I am building a bike up to double up as a winter bike / bike for a kiddie seat on for use on fire trails etc and finally a bike for taking part in http://www.thegreattour.org

I had picked out the 456 but am now questioning whether the inbred would be a better choice. The bike is being specced with surplus bits eg 2004 manitou black forks (possibly rigid forks if I can stretch to it?)

Any advice or other ideas?

Finally, I need a set if tyres to suit thegreattour.org which is 90% road and 10% cycle paths around the coast of mainland Britain. Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers…

what travel do the forks have? IMO inbred if upto and inc. 100mm, or 456 if 120+

also for the riding you describe, it sounds like a normal 'bred will do the job nicely without the mass & extra stiffness of the 456…

You certainly won't need a 456 for that or any of the things you list. You'll only need the 456 if you fork is the 120mm black.

Yeah – I'd think that for the sort of riding you describe the Inbred would be ample.

I had the same dilemma earlier this year & plumped for the Inbred in the end (Barry White colours).
I've put my 115mm travel Reba's on it and they feel great on it. Very impressed with the feel of the bike once it was built up.

It's a 100-120 manitou fork but may go rigid. The bike will be used for family rides in delamere etc, winter cyclocross style riding and towing daughter in a trailer or rear seat.

The fuel ex8 does the more fun stuff 😉

Just which tyre now then? I was thinking a high pressure 1.5 for thegreattour but not an area I'm familiar with.

Go for the standard inbred for that. Although they now say it's for 100mm forks, it was previously marketed as suitable for 100-130 so the 120s should be fine (just might not be EU compliant 😉 )

Conti Race Kings work well on my road ride to the trails

i asked the same question on here a while back and opted for the inbred to match my 100mm reba's and i'm loving it. Got a five for the bigger stuff.

Scandal up to 110mm, 456 for anything else, Inbred never. IMO 😉

Tyres…I'd maybe go for Schwalbe City Jets. Fine for roads, gravel tracks and dry / non technical bridleways etc IMO

"Scandal up to 110mm, 456 for anything else, Inbred never. IMO "

hmmm I have run my Inbred (853) with 130mm forks for about 3 years now and it's great

Scandal is no use for touring is it?

You don't need the burlyness of the 456 so standard Inbred is the perfect tool I reckon.

My 130 revs are being swapped for rigids for a tour next year.

The only real shame with the Inbred for touring is the single bottle cage. I have had bottle cage bosses fitted to my rigid forks (Salsa Fargo style) to overcome this.

"Scandal is no use for touring is it?"

Why not? It doesn't have rack mounts but that's easily enough worked round with a differently mounted rack. Other than that it has all the advantages of the Inbred without the weight.

I ran my own Scandal at 130mm and thought it was fine myself, until I got a point of comparison with a bike more suited to the longer fork (I testrode a Soul and never used the 130mm setting in the Scandal again, it just drove home the handling sacrifice it needed)

With a short fork in it's a brilliant frame but when you go up to its maximum it's, well, it'e exactly like everyone says a 100mm frame with too much fork wedge in will be like. Having tried both the 456 works better with the longer fork while the Inbred/Scandal geometry works superbly with a short fork but isn't up to scratch for a longer one. All IMO of course.

Sounds to me like the Inbred is the best option, especially if you're planning to go rigid. They're pretty versatile – I've run them as rigid off-road and tourer/commuters plus with a range of forks.

Northwind – I think you've answered your own question there. Why have a workaround (which will be annoying and less secure) when you can just have something that's designed for it?

Thanks guys, it seems the inbred is the better choice. Interestingly, I put the same question to on-one tech guys and they seemed to prefer the 456, go figure?!

Tyre choice wise, has anyone had much experience with:

Continental Ultra Gatorskin MTB Tyre
or
Vittoria Randonneur Pro MTB Tyre

"Northwind – I think you've answered your own question there. Why have a workaround (which will be annoying and less secure) when you can just have something that's designed for it?"

Because it's neither annoying or less secure.

More 456's to sell maybe?

The 456 is more versistile, it can do everything the inbred does and more, its just heavier and stiffer as a result.

I woulnt trust laden panniers on a frame not designed to take a rack. Then again, I hate touring on an MTB, would rather do it on a roadie style tourer with better aerodynamics and more hand positions.

I think it's decided, inbred it is… A White one, thanks guys.

I just prefer to have proper rack mounts and the steel Inbred is toughter than a Scandal for general abuse / loading / crashing.

Northwind – You've started messing with my head now and I'm wondering if I should put my forks back to 115mm again and try it out 🙂

Inbred sounds like a better choice. The discussion of fork choice for Inbred and 456's always makes me chuckle – they have the same head angle. That said, the seat angle on the 456 is steeper, so perhaps better suited to seated climbing with a long fork.

I've got a 456 and just having problems getting a Blackburn rack to fit.. I've had to order one that fits to the QR skewer as mounting to the rack mounts caused the rack to foul the caliper mounts..

I'm going to hazard a guess that this isn't the same for all racks though..