FM1001 - 150 or 160 fork?

[FullCarbonAlchemist]

This is a frequent topic of discussion in other threads and I’m thinking about building up 1-3 FM1001 frames for my family in the next year (as well as one for myself eventually if I’m lucky; I already own a 1002 and am planning to build a 1003 this winter).

I usually over-fork my bikes by 10mm compared to how they are sold stock (and I like a nice upright cockpit about level with my saddle), but I’m learning that the FM1000 series doesn’t necessarily need that. They’re already well balanced bikes with fairly tall head tubes whereas in the past a lot of branded bikes were intentionally sold under-forked in their first year or two so the next year’s models could be “upgraded” with 10mm more fork travel.

Do you run your 1001 with 150 or 160 travel? I originally considered 160 for any size Large frames I built or more aggressive riders (like myself), but now that I’ve been thinking about lowering my FM1002 to 160mm — the idea of having anything but the tallest possible fork on any MTB would have been heresy to me in the past — I thought I’d poll 1001 owners and get everyone’s thoughts on this.

[bossman302]

Good topic. Been thinking about if I should increase my fork travel. I might be in the minority here as I'm using 140mm right now. Everything I've watched or read suggest not going more than 10mm over what the frame was designed for. The reasoning is always that any more could up ruin the geometry of the bike. I will probably stop at 150mm. Think that will be good enough.

Maybe next year or the year after I will build a 1003 to have for DH riding and use the 1001 for trail riding.

[casual_build]

160mm fork would be 24mm over forked, axle to crown. I would ask Carbonda if that could cause bad force distribution in the frame.

If I went 160mm, I would always run it with high sag. To reduce the possibility of damage and prevent the reach from becoming too short.

[FullCarbonAlchemist]

In the case of the 1002, it seems like about 50/50 use the higher recommended (160) or overforked (170) travel and almost nobody runs the lower recommended (150).

With the 1001, most versions sold by brands are run at 150 (Sherpa Massif, 2022 KHS 6600) and here on the forum only a couple of riders run 160 while it seems like about 75% run it at 150 and 25% at 140.

I feel like this all makes sense but wanted to dig a little deeper into individual experiences, especially anyone who’s experimented with different amounts of travel. Bonus if they’ve owned both the 1001 and 1002, though it seems like only a couple of folks have done that.

I think any Medium or Large 1001s I build will be 150. Might consider running 140 on a Small.