Anyone experimented with a shallower fork rake on a soloist (or s3)
The reason is that I get toe rub on the front wheel on the current set up
I know this will affect handling but my question is by how much.
What options are there for after market shallower forks?
Thanks,
Maurice
I have not experimented with a shallower fork, so I can’t comment on your question. However, my first thought is that toe overlap is just a fact of life on certain frames. I’ve just learned to deal with it. Really, the only time I have to watch out for it is really sharp turns at really low speeds - like U-Turns. But I’ve just gotten used to it, and I’ve never crashed because of it.
Ia assume you are talking about going to a longer fork rake than current…say a 45 from a 43.
If you do that, your handling will be quicker and the bike less stable. Yes, this is counter-intuitive to what most people think since you’re increasing your wheelbase. But you are also reducing “trail” which is the key determinant of a bike’s stability.
Whether it will be noticeable to you will depend on your handling skills…
I have toe overlap on my road and tri bikes. It’s never been an issue unless I’m in a very slow speed turn, in which case I simply point my toe up. Changing the fork rake won’t give you a dramatically different distance from toe to fork while turning. That’s just a geometry thing. If you really want to change this, get a different bike with a slacker HA.
Hi Maurice,
Not a bad idea actually. Carlos Sastre used to insist on changing his Cervelo forks from 43mm rake to 53mm. He liked the quicker handling on twisty descents. If you’re interested give it a try. Obviously you’ll also get about 10mm more toe room as well. Have your Cervelo retailer call us, we might have one or two color choices - the 53mm offset forks used to come stock on the RS model.
Cheers,
Hi Maurice,
Not a bad idea actually. Carlos Sastre used to insist on changing his Cervelo forks from 43mm rake to 53mm. He liked the quicker handling on twisty descents. If you’re interested give it a try. Obviously you’ll also get about 10mm more toe room as well. Have your Cervelo retailer call us, we might have one or two color choices - the 53mm offset forks used to come stock on the RS model.
Cheers,
Thanks St posters,
I ride a 54 am 5’8" with 175 cranks, I am an “extender” in that my seat height is just over .9 of inseam at 781mm, I also use a 135mm stem on that bike because I prefer to stretch out, and prefer it for out of the saddle climbing. So my seat height and reach are “non traditional” compared to others of my height.
For my TT bike I used to own a 51 P3 SL, and have a 51 P5 on order, for these bikes the top tube length is fine so I went with the lowest head tube for a 700c.
So maybe the longer for rake to match my stem length might improve handling (although I think it handles great the way it is)
I have experimented with longer cranks (gasp!!) and will be putting longer ones on this bike but I didn’t want to derail this into a crank arm thread. (for myself and two other athletes we tested better on long, others tested better going short)
Its not the bike itself but more my choice of crank arm length which creates the toe rub.
I was also looking at getting a P2 and just putting drop bars on it and making it a road bike. Then turning my soloist int a kick-ass single speed!!!
When we went to Maui last year for a training vacation my girl friend has a 48cm old P2 (Lucy Smiths old bike) we just threw drop bars (with some old DA stuff) on it and she loved it, Maui is a bit better with drops than the full aero set up IMO.
Thanks for the input.