Now that the TransAM is up and running, I'd like to get the Vagrant going again. Since I haven't yet found a Rev or Lyrik at a price I like, I thought I might try a rigid fork on the Vagrant. I've been wanting to learn some trials moves, and figured the Vagrant with a rigid fork would be decent enough. Also will be used at Ray's and sometimes for XC when I feel like beating myself up or need a loaner bike.

I previously had a Pike on there and would lower it to 120mm when doing urban riding. I think that would make the AC length around 500mm. I would like a fork that is very stiff and strong. Steel is preferred and weight isn't much of a concern. 20mm axle would be nice, but isn't needed, especially on a rigid fork. My hub will do either. Disc tabs, of course. Cheaper the better.

What length of fork should I go for? Should I look at 29er forks to get the right length? What about offset and rake?


Forks I've considered...
DMR Trailblade 2 - 428mm AC, optional 20mm axle is pricey
Identiti Rebate - 425mm AC, weird 14/20mm axle that allows pegs
Salsa CroMoto Grande - 468mm AC, 29er
Salsa CroMoto - 455mm AC
Surly Karate Monkey - 468mm AC, 29er
Surly Instigator - 447mm AC

That's just from looking at universal quick. Some of those may be way too flexy or short.

No suggestions?
Assuming 15% sag, that would put me right at 440mm AC. Is that the length I would want?

I just looked up the Vagrant archive on Transition's site (PDF of the old spec pages); and the Vagrant's geometry was based on a 518mm A-to-C fork. So draw your conclusions from there if/how much you want to steepen your HA, drop your BB, etc.

If you were figuring only 15% sag of a 120mm fork, that's only 18mm - - so you are still looking at needing 500mm a-to-c. All of those forks you mention seem a bit on the short side to me.

Get yourself a Tank Hit headset to compensate for the lack of length of your shaft. With the Tank Hit to make it longer...you won't notice it being shorter...and it will feel just as good when you're pumping Ray's tranny.

Oh yeah...I forgot...if you're used to it being in the 120mm range...remember that when you sit on it, it get's a bit shorter (~100mm). So in all practicality...when you're going all Gnarban...it should end up about the same length.

You're getting a tad bit personal there, aren't you, Ed?

Haha, yeah. I was taking 15% off total length and not travel. No wonder it made no sense to me. Durrr...

I'm thinking anything in the 455-470 range would be good. Salsa just released a 468mm fork with Maxle. That would be awesome, but to me it looks like they were built for comfort. The instigator looks good, but is kinda short. I'll check out that Tank headset.

Edit - The Tank Hit looks like it has a 16mm lower stack height compared to 13.6mm for the Pig I've been using. That doesn't seem like much. Isn't that the measurement I should be looking at?

Yah...if you already have a porker down there...no need to get worked up about the length. Just know the you'll always be a few mm shorter than me.