LesterOfPuppets

Her bike has 590mm 26" (maybe even 597mm), whereas yours has 559mm 26". Might not be able to make both brakes work without caliper/arm modification.

I'm surprised it's lighter. Most 590mm are steel. Are your rims steel, too? Well I guess you got heavy tires too, so that might be it.

I've only used wingnuts from the 60s, they worked great. When getting wingnuts that didnt come with the wheels you need to check that you get the proper threads. 9mm, 10mm, 3/8", etc. Some older metric wingnuts come in 26 tpi instead of 1mm thread.

FarHorizon

Both bikes have v-brakes with a wide range of adjustment. With readjustment, either wheel will work in either bike.

Her bike and mine use alloy rims. The third rim I have (the deep v) is also alloy. The excess weight on the Townie is its 1.9 or 2.1 inch tire & tube.

The wing nuts I bought came from flea-bay and have the correct thread (one side went on all the way spinning with one finger) but the other side cross-threaded and stripped within 0.75 inch of the end of the axle (burr?). Unfortunately, the nuts are ALL aluminum (and apparently, some grade made from melted coke cans), and can't stand any torque at all without damage. They're these:

LesterOfPuppets

Interesting. Dunno if I'd wanna roll 590 though. Only a handful of tire choices.

FarHorizon

My average tire lasts a decade. If I get a tire I like, the available selection won't matter. I'll post what I choose & show the completed "26-inch deep-v racer wheel."

CliffordK

I'm doing a 26" to 700c conversion on a bike now.
It is quite possible that a 700c fork that is wide enough, but not terribly tall would work fine on your 26" bike. Or even 650c.
However, are you using a 1 1/8" steer tube? I'm seeing quite a few CF forks on E-Bay listed as 26" with 1 1/8" steer tube.

As far as your wing nuts. WHY?
Are you using those on horizontal or vertical dropouts?

I've got some on an old Normandy hub.

Anyway, if you really want the wingnuts, then find some good used, or NOS chrome over steel wingnuts. Avoid the reproductions if possible. There appear to be quite a few on E-Bay, but mostly American Standard sizes, I think.

FarHorizon

The bike I'll be converting (or not) to the 700c fork currently has a 1" threaded headset. It has some rust, however, and if changing forks, I'd also be changing headsets. Nonetheless, I doubt that the head tube will allow a 1 ⅛ inch steerer tube, so it'll be either 1" threadless or 1" threaded.

The wing nuts are for a coaster brake rear hub in horizontally slotted dropouts. The eBay ads generally don't specify if their wing nuts are aluminum, aluminum with steel insert, or all steel. I'd go for some stainless steel ones, but have never seen any.

And update: I managed to get the cranks off the BB & removed extraneous things (fenders, kickstand, etc.). I put on a Scott saddle with titanium rails, and got ready to replace the stock (steel-chainwheel) cranks with some lightweight MTB units but the BB cups won't loosen! I put a gorilla move on them but they just didn't budge. Down to the LBS tomorrow for bigger gorillas!

CliffordK

Many of the wingnuts I've seen have been bent, and are steel (although often with cutouts). Anyway, I don't think I'd choose aluminum, especially for horizontal dropouts where you need them to be tight.

Steel should be obvious from the photos, at least for some of them.

Stainless would be nice, but for some reason, not used as much 40 years ago, although I think it did exist as it was often used around the kitchen. If you want stainless, then it is probably a non-cycling wingunt, plus a washer.

This showed up on E-Bay for 1" forks.
Wound Up Team x Disc Cyclocross Bike Fork 700c 1" Threadless 43mm Rake Carbon | eBay

It doesn't mention the length from the dropouts to the crown, but it may fit your project if you need disc brake compatibility.

Nashbar also has a 700c fork that may work with 26" tires, and would allow cantis or discs if the studs are in the right place.
Nashbar Carbon Cyclocross Fork

I was at my local bike recycler a week ago, and they had a fork with a brazed crown that was really wide. I'm not sure how it compares in weight to a unicrown, but it would make an interesting project. I don't think it had brake studs. Good stuff disappears quickly, the junk hangs around a while, so I couldn't say whether it will be there next week.

LesterOfPuppets

If your coaster axle is 10mm, I'd use track nuts.

Somax Track Nuts | SOMA Fabrications

LesterOfPuppets

Wound up has 395 axle to crown. Add about 343mm for 28mm tire, 738mm floor to crown, so you can compare that to the height of your current setup.

Nashbar CX fork would work with 26" but you can only have brakes of the disc variety. No way I know of getting a brake mounted to 700c canti/vee studs reaching a 26" rim.

FarHorizon

As it turns out, the stock steel Townie fork doesn't seem to be such a porker after all. I haven't taken it off & measured it, but the frame sans wheels is significantly lighter than some other bikes I have. So for now, the stock fork will do. The main thing I want to get on is the deep-v 26 x 1.24 front wheel. That will cut the total weight significantly by itself. The stock aluminum v-brakes are light, so no worries there. I'll look for some track nuts.

FarHorizon

OK - Go ahead & giggle (and pardon the crude photoshopping on trying to omit the shadows):