Originally Posted by
Canker
The one of the left is tapered, you can see how it is bigger on the bottom. Almost all good forks now are only made in the tapered form so just make sure you can still get the raidon in straight if you need too.
Very helpful pics - makes a lot of sense now. Thanks.
I checked out Suntour's website, and
the Raidon does have a tapered steerer tube. And from what I can tell on Giant's website,
the Talon does not have a tapered head tube. I'm planning to stop by both shops (Giant and Kona) this afternoon, so that will give me something to take note of.
This seems like a pretty significant difference in these bikes - having a serious upgrade path or not. Something I never would have thought to look at on my own. Thanks for the help!
EDIT: Upon further review, although the pictured Raidon fork is tapered, there are two options available... 1-1/8 straight, or tapered. So at least for now, both styles would still have an upgrade path.