5 Inches up front 6 in Back?????

[Wheelmaster]

Hi,
I have a newly acquired 2004 Stinky (6 Inch rear travel) and I was thinking of taking off the 150mm (6 Inch) Travel forks and replacing them with some better Quality Marzocchi's which are only 130mm Travel.

Obviously I would like to know if this is OK and how this will affect the handling of the bike (faster steering/slower steering etc). The bike will be used for aggressive trail riding.

Please advise if you can.

Thanks

[spinner]

It will steepen the head angle a bit which will make the steering quicker but the difference in angle will be bugger all. More noticeable will be the height of the front end (bars etc.)

Assuming Kona didn't alter the head angle on the '04 frames , it will handle like an '03 frame.

Shouldnt be a problem , I reckon.

[yogibear]

Yeah 03's came out with 130mm DJ3's or two's on em. Should be all good, Besides Stinky's are really just burly trail bikes and a shorter travel single crown fork will probably benefit it's performance namely in the climbing department.

[Rik]

Hrm, all depends, some singlecrown forks are taller than their dual crown equivilent... so you could have no noticeable change at all. Even if the single crown is taller/lower, it'll only be very slightly, and I think it'll be fine regardless. Go for it, especially if you're getting better quality travel out of it 8)

[Wheelmaster]

Thanks for the Input guys. Its really appreciated.