I am trying to build 69er from my rigid 26" Access XCL 22in mountain bike frame. I bought a Surly Karate Monkey 29er rigid fork which fits fine clearance wise, but raises the front end up substantially since it is a suspension corrected 29er fork. I run v-brakes, not disc; what front fork would you recommend that wouldn't push the front end up so much? I would just use a 26er suspension corrected fork; except the canti brake post don't align. It looks like an older Marzocchi Marathon 29 which would be perfect, (72mm travel) if they weren't so expensive used. I am leaning towards a susp. fork with 3-5" travel. Any ideas?

I decided to keep the Surly KM fork - after doing some riding, the geometry works great for my 6'-4" height, with long torso.

Well now that's interesting...how does it compare to the straight up 26"?

The 29er front wheel with 2.3" WTB tire makes front suspension almost unnecessary. The 26" rear wheel is quicker to accelerate than a 29er rear wheel. Also I am 225 lbs and 6'-4" so the 26" rear wheel is much stronger than an equivalent 29" wheel - which I need. I love it, though I come from cyclocross rather than hardcore MTB, but this does the job on singletrack where my cyclocross with 45" knobbies has trouble.

I know what it's supposed to do...and what Carver and Trek have marketed. 5yrs ago, I was going to buy the Carver but just never bought into it.

I think my question to you is that do you personally "feel" a significant difference/advantage in smoothness over a 26 or a significant difference in snappy accel. over a 29'er?




The reason I ask...is b/c I had thought about getting a slightly longer more traditional style rigid fork for the crapper and making it a 67.5'er. The way it's setup right now...it feels a little too raked out. Looking at profile pic's of it...it looks like the Kona P2 Tall Race fork is raked more than it needs to be.