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My bike came with an 80mm travel fork. I haven't found any 80mm fork online; the lowest travel is 100mm. I asked the support team if I can install a 100mm fork in it and they said it would void the warranty since it's beyond the 10% allowable travel increase. I looked around and found out that going beyond the travel the bike came with would put strain in the head tube and change the bike's geometry.

That being said, are there any good 80mm travel forks out there that won't change the stack height, bb drop, and the head tube angle?

EDIT: Following Klaster's answer, I found this neat little listing from rockshox. It lists the 30gold with 100mm travel as 473mm length and the sektor with 80mm as 474 length. According to the specialized page, my current fork length is 475mm (I assume this is the same is ATC). This means that either of those two won't change the geometry of the bike.

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  • What wheel size and brakes do your run? Is your bike an XC or hybrid one? Jun 13, 2018 at 3:49
  • I run 27.5 wheels. I'm not sure what you mean by hybrid (I'm fairly new with the term) but according to their site, it's listed under their trail bikes with 68.5 degree head angle.
    – Rey Pader
    Jun 13, 2018 at 4:46
  • Is this a cheap bike (a BSO) or a quality bike? A quality fork could cost more than the entire bike if its one of the entry-level ones.
    – Criggie
    Jun 13, 2018 at 5:14
  • Just looked what BSO meant and had a chuckle. Yes, I was looking at the prices of the forks and they're pretty much the same price as the bike as a whole. Mine's a 2018 Specialized Pitch. I believe it's their entry level trail bikes.
    – Rey Pader
    Jun 13, 2018 at 5:35
  • The product page at Specialized website the fork travel is size specific, so @Rey's bike should be pretty small. There's nothing wrong with fork costing the same as the cheap bike, that's up to your budget and priorities. Jun 13, 2018 at 5:40

1 Answer 1

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Yes, there are decent 27.5" 80mm forks. Generally, most of good forks allow to reduce travel, usually by a spacer in air spring.

For example:

I'm sure there are more forks like that.

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  • Thanks! Reading through your answer made me realize an important detail I'd need to consider. Reducing travel is one thing, I believe the more important bit is whether my stack height/fork length would be the same? I'd need to add this to my question.
    – Rey Pader
    Jun 13, 2018 at 5:41
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    @Rey I think the axle to crown variation between manufacturers will more then fit into 10% range mentioned earlier. Actually, a 100mm fork with same ATC to your stock SR Suntour might exist. Don't forget about straight/tapered steerer and 9mm QR/15mm thru axle, your frame/front hub might be incompatible, but there might be solution to that too (or not). Jun 13, 2018 at 5:43
  • Good point. Accidentally getting a 15mm thru axle could blow the cost up by a lot. Thanks for the extremely helpful replies!
    – Rey Pader
    Jun 13, 2018 at 5:50
  • @ReyPader If you consider this answer to be satisfying, please mark it as accepted. Jun 13, 2018 at 6:15
  • Just found this neat little listing from rockshox. It lists the 30gold with 100mm travel as 473mm length and the sektor with 80mm as 474 length. According to the specialized page, my current fork length is 475mm (I assume this is the same is ATC). This means that either of those two won't change the geometry of the bike. Though, I'm curious about the 30gold.
    – Rey Pader
    Jun 13, 2018 at 7:03

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