Which is better, basically I’ve got a Charge Duster with some cheap air Tora forks that aren’t great, and a pair of 2008 Fox Talas 32 (pushed) that have a too short steerer to fit on the charge frame. The Tora are 130mm and a bit long, but could be reduced, rides ok, but a bit wandery on climbs.
Doing the south downs way at the end of July, ruled out new crown assembly for the fox, as the part is as much as an inbred frame. I guess I’d get 100-150 back for the charge frame and original rigid forks which would pay for an inbred. Is the inbread (geared) OK as an all day bike? Options/ideas from the collective please.

sell the Tora’s and the Fox and get some Rebas?

I do need a fork left over for the wife’s bike btw! why Reba’s particularly

rebas – lightish, readily available secondhand, travel adjustable with spacers, reliable.

I’ve not ridden a Duster but Inbred isn’t the springiest of steel frames – I used a Ti post on mine for longer rides.

I have Reba’s on a couple of my bikes, one as supplied the other was an upgrade. I have to say that they are very good and have been bullet proof so I would have another.

second hand forks are likely to have the same problem as my talas, as the head tube on the charge is stoopidly long, need a rediculously long steerer. The Duster is OK, I dont get any super compliant vibe from it, but one worry was the inbred would be a bit brutal for 14+ hours in the saddle.

talas are a far superior fork to the Tora which is /was bottom of the range Rockshok and worked ok but was heavy

Few more quid and yo can get an unlabelled Carbon 456 so you could use all the Tallas travel

bear in mind with a new frame you’re likely to need new gear cables, also possibly headset, seatpost and front mech – costs/faff can mount up quite quickly.

duster headtube isn’t *that* long – I’d keep an eye on the clasifieds for a few days.

Skinny Duster + carbon rigid forks = heaven – would be perfect for SDW.

wwaswas appreciate the cables stuff, one of the reasons for looking at the on-one(apart from price) is that headset, seattube, bb etc. all the same size, have just stripped my old 5 to put it on the charge to find the forks didnt fit, blew a hole in my cunning plan.
the Carbon 456 doesn’t have those benefits. I think the scandal does pretty much but ive got a 31.8 seatclamp lying around. but guessing its no more comfortable all day than inbred.
Generally though seem to suggest duster is a better frame than inbred. I think the newer duster’s are shorter at the front, this is a large 2008-ish on. But take your point its worth a look at other fork deals.

none of the frames you mention are over-built in any way, so compliance will differ very little between them, or at least, nothing that couldn’t easily be addressed with tyre pressure.

I’d take the inbred with the talas. Friend has and inbred with pikes on and loves it. Frequently used as an all day XC/AM/Trail bike.

presume that’s a 456 inbred?
different frame form the one being discussed – i think!

I couldn’t say, I’ve not met with the guy for a while since I’m at Uni most of the time… I can’t really remember.

Update: I got the inbred frame built it up yesterday did 20 miles on the south downs this afternoon, absolutely loved it. So glad I did. Rides very differently, even though they seem very similar on paper. Now to work out what I’ll get for an old orange 5 and a duster frame and rigid forks…