lite

benjabbi · May 14, 2025

You have to remember that a suspension fork will sag.
A standard (non LT) Mag 21 is about 406 mm. 20% of your massive 46mm of travel in sag brings it down to a ride height of 397mmish or about the same length as the Comp fork.

Stinus · May 14, 2025

A indy c with 63mm travel has a A/C of apx 420mm - minus 13mm for the sag gives 407mm. But same same

The issues is the rake - 14mm makes a difference in how the bike feels, but it might not be a problem. I have only experimented whit it on modern mountainbikes. The pike fork comes in different rakes, i think 35mm and 45mm, the extra rake gives a more slack front.

slackboy · May 14, 2025

benjabbi said:
You have to remember that a suspension fork will sag.

I've quite happily run mine with 425mm a+c rigid fork.
Because the bonty is racey, then I find the higher fork works better with an older back

keith_bontrager · May 14, 2025

Stinus said:
A rule of thumb I use, approx:
410mm for 51mm - 63mm travel.
420mm for 63mm - 80mm travel.
440mm for 80mm - 100mm travel.

The thing with bontragers is that they are designed around a fork with lower rake then normal, 1.25” (31,7mm) - it might be hard to find one if it’s not a bonty, most rigid mtb forks have a rake around 45mm

@keith_bontrager do you have the spec on the rigid privateer forks? Do thy also have the lower rake?

As I recall the forks on the Privateers were built with the 1.25 offset. The difference was the crown, the rest of the fork was identical. The early Rockshox crowns with 1.25” offset were anodized black.

Either offset is fine on the trail.