As part of the continued en-gravelling of my Trek Superfly, the wandering eye of ‘where can I save weight’ has inevitably landed on the front forks.

I don’t think I can justify Whisky fork money, but Alpkit appear to do a £200, ~700g QR rigid fork which would save a good almost-kilo off the bike (handy, as it also doubles as my CX bike…).

Would require adapting or replacing front wheel to run QR, seems a backwards step but for my purposes there’s no real downside to QR, less chance of forgetting the bloody maxle in car parks!

Assuming I could get £200 for a set of lightly used 29er Rebas this seems a winner, unless anyone else has any suggestions or alternatives?

I simply cannot fault the Travers Prong fork.. I’ve got it mated to a travers Angus SS frame.

It’s a lovely fork – i went for the ones with bottle mounts ‘jus cos’…

Tracks really well, light, look sexy…

About £300ish though…

DrP

You’ll get one for about half that off ebay

You can get rigid forks with 15mm thru axles: http://www.carboncycles.cc/?s=0&c=103&p=1786&tb=001

No idea if they’re any good though.

3T other option ???? seem a little cheaper than Whisky and Niner and etc.

Assuming I could get £200 for a set of lightly used 29er Rebas

you’ll be lucky I reckon. You might be able to clear £150 if they’re recent and excellent nick.

I have these with a straight steerer at £105 – I use them with a crown adaptor to 1.5″. EDIT – I use 490mm AC in place of 100mm suspension forks.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/eXotic-Rigid-Carbon-3K-Fork-Includes-15mm-Quick-Release-PM-Disc-44-5-46-5-49-0cm-/191641772955?var=&hash=item724009a495

Bikefridge is carboncycles on ebay. see here too, but pay more:-

http://www.carboncycles.cc/?s=0&c=43&p=1760

Thanks all, the Alpkit Pathfinder still winning on looks vs. cost, although the 3T or the Travers would be winning if they weren’t £100 more expensive.

The eXotics are the most cost effective overall though as they don’t require me to change wheels etc. Bit of a dinosaur w.r.t eBay, would prob stick to a shop of sorts.

You might be able to clear £150 if they’re recent and excellent nick.

Fair point, I’d just looked at CRC, cheapest you’d pay for the spec looks to be £511, or £370 with the crown mounted lockout. Would let the market decide! The alloy steerer versions would be fine but a bit heavier, there’s not many other places to shave significant weight on the bike so would want maximum weight savings from the forks!

Trp?

Exotics alloy forks actually ride quite well.

I wouldn’t hesitate to buy Exotic’s again. I’ve had a few sets, mostly carbon, & they’ve all been spot on. My lad has some on his hardtail.

Kinesis iX, which is now discontinued I think, is the same fork as the monocoque CarbonCycles/Exotic fork (I have both). Stiffish but handsome, and available in qr and 15mm.

ontor – TRP look nice, CX only though, approx 100mm too short! 8)

Thanks for the votes for Exotics, makes it easier to justify if I don’t need the new wheels I’d require for the Alpkit forks.

Decisions. Do I pull trigger now, 1.5 weeks before next CX race and put weight savings to good use? 8)

Well there’s no point waiting until after the season is over !

Got the Travers Prong and Enve MTB fork. They’re both great.

Enve has some nice features; integrated mud guard and adjustable offset.

But crucially they ride very similar. Both comfortable and track well.

Other carbon forks I’ve had have been too harsh.

Enve is double the cost of the Prong.