Forks for 29er , fenders and crown cable stop.
 

good morning,

Im thinking of getting a 29er frame to build into my commute bike and day tripper.

Im currently riding a Surly cross check thats a bit too small for me. I have a short inseam and long torso, the cross check standover height is good but TT and bar height is not I have over a 5" stack height.

I have a few questions if any of you would be so kind.

1) if Im using road tires 32-37 do I need the standard 29er fork thats real long 468mm or so (crown to fork) or with the smaller tires can I use a more standard size of fork? would I screw up the handling with a smaller fork?

2) I noticed the off the shelf 29er forks (from what I can see on the websites) I noticed the 29er forks IE:
IRD ,karate monkey ... do not have holes in the crown area.

I run fenders and a fork/crown cable stop, so can a hole be drilled without collapsing the fork, can somthing be tigged/brazed on??? or are there any forks that will do what I need.

many thanks
have a great day.

"John"

1) The standard fork should be fine and handle the same, though your bottom bracket will be lower and the likelihood of catching a pedal on the ground will be increased. I had a MTB I swapped the tires on for skinny 1.5" slicks...learned that lesson the hard way. Yardsales in the intersection are painful in more ways than physically.

2) While there are fender types that don't require the standard hole (they mount with an expanding plug up into the steerer tube) that won't take care of your cable stop. Seems to me the easiest way is just to drill the hole. It will void your warranty, but I have friends that cut their frames to pieces and weld them back together again with no issues. If that's more than you want to take on, then the expanding plug type fenders and a V-brake (and a V-brake lever or a Travel Agent) will solve the issue.

thanks for the reply, I forgot about the BB issue. if I get the 29er frame I think ill get the long fork and drill a hole or tig somthing on it.

many thanks.

"John"