Old 02-08-12, 07:51 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: CT
Posts: 259

Bikes: 1976 Motobecane Nomade Sprint, 1988 Specialized Rockhopper comp, 1991 Schwinn Crisscross, 2009 K2 Zed 3.2, 2011 Trek X-Caliber Gary Fisher collection

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Originally Posted by recumbenttoad
I had a Nashbar cro-mo suspension corrected fork laying around for a long time (I got it cheap) and decided to put a bike together with a bunch of parts I had laying around. So, I bought a Nashbar aluminum mountain frame (again, cheap) and built a bike. The only thing that I don't like is the fact that the fork has an axle to crown measurement of 453mm and makes the bike kind of floppy in the front end.

I had drop bars on it at first and hated it. Then I put some straight bars on it (and I mean straight - no rise, no sweep) and it was better but not great. Then I put some bars on it that have some rise and sweep and ended up really liking it. Most people would think it handles weird, but for me it works. And, no problems with cro-mo fork and aluminum frame. Lots of manufacturers do that.

I would make sure you get a fork with the correct axle to crown length to keep your bike handling like it does now, though.
The axle to crown is about 19 inches on the K2 with no rider, when I am on the bike in a riding position it is slightly more than 17 inches, maybe 17 & 1/8th-ish (My wife measured with a tape and eye balled it), The Instigator fork says that the A2C is 447MM or 17.59 inches which is just about 1/2 inch difference, The Surly fork falls between the travel of the current fork so should work almost perfect in regards to the axle to crown length I think

I have a Sunline XC-1 stem and a set of Bontrager big sweep 12* sweep bars (same bars that came stock with my Xcal, I LOVE them so decided to get some for the K2) I am planning on putting them on along with the fork (if I decide to go with a rigid its mostly a good idea at the moment) and because pictures are always fun

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