PVD Plustwentyfive Headset

I was helpping to prepare Max Houtzager’s Downieville All-Mountain race bike and we came upon a setup issue. A good fork for the race was 25mm shorter than the fork his 2010 Specialized Enduro Carbon was designed for. This created a major problem because as fast as Max is up and down the hill, he needed a light bike to match his light weight but also a bike that would handle perfectly for Max’s remarkable decending speeds. Adding to this is the fact that Specialized uses a proprietary head tube design making it impossible to purchase anything that could help. We worked it out and designed a special part that would make up for this. Initial testing has proven the part to be just what was needed. Good luck in the race Max!

Later, while working on my Intense M6 DH bike, I noticed that I could keep the geometry that I had worked out for the bike (basically maximum ride height because of the low running height of the M6) but spread the triple clamps farther apart by increasing the lower stack height to the same 25mm. This would stiffen the fork by bringing the crown as close to the wheel as possible. A good thing, plus the part looks really trick!

Follow up, 7/12/10: