Hello. I’m in a similar situation as the original poster and was hoping to get some advice. I have a 2001 Marin Hawk Hill which I use primarily for riding around town and on rail trails. I would like to swap out the insync grind 328 fork for a rigid fork. The axel to crown measures 450mm with me not in the bike. I can’t find specs on the fork but I think it’s 80mm of travel. To me the bike sits a little high in the front so I wouldn’t mind it being lowered a little but I don’t want to totally mess up the handling. I was hoping to get an inexpensive fork on Amazon but they all seem to be around 395mm or less.

The forks I have identified as possibilities are;

Carver 410mm
Carver 440mm
Soma 440mm
Surly Troll 420mm
Dimension 395mm

If I take into account 15-20mm of sag it seems I would be between 410 and 440mm. Any thoughts on which way to go? Also, I’m currently riding Schwalbe Marathon tires in 26x1.5 so I don’t need massive amounts of tire clearance and don’t ever anticipate needing it.

Thanks for your help.