Hi All,
While my Surly Troll has fallen out of favor with me of late, I'm not ready to throw in the towel on it completely just yet. Thorn cycles from UK make a nifty looking suspension corrected mtb/touring biplane fork with oodles of braze ons, reynolds steel, and a 400mm steerer tube. I was using a Delta stem riser on the stock Troll fork, and the added 5.5" on the Thorn fork is the major selling point for me. That, and it would allow me to use the dirt/touring frame I already have instead of shelling out $ for either a LHT or maybe Thorn Sherpa. To cut to the chase, I'm wondering if anyone here uses this fork already & any impressions you'd like to share.
Thanks Very Much,
~scroungetech
ps, here's a link to the fork:
Thorn Mt Tura Mk2 Steel Fork - $158.83

The axle to crown on the Thorn fork is 430mm, the Troll fork 453mm. It would have significant affect on the geometry.

Why do want to change the fork? Troll steerer tube cut too short? Troll fork does not ride well?

Thanks for your reply GeoKrpan! 90% of why I want to change the fork is because the Troll fork steerer is too short. 10% because the Troll feels very stiff & dead - zero resilience. I was thinking a tapered, raked fork might make for a more lively feel. But in addition to the axle-to-crown difference, the Thorn fork also has an offset of 53mm compared to 40 on the Troll. I guess I was thinking the longer a-t-c would be balanced out by the longer offset. Let me know if you think thats a faulty use of logic.
Thanks!

You are most welcome. You could be right about the offset mitigating the axle to crown.

I'd probably go with a new Troll fork. Having the bar where you like it will make a lot of difference. The fork on my Velo Orange Piolet is similarly overbuilt but having the bike fitting perfectly really matters.

Another thing you may consider is a carbon fork. Here's one with a 450mm axle to crown and 38mm offset.

26" Full Carbon Fork Carbon MTB Bicycle Fork Carbon Mountain Bike Fork | eBay

I contacted Surly today & got a very quick reply: The 260mm steerer on the stock Troll fork is not available in any other length. Being that its about $200 w/ shipping I think I'm gonna try out this Thorn Mt Tura fork. A LHT frame set is a bit over 2x that price, and the Thorn Sherpa frame set about 4x...