EDIT: Duh, I spelled "rigid" wrong.

I'm converting an older Raleigh M50 Mountain/Trail for city use. I'm trying to use as much as I can off this bike, but the front fork flat out sucks, no matter how I try to get on with it. The gaskets are degrading, it's slowly leaking oil, and it bottoms out way too readily, even under fairly restrained braking. It's almost to the point where I feel it'd be a safety hazard. SR Suntour M7700, for those curious.

In any case, the bike uses linear pull brakes, which will be perfectly serviceable with some new pads, noodles, etc. I'm wondering if I can grab a rigid fork to replace the Suntour, one that has the appropriate studs for these brakes, fits the bike, 26" wheel/rim, etc. I'm trying to keep it at around $50 or under, if at all possible. Any thoughts?

https://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30...ory=633&type=T

Early last summer the seals suspension fork on my teenage son's Trek 6500 blew, this was about a week before our planned trip. Tried to track down a Surly 1x1 fork, but time was short; however LBS had some older forks in spare parts. There was a rigid fork that was just right for for the suspension travel and steerer tube- $15 plus a couple of spacers and an hr's shop labor. A very nice solution. See if a LBS has one in their "old parts"

you can probably pick up one for almost nothing at a good LBS. some will try to sell you an expensive one you don't need, but any old fork that's not damaged would work.

Surly 1x1

Kona!!!!!
Put a Kona Retro Road on my Litespeed Tuscany for $45. Kona's triple butted forks handle great, even better than the carbon it replaced on my bike. I can't imagine there will be a big difference on any style they make.

Depending on existing axle to crown I'd say either Surly 1x1 or Surly Instigator forks. Both are totally bombproof.

Another vote for the Surly 1x1 or Instigator.

Pepperoni was a nice rigid fork too, but if I recall correctly, required a Cannondale frame due to proprietary bull**** with the head setup.

Is there really that much difference in one rigid steel fork and another? I really think this another moment w/ Surly when you think you're buying quality.

what makes the Surly forks so great?

Hold one in your hand and then ask . Seriously, they're very well made. The Instigator I had was absolutely bombproof even offroad. I know the Instigator is even rated for use on Tandems they're so stout.

My deal with Surly is this, I've ridden super low quality (Origin8 frames, components) and super high quality (DEAN frames, Camp components) and I think Surly falls somewhere in the upper middle of those two "products." Think of the low end as 0 and the high end as 10. I think Surly is around a 7-8, where Salsa is also around an 8. White Industries offers a $300ish rigid fork, if you're positive you need to spend that kinda Benjamins.

https://www.webcyclery.com/home.php?cat=319

Notice that the Surly is inline with the 'cheap' end of components, but I promise you the quality is NOT.

Jenson has the canti only version for $55 and the canti + disc version for $65. I just installed it on my old MTB yesterday. It was rigid already, but I wanted to go from quill to threadless.

Make sure you know the axle to crown (A-C) distance of your frame geometry and/or of the old fork. Going from suspension to non-suspension is pretty easy b/c most rigid forks are "suspension-corrected". Old-school rigid to new-school rigid is somewhat more difficult...

The 1x1 calls itself "suspension-corrected" but the A-C is like 413, which can't afford much more than 80mm travel.

I agree, but that's not why I bought my new fork from them. They just happened to make the only reasonably-priced solution from a known manufacturer.

I probably could have spent $20 on some no-name thing from China, but I'm not that chincy or trusting of random, no-name bike parts that could kill me when they fail.

Anyway, I really like this 1x1 fork. For now, I'm running the cantis that came with this bike originally (1994 Kona Fire Mountain), but I'm going disc in front when I get around to it. I'm really happy that made a fork that gave me the option.