Suspension fork to rigid fork upgrade
02-04-23, 03:31 AM
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I'm converting my vintage MTB with into a frankencross commuting bike - drop bars, granny gears, 659b x 2.2“ tires, panniers, carrying laptop, clothes, etc..
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I unsuccessfully tried to use a low cost carbon fork on the bike, got the refund and started to look for a replacement.
Carbon fork dropout problems
I can still use the original old Manitou suspension fork (around 2.4kg) and having little options is making me confused.
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Q1: Surly ECR might fit the bill, but it's 1.4kg of weight, plus it's ugly, IMO. ...
Q2: There is a lot of relatively light aluminium forks that might fit (no name brands, Kinesis, maybe a few other options). Assuming they work as expected, will they give a good quality ride on 2.2“ tires or should I just keep the heavy suspension fork instead?
I finally found a mint Shimano pro carbon xcr 445 fork on ebay for £50/$60. Installed it using Delta stem riser to keep the geometry recommended by my bike fitter.
Fork's weight is ~800g, and it works fine with my 185mm rotors (180mm max specified).
Next thing to explore - seats and seat posts with less offset. Tempted to try a suspension seat post, don't really need it though, just curious how they feel.
Works great with
