Chinese Santa Cruz/AM831

[Jotegr]

You could use a 140mm fork with no issue for sure....

[freeride1]

I wish the Marzzocchi Bomber Z2 would work for this frame. That's what I'd like to use, but it only goes up to 140mm. That stinks.

It will work fine, probably best cupled with a 210x52,5 rear shock (140mm) instead of full stroke 55

[scourge]

I haven't looked up the numbers yet, but wouldn't the shorter axel to crown mess up the geometry?

[freeride1]

I haven't looked up the numbers yet, but wouldn't the shorter axel to crown mess up the geometry?

Z2 Bomber @140 is 552mm axle to crown
Lyrik @150 is 562mm axle to crown

10 mm on this kind of frame is about 0,5° steeper headtube angle, so not a big difference; you can run a pair of offset bushings on the shock and reach original setting.
Only concern is about ground clearance (pedal strikes), infact Santa Cruz about the MT says 150 minimum recommended fork, although 160 is fine.

[Jotegr]

I don't even know if a lot of riders could tell the difference. If I had a 140mm Bomber z2 at home and was buying this bike (with intention to run a 150mm fork), I would be hard pressed to shell out for a different fork. That said, if you don't own anything now then it's probably better to pick up a Revelation/Yari or maybe a take off Fox Performance 36 or something.

I'm personally planning on running mine at 160mm front, else it will be too close to my other bikes. If you were thinking 160mm in your head, then perhaps 140 is indeed too short! As a note about offset bushings - there's a rumor that the santa cruz flipchip will be featured on this bike as well. If so, then no need for offset bushings unless you wanna go really low/slack.

I wonder if the upcoming cascade link would fit? If so, then we almost have a chinese megatower option!

[freeride1]

I think running this frame at nearly 150 rear and 160 front will be pretty spot on!
Great geo, playful behavior and great uphill capability.
I'm also curious about Santa's linkage compatibility, put my eyes also on Burgtec titanium screw set, Brit distributor have some nice upper linkage anodized bolts...I know Cascade is on a new project, is this to run 160mm rear in the HT?

[Jotegr]

Supposedly the cascade thing will produce 157mm with a 210x55 shock. There's a guy saying on MTBR that it'll also increase coil clearance on some frames but that seems like a load of bunk to me, however I've been very wrong before. There are photos of a prototype on the hightower thread on MTBR installed on a bike with a DHX2. If I get a chance to test parts compatibility this summer I will. If a hightower rolls through the service shop when I have my Haideli there I'll see what I can do. If that circumstance does not happen, then I won't. I don't really want to be buying titanium hardware or cascade links on the assumption that they'll work though!

[YEEPYEEP]

The tri air is a solid option for the price though it's only available in 210x50 as I was looking to buy one for my Ican p9. I can recommend the sr suntour durolux fork and those do go on sale often. For the price, they're an awesome fork. The kydex is really simple to work on. Just oven the piece for a few minutes, mould it on the bb/downtube then ziptie to hold.

Sr Suntour list the Triair also in 210x55 on their official website

Maybe im looking at the wrong region but can't seem to find it. But like chetosmachine said we can remove the spacer.

[freeride1]

That's what I see on their website
By the way, removing internal spacer is a very easy job

[Jotegr]

The tri air is a solid option for the price though it's only available in 210x50 as I was looking to buy one for my Ican p9. I can recommend the sr suntour durolux fork and those do go on sale often. For the price, they're an awesome fork. The kydex is really simple to work on. Just oven the piece for a few minutes, mould it on the bb/downtube then ziptie to hold.

Sr Suntour list the Triair also in 210x55 on their official website

Maybe im looking at the wrong region but can't seem to find it. But like chetosmachine said we can remove the spacer.

Christ almighty to you Aussies get hosed on stuff if that SR suntour shock runs nearly 700 dollareydoos there.

[YEEPYEEP]

The tri air is a solid option for the price though it's only available in 210x50 as I was looking to buy one for my Ican p9. I can recommend the sr suntour durolux fork and those do go on sale often. For the price, they're an awesome fork. The kydex is really simple to work on. Just oven the piece for a few minutes, mould it on the bb/downtube then ziptie to hold.

Sr Suntour list the Triair also in 210x55 on their official website

Maybe im looking at the wrong region but can't seem to find it. But like chetosmachine said we can remove the spacer.

Christ almighty to you Aussies get hosed on stuff if that SR suntour shock runs nearly 700 dollareydoos there.

Welcome to Australia!! was able to get the durolux for 524usd/750aud  last year when our dollar was better.

[Sitar_Ned]

I wonder if the upcoming cascade link would fit? If so, then we almost have a chinese megatower option!

Interesting, I hadn't heard of this. So it adds travel and allows you to run a coil shock? That would be a pretty sweet option to have.

[Jotegr]

Cascade links add travel and progressiveness to SC frames - they have released options for the megatower, bronson, and nomad already. You don't have to run a coil with them but lots of people do. They're currently testing a version of the link for the hightower, reported to increase travel to 157mm and it's unofficially claimed to give more coil clearance.

Personally I find the coil clearance claim dubious as there were pretty big issues on XL and  L+XL CC frames. I'm not sure how the link will magically create more tunnel clearance on these frames but I'm ready to be surprised. Moreover, I'm going to have to assume the carbon dimensions on this bike will be somewhat different, even if the pivot placement/geometry is the same. So if the links are fully compatible, we might run in to issues anyway or this might have more coil clearance than the SC in general. We just don't know til we have hands on.

[Sitar_Ned]

I agree... there will almost certainly be some structural differences in the mold around the pivot/linkage as there is already a difference in the top tube. I'm assuming the Cascade link won't fit but it's something to look into once we get final examples.

[Teuflor]

Got first replay after months today from eddy with an New pictures attached!