Currently building an inbred 29er (singlespeed ltd edition) and have spent many an hour looking for the ‘best’ fork. The build is mid progress as I’m waiting for funds to finish it (selling my 456 which has barely been used, please ask if interested 8O). So I put it to you guys, which rigid fork would be best? Give me your best shot!!

Currently ride trail centres, natural trails and have been known to get airborne so nothing that might die…..

You want the best?

Get some miners. Job done.

current leaders are:

Singular swift- Cheap, compliant (apparently) but only come in a blue that im not sure will go?
Karate Monkey- Again cheap but apparently not the most compliant (comes in black so goes with everything)
Exotic carbon- Apparently quite good, light but I’m afraid of string and glue, how tough are they?

I’ve heard about niner forks, they look the biz but are they worth the premium?

You want the best buy Niners not miners.

And they’ve survived my clumsy riding on Q’s ,Dartmoor and Exmoor rocky trails.

My exotics got well tested- did normal person rigid fork things, XC, an occasional race and the like but also did a bunch of harder riding, black routes and a few inners dh runs and that(don’t judge me for not doing the main matador drops! The chicken runs were no picnic tbf…). Never missed a beat. They weren’t stiff, but is stiff a good thing in a rigid? Not sure. I’d certainly buy them again, not sure why you’d pay more for Niner.

As far as I know, Scotroutes is still using them.

exotic has been fine for me – 14-15 stone and unlike Northwind I do huge drops on mine

… oh, hang on. No, I don’t. Fork is fine though

excellent, will definitely consider them, my levels of getting airborne won’t be involving the likes of innerleithen dh.

On a steelier note, has anyone had any experience with the singulars? minimal word out there on them….

I can vouch for Exotic’s. Tough as old boots.

swift forks are excellent. The new (cream) ones will fit a 29+ tyre, which is what I’d recommend. I used the old blue ones on an SS Inbred and they were great.

and the blue ones didn’t look gruesome with the pearl white?

On One’s own brand carbon 29er one.. ?

I have pace steel forks on my inbred so naturally I have to recommend them (no longer showing on their website though). Bit twangy so may not be the best for hard riding but I love them

Singular Hummingbird FTW

I thought the blue Swift ones looked great on my white SS Inbred. I’d post a pic but Flickr won’t play nicely with my iPad. 👿

I had blue Swift forks on a white Ss inbred – I thought it looked spot on.

I’ve got the On One carbon monocoque ones on my inbred and they’ve been great. Picked them up for £100 in one of their never ending sales. Plenty stiff and strong and light too (650g).

Kona project P2?

I would say Niner,they have been very good!
By chance mine are coming off this week so mite be up for grabs.
Fancy a change!
They are 1″ 1/8′, nude/black,q/r if interested?
Wanting £200 posted.
Email:singlespeedtothemax1@hotmail.co.uk
For photo’s if needed.
Thanks,
Max

My Exotics ride really nice on the inbred cant really fault em

On-One carbon forks work pretty well.

I have to say I think I am leaning toward the swifts, I’m going to look and find some pics of them on an inbred…. Niners would be nice but I don’t think I can offset the price difference from the £80 swifts 😀

All I need to do now is sell my current ride…. Sad times.

And as we’re on the single speed forum, what would a 33/16 gear ratio be comparable to going from 26″ to 29″? Merci

I’ve ridden niner carbon and the swifts – I preferred the latter.

My Inbred with Swift forks features on this thread: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/show-me-your-steel-single-speed-rigid-29ers-what-you-got

I too prefer the Singular forks to carbon.

So it does, along with clink’s as a coincidence, I think it looks very good. We may have a winner! Cheers chaps!

Salsa Cromoto – I rode them on my inbred ss – perfect ..

Salsa Firestarter Carbon. Jobs a good un.

Surprised it took so long for someone to mention the Cromoto; they usually get mentioned in the same breath as the Swift. Mine was about £90 if i recall, but i gather they are more expensive nowerdays.

Well recommended, and the colour goes well with the Inbred!

And as we’re on the single speed forum, what would a 33/16 gear ratio be comparable to going from 26″ to 29″? Merci

Google ‘gear inches’.

In summary, ([chainring]÷[sprocket])×[wheel size].

So 33:16 will give you 53.6 gi on a 26″ wheel, and 59.8 gi on a 29″ wheel. That would be a little steep for me, as i tend to aim for 52″ish on a singlespeed. A stronger rider than me might get on fine with it, though.

I’ve ridden both the exotic and the swift. Imo the swift deals with small trail chatter better than the exotic, but the exotic is better at bigger hits. The swift is the comfier of the 2, but you can get away with more (bad lines, inadvisable hits etc)on the exotic.

I had looked at the cromoto, people say how great they for the money (which when they got them wasn’t alot!) but now they’re £170 pretty much everywhere, which according to my rudimentary maths is double the swifts (including postage) so that’s them out the window!