TimJ

Anyone have one of these?

https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...&category=1634

Anyone know what the weight is like on them? I'm wondering how close they are to the IRD fork which supposedly weighs about 790g.

flargle

They could very well be the exact same fork.

flargle

*squints eyes*

Perhaps the IRD fork is Prestige tubing? (One step up from Infinity.)

Tange is good stuff. Neither fork will be the lightest thing going, but they won't be boat anchors either.

TimJ

Yeah, it looks like the ird is prestige- triple butted- and infinity is double-butted.

I'm just snooping out cheap ways to lighten up the front end of my rob roy.

flargle

Wheels, baby, wheels.

TimJ

My wheels are light and strong. I built them myself.

cachehiker

My IRD straight blade unicrown is infinity tubing. I replaced a prestige fork with it at the same time I replaced the cheapie Aheadset with an FSA Orbit and never regretted it for a second. Sure I lost the rack bosses, lugged crown, curved legs, and smoother ride but I also lost a ton of brake squeal, a flexy front end feel, and a relatively meaningless 60 grams.

I blame most brake squeal and fork shudder on toe in but most of the rest on all the weight weenies. If it isn't a dedicated cross racer, forget about shedding that last 60 grams and use a stiffer fork.

The only reason I went with the IRD over the Tange was rake. The IRD was spec'ed at 44mm and they couldn't tell me what the Tange rake was. The wheelbase of my cross commuter is already borderline too long for the 2-3 races I do every year (C-class 45+). I suspect adding a fork with 50mm rake would only make things worse.

TimJ

Pics I've seen of the IRD have a prestige sticker on them, you're saying it's infinity?

cachehiker

Open this and search for infinity.

interloc racing brochure

I would double check. I know they used to be Tange Prestige and I'll bet there are still some of those available. I wouldn't be surprised it was Tange who was making them and one side or the other wasn't happy with costing or materials or lead time or God knows what else.

I bought mine from universal cycles. The description on their site said prestige but I also knew the current brochure specified infinity. I actually preferred infinity because I wanted stiffness and I liked the look of a steel fork on my retro styled cross bike. In any case, I'm impressed at the improvement in front end rigidity I got out of a less expensive fork and mid-range headset.

If I were all that concerned about the added 30-60 grams, I wouldn't be racing on a 23 lb. cross bike in the first place.

TimJ

I'm kind of hoping one of those tange would be say a 1/2 pound lighter than my iro fork cuz I could swing $60 and 1/2 lb would be worth it. If I spent any more I'd want to go up to cf but I really can't afford it.

flargle

I recently "upgraded" to full carbon fork and have mixed feelings. Yes, I dropped a pound, but brake squeal is crazy, and I haven't fully gotten used to the twanginess of carbon. Simultaneously stiff yet springy; I think I prefer the ride of my steel fork.

I think you could just buy the fork, and return it if the weight isn't what you were hoping for? In any event, the quality of steel would be an upgrade, even if weight savings were marginal.

flargle

I dug the quality of steel

TimJ

So I ordered one of these and... it's heavy. 1018 grams uncut. I'd only be loosing 3 inches or so of steerer so it's not going to go down significantly because the weight is all in the super-heavy steerer.

Besides that though the fork is beautiful. Welds are perfect, the blades are nicely shaped and the paint is really nice and the graphics understated. Very nice fork considering it only cost $60. But the dang steerer tube is made from boat anchor stock. It feels about twice as heavy as the blades so I won't be keeping it since the forks I got weigh nearly the same.

I guess it's a kinesis aluminum fork for me. I ain't looking forward to the stiffness but I need to lighten this baby up.