Forks wanted

[Retiredtester]

Moon on a stick time....

I've got a lovely gravel frame supplied by jameso of this parish and I've just discovered a crack on the fork crown. This is the 2nd pair of forks I've broken on this frame and I had a nightmare finding a replacement last time, rescued only by jameso finding a spare pair in his garage.

They need to be qr, disc mount and huge (280mm plus) steerer. Not too fussed about axle to crown as beggars can't be choosers.

Anyone got anything remotely similar kicking around?

[Lazarus]

Save you reading they are 15 mm disc not QR ( saw after typing )

New and unused full length steerer Olsen gravel forks with bosses on fork leg
Idiot bought them waited a year then discovered his frame is 1 1/4 not 1 1/2
On the plus side they were half price so only cost £150 not £300

https://olsenbikes.co.uk/products/olsen ... ef6858c3f6

Also have a carbon bung and flat to post mout all new and unused.
£150+ post .( Half price for a new unused fork and money back for me basically )

[Retiredtester]

Look nice, but forgot to say I also need a straight steerer, not tapered. Found some Chinese carbon ones, but they're designed for 29er MTB geometry - axle to crown is 475m Vs about 400mm on current ones.

Would welcome opinions as to how much difference that 75mm would actually make. I have 20mm of spacers I could lose and a stem with about 15mm of rise that I could swap for something with a 6 degree drop - that (in my little head at least) would mean the bars would end up only 20mm or so higher than they are now. Assuming similar fork rake, I guess the wheelbase would be a bit longer. I'm generally pretty non- particular about this kind of thing and ride lots of different bikes, so wondering whether it would work out ok.

[PaulE]

https://www.konabikeshop.co.uk/kona-for ... -2009.html

Would something like this work?

[Lazarus]

Simple test is put your front wheel on a block 75 mm big and see what you think stationary ...imho it's too big a difference and will change head and seat angle + BB height and stand over .

[fatbikephil]

I've a pair of these available if of interest?
https://www.biketart.com/products/genes ... 1030825139
I'll check the steerer length tomorrow but it's fairly long I think.

[Retiredtester]

Thanks all. Looks like the MTB forks are a no go. And thanks Phil - those forks look lovely, but a bit out of my price range. Found these, which look like they might fit the bill https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/forks/the-l ... mm-offset/

[substandard]

I got round a similar challenge in the past in something remotely resembling a gravel bike by using a 27.5” mtb carbon fork from AliExpress. The a-c was only a tiny bit longer than a modern gravel fork, that needed a straight steerer too

[Retiredtester]

That's interesting - presumably that meant you still had 'vertical' clearance for a decent size 700c tyre?

[faustus]

Those Kona forks linked by PaulE look like they'd do the job and are a decent price. In a similar steel and straight steerer vein, Surly Straggler or Disc Trucker QR forks are the right a/c and have reasonable tyre clearance:
https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/frames-f ... VoQAvD_BwE
Some good choices on this page:
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m21b0s29p0/Forks/Forks

[Bearlegged]

Not mine, but would these suit?

1 1/8" steerer cut to 285mm
400mm a2c
IS disc tabs
Mudguards eyelets
Fit 45mm WTB Riddler tyres

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/385498/

[substandard]

That's interesting - presumably that meant you still had 'vertical' clearance for a decent size 700c tyre?

Yes had slightly more clearance than your modern gravel fork on a 700c tyre, a-c on a 27.5 mtb one is about 440mm. I ran 700x47mm tyres on it

[Retiredtester]

Thanks all. I've pressed the button on the light blue Darwin ones I linked to earlier - clearance for 29x2.25, 300mm 1 1/8 steerer, 420mm a-c, mudguard eyes and triple cage bosses. And just over 100 quid from sjs. Hopefully they're not made of cheese or cast iron!

[jameso]

Sorry Tom, replied to your email just now. The original forks were 390mm AC and ~52mm offset. They were made by Colossi, they had a good rep generally afaik but 4 of that batch of 5 forks from 2016 cracked, mine included.

The frame had a very low BB and relatively steep HTA so +25mm on the new fork won't turn it into a chopper, the STA might feel a bit slack but an inline post can fix that.

[Retiredtester]

Thanks James, that's reassuring to hear. And btw, the frame itself is amazing - possibly my favourite bike ever.

[redefined_cycles]

Hi Tom. Since it's your good self I'm happy to remove the rigids off my Ramin 650b plus which runs happily as a 29er. They're tough forks and hopefully you'll not have the cracking issues (I beleiveI read somewhere off James that they're steel).

Only considering the sale cos I'll hopefully soon be stripping this bike and building my other. So the final few months I might as well enjoy a bit of hardtail action with the X Fusions I bought off Chris on here but never used!

Let me know... (I think) all proceeds going to the earthquake response (on the Syria side) hopefully...

No worries if they're no good to ya... They're mtb dept forks afterall!

[Retiredtester]

Hi shaf and thanks for the very generous offer, but I decided to go with the Darwin forks in the end. Just crossing my fingers they arrive before Thursday as I'm supposed to be doing the Bryan Chapman audax at the weekend - 600k and 8500m of climbing is probably ill advised on a set of broken forks!

[redefined_cycles]

No worries. Yes, don't do the Bryan Chapman (our local and highly spoken of by people that have/had dealings with him) on broken forks. He'd have had you for that...

Makes sense not adding mtb specific forks to a road type bike

[albystew]

I've luckily got one of the same frames. I swapped the original forks out for an old pair of Kona P2 26in disc forks with a 410mm A-C. Rides great. Still got the original forks if you want them for postage?

[Retiredtester]

Thanks very much for the offer, but I've just built it up with the new forks. I love the frame and glad to hear of others out there still going strong.