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Kinesis Forks: Help needed...

by arrieredupeleton
Fri, Nov 29, 2013 15:34
5

...ideally from Dom at Kinesis.

I've got a Kinesis T2 winter bike with the carbon fork (DC07). I'm planning on moving to a front disc set up as I'm sick of the rather poor tektro caliper jobbies I've got. Rear doesn't have mounts of course but bearing in mind front/rear braking in normally around a 80/20 ratio, I don't think this matters.

So front only disc means new fork. Kinesis do a rather nice carbon fork with clearance for mudguards, eyelets and disc mount. The DC37.

My issue is these have a very slightly longer rake (45mm compared to 43mm on the DC07) but are a fair bit taller. Crown height on the DC37 is 405mm and the DC07 is only 374mm. Is 31mm going to make a discernable difference to handling and will the very slightly longer rake compensate to a small degree? I've got about 20mm of spacers under the stem at present so could lose them to compensate but want some comfort that it won't feel like a shopper because of the taller fork.

Has anyone gone down this route or have an pearls of wisdom?

Thanks

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5 comments

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arrieredupeleton | 11 years ago
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Thanks Shades. My thinking is to keep the 250-300 quid I would have needed for a brake, new wheel and fork (and stem?) and put that towards a new summer bike. I'm going for the Shimano 650 caliper brakes and swissstop pads first. If they are no better, I'll flog them on here....

I'm a bit particular re position so think it'll be the way to go for now. The TRP Spyre recall also didn't help...

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Shades | 11 years ago
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Ok it's not a road bike, but I've just put some of these on a 2000 Cannondale H700 Hybrid (prev had steel forks with hydraulic rim brakes). The headset had gone and the LBS said the stem/fork was siezed. I decided it was an opportunity for an upgrade to carbon forks and front disc brakes. I left it up to the LBS and set a budget of around £300; they chose the Kinesis forks and put some Shimano disc brakes on. Anyway the bikes back and, while it feels a bit different than before, the handling etc is fine. The rake had changed and with a new stem etc there were quite a few changes in position although the LBS tried to keep things broadly in the same position as before. The best thing it did was knock some weight off which I really noticed.

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mattsccm | 11 years ago
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You my be getting into small handling changes as things lie trail may change. something I have never got my head around. Ask the same question on the CTC forum where there are several people who will give detailed answers.
I would go for it. You could look for other forks of course.

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arrieredupeleton | 11 years ago
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Jo, it's more the handling effect I am interested in than just bar height per se. Bit more flex in corners? I take your point about brakes and I did think the shinano calipers would be better with swiss stop pads (already have the pads) but just fancy a project to be honest. But I don't want to blow close on 200quid if I don't like the result.

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joemmo | 11 years ago
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Perhaps you could try better brakes and pads first. Shimano BR450 with some decent pads will do the job.

If you do decide to swap forks then I very much doubt you'll notice much difference in handling. You could always sit on the bike leaning on the wall with something stacked under the front wheel to see if the ride position is that different. Plus, like you say, you can lose the spacers I'd need be.

I'd try a brake swap first though, considerably cheaper.

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