Hello, as per title – looking to build up an inbred 29er with rigid forks.

Torn between carbon or steel atm, but particularly interested in real world experiences, recommendations and advice about A > C length, fork rake, etc….there’s a lot of different length forks out there!

Thanks 🙂

The Salsa Cromoto is a great fork, 468mm a-c. They really suit the Inbred in the looks department too.

I haven’t used them with a 29er but I’ve used the exotic carbons as “long travel” 26er forks. They’re ace, really- not the lightest, but sturdy. Quite a bit of braking flex and twist, which you might or might not care about- I tried a stiffer rigid fork and it works less well for me, the flex of the exotics adds comfort and what I guess you could call sideways travel, it walks its way through rock gardens etc rather than trying to hold a line and knocking you about or bouncing off.

So- recommended, from me.

I’ve had the exotics and they were WAY to flexy for me…put some cromoto’s on and find them superb! As two jumpers says, they work really well on the inbred.

My mate has some On One carbon rigid on his Inbred 29er and loves it. So much so that he’s just sold his full suss Marin to pay for an Alfine system for it.

440mm fork on mine. Bit short on paper but rides fine

MM

MM that’s good to hear as I’m just about to build my Inbred 29er frame with Salsa 445 cromotos that I already have

yep Salsa cromoto’s here too. They do seem to work very well wit the inbred. I am gonna get some suss forks as well though.

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20121021_151109 by Adam Branston, on Flickr[/img]

On One Rigid Carbon 470mm ride beautifully

Great, thanks for the info and pics – those salsa forks do look good.

So far have found potential candidates ranging from 440 to 490 A>C lengths!

I’m assuming that the *theory* is that the longer the fork, the ‘slower’ the handling – is this a correct assumption?

Thanks again.

FWIW it was cromotos that I tried and disliked. They just feel like every cheap rigid fork from the 80s to me.

Alini, yes and no. The other variable along with length is the fork offset. ’26″‘ forks 440-445mm usually have 41-43mm offset. “29er” forks 465-470mm usually have 45-47mm offset (though some have more at 55mm).

Longer fork will slacken head (and seat angles) by about 1 degree per inch extra length which slows down steering. More offset should quicken handling. The BB will also be about 1/2 the extra fork length higher.

Shorter fork / less offset reverses those effects.

This is simplistic as changing the angles also affects uphill and downhill handling. You might as well start close to the original design and make changes from there. So for Inbred 29er that would be 470mm with 47mm offset. (unless of course you already have something in which case you might as well try it before buying something else 🙂 )

Northwind – Member

FWIW it was cromotos that I tried and disliked. They just feel like every cheap rigid fork from the 80s to me.

It’s all personal pref Northwind, but did you try them both on inbred 29ers, which was the OP’s question? 😉

Have got both the salsa & On One’s carbon one,salsa looks better but the carbon one works better imo….

On-One Carbon (470mm).

On-One Inbred 29er-02 by pten2106, on Flickr

Suited it well. Quite stiff for a carbon fork.

Singular Swift (470mm).

IMAG0152 by pten2106, on Flickr

This was the best fork I ran on my Inbred. I gather you can buy them from Sam at Singular for about £70. A bargain IMO. They are IDENTICAL (but for a better looking brake mount) to the £200 Niner steel fork. Identical weight too. 😐

I tried the carbon Exotic (470mm). As a carbon fork I preffered it to the On-One carbon. It flexes more & feels better for it. They do twist a bit though. Its better finished also. The On-One has a matt finish whereas the Exotic has a nice glossy finish over the carbon, as well as a better looking black crown & dropouts.

For me, steel forks soak up trail buzz but not bigger hits, whereas the carbon ones (moreso the On-One) its vice versa.

My Inbred with the Swift fork was probably the best HT I’ve ridden.
(Until my SIR.9 arrived) 😉

Inbred with CroMotos here, too. Looks great and rides really well.. definitely recommended 🙂

Inbred with On One carbons here and Im happy with the set up.

I *might* be getting a pair of cromotos if I can persuade gee to split his el mariachi on the classifieds, but would then move them on as my ex-broken wrist doesn’t get on well with rigid. Just in case anyone would be interested in a pair.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-salsa-el-mariachi-29er-bike-or-split-xt-king-hope?replies=11#post-4602826

fenred – Member

It’s all personal pref Northwind, but did you try them both on inbred 29ers, which was the OP’s question?

The cromoto was on an inbred, and tbh it was a very good match- heavy and unimpressive 😉

Inbred plus salsa cromoto here as well. They work well together. To be honest though I haven’t tried the frame with any other fork. The inbred can feel a bit dead but that’s also one of its strengths as it just steam rolls through stuff.

The cromoto was on an inbred, and tbh it was a very good match- heavy and unimpressive

HAYTER BWOY!….Please leave the thread Northwind, you’re not wanted here! 😆

Thanks once again for the input 🙂

Helped confirm my understanding and narrow down the short list some more……..salsa…….exotic…….or OO (don’t really wanna,err, fork out £150 tho…)

Hadn’t considered the singulars, will have a look into those – cheers!

I am using some Pro-lite Carbon Ferrara forks on an inbred 29er and they are sweet…..CRC were doing them cheap….not sure if any left but worth looking for

fenred – Member

HAYTER BWOY!….Please leave the thread Northwind, you’re not wanted here!

To be fair that’d be the other half of my recommendation- get a Scandal 🙂

I went with a Swift fork on my new Inbred. Partly because I couldn’t find a Salsa in stock anywhere and partly because, having had an Exotic (which I loved) on my old 26in Inbred, I thought it might be overly twangy in the longer version.

The Swift fork also happens to go rather nicely with the pearl white SS Frame. But that had nothing to do with my decision. Obviously. 😳

Always liked the look of rigid inbred 29ers. Thinking of selling both my MTBs and just getting one of these as a do it all & race bike.

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/9128437/

can’t post pic on here, cromotos are good with a lower star nut for the front’guard bolt 🙂 mucky weather & rigid/guards = 😀

My Inbred 29 started life with an on-one rigid carbon fork – great fun and kept the weight and cost down – made for the ideal ‘commuting plus trails’ bike. Didn’t do any back-to-back testing with other rigid forks but the ride was way more comfy than I expected from a rigid front end.

These were the ones I had.

However, couldn’t resist a bargain pair of Rebas – they’ve made a step change in how usable the bike is i.e. very little noticeable weight increase and only minor bob when out of the saddle BUT way more capable off road.

can’t post pic on here, cromotos are good with a lower star nut for the front’guard bolt mucky weather & rigid/guards =

I just fitted a fender bender with velcro straps, works a treat with cromoto’s.

(not shown on pic above though)

Photo of my Inbred in it’s life-before-Rebas incarnation …..

2012-06-16-108.jpg by Simon_R, on Flickr