OT: What would happen if ...

[TheBrownDog]

... I put a long-ish travel fork on my OO Fatty?

Since a Big Bro moved in my beloved Series 1 OO Fatty has sat untouched next to my Whyte S150 in the secure lock up in my garden. It is the one bike I will never sell, but the Big Bro is such a rollicking good ride I just keep choosing it. I rolled the Fatty out on the weekend and gave the chain a bit of a clean, then put it back. And I've ridden the Whyte twice in the past year: once at Bike Park Wales. It's a far better bike than I am a rider, but I've lost the urge for GNAR and I'm thinking of selling.

Then I got to thinking: let's bring them together. The Fatty went quite well for years as a 29er. The fork is an easy swap over and I could leave the 650B+ on the back for a bit of rear end comfort and additional weirdness. Yes. A plan. Sure, the handling might be interesting on the first ride, but I'm pretty sure it will result in a nice rowdy hardtail.

So I'm gonna do it. Just for gigs. Pics will follow.

In the meantime, anyone got a hybrid beastie story to share?

[BigdummySteve]

You’d die Tim, put a sensible sized suspension fork on it

[Piemonster]

He’s right you know. Not just any old dead either. Proper dead.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Like a .....

[BigdummySteve]

You’d be like this Tim,

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mqP3xY]

P.S. Don’t paint yer helmet gold either, it’ll tingle

[TheBrownDog]

Bleeding haters gonna hate ... I'm doing it. Not today. Today I'm busy. Maybe Friday. I don't work on Fridays.

[Bearbonesnorm]

You're not buying forks specially are you Tim. If so, save your money and just put a hacksaw through the downtube ... effects will be similar but much cheaper

[TheBrownDog]

You're not buying forks specially are you Tim. If so, save your money and just put a hacksaw through the downtube ... effects will be similar but much cheaper

Pfftt... lol. No mate I'm planning to pillage my the 150mm Revs from my Whyte S150. They're proper lush.

[TheBrownDog]

Poop ... headset compatibility issues which of course I didn't notice till I'd taken off both forks and lower cups from both bikes. Need to spend some time on the Hope website working it all out. Watch this space.

[TheBrownDog]

Right, that's done. Went together easily enough once I had the right sized bottom headset cup.

Just took it for a spin dropping off curbs and down a few stairs sets. Steve was right ... it's going to kill me. Not because it handles badly - it's very like my old Whyte 905. I just think it's going to encourage silly behaviour and I'm too old, fat and hopeless for daring do. Not sure about the 650B+ rear end either - looks silly. Will swap that for 29er later.

[In Reverse]

I think it looks pretty good and I wholeheartedly encourage you in this endeavour.

I put a 160mm Pike on a ht frame that was "designed" for a 120mm fork. It was great fun to ride. Raced Ard Rock marathon on it then liked it so much I kept it on for a trip to France and took it over some big alps. Didn't die.