So I’m looking to buy a rigid fork and found this. It’s not on the Salsa website and it’s nearly twice the price of the same fork with qr dropouts. So my questions are:

1. Will it increase the stiffness on a (presumeably already stiff) steel fork?
2. Is it worth paying double for (£189.00 instead of £99.00)
3. Why isn’t it on the Salsa website?

All help gratefully received 🙂

They’re standard on the new el mariachi.

I’ve an old QR one and it’s stiff enough. I did manage to rip the QR out over the lawyer tabs (crash) landing a jump, but that’s a fault of QR’s in general, not the fork. And it was a few miles later before I noticed the front wheel was loose.

Not on the Salsa website as it’s been superseded by a 15mm fork (which isn’t on the Salsa website yet either, but is on Ison’s). AC on the 20mm fork is less than the 15mm (presumably because the former is 80mm suspension corrected, and the latter 100mm?)

IIRC there was something about needing internal anti-corrosion treatment as part of the Maxle licence which is why, together with the cost of the axle, it’s double the price.

Edit:

They’re standard on the new el mariachi.

That’s the 15mm one and it’s only on the SS

I’ve an old QR one and it’s stiff enough

This is my concern. As much as I love the idea, can a 20mm maxle really make it that much stiffer? Or stiff enough to justify the extra £90 at least?

AC on the 20mm fork is less than the 15mm

The new height would be a bit too much for what I’m looking for.

Interesting info about the Maxle license there @ratherbeintobago…

HAs anybody got the 20mm Maxle variety? What are they like?

This is my concern. As much as I love the idea, can a 20mm maxle really make it that much stiffer?

The argument for bolted rigids is mainly because your sus fork is bolted too and you want to swap over to rigid for winter using the same wheels. Any (minor I’d expect) stiffness difference isn’t likely to make any difference unless somehow you’re already pushing a rigid that hard over the rough, ie have wrists of steel.

The argument for bolted rigids is mainly because your sus fork is bolted too and you want to swap over to rigid for winter using the same wheels.

Is that right? That would completely negate any reason for me to get them then, as I would have to fork(!) out £15 or so for hope adapters if I was to get them..

IIRC there was something about needing internal anti-corrosion treatment as part of the Maxle licence

Standard QR cromotos have stainless dropouts already?

I emailed Salsa to ask the same questions as those in my op and got an impressively quick reply. Apparently the 20mm Maxle is stiffer than QR, and it’s not on the website as they are phasing them out in favour of 15mm ones (corrected for 100mm travel). So pretty much as per @rathertobeintobago’s post then.

I would have to fork(!) out £15 or so for hope adapters if I was to get them..

That’s why they also have a 15mm version then ) same logic on why you’d have a bolted rigid in the 1st place – prob more about wheel compatibility than rigidity needs.

also to prevent crashing to your doom when the QR comes loose and the disc pulls the wheel out of the dropouts ?

(my rigid fork is QR but I’d definitely have taken a through-axle option if it existed (and was same price or small premium))

also to prevent crashing to your doom when the QR comes loose and the disc pulls the wheel out of the dropouts ?

Not an issue if the slot faces the right way.

True, though the redesign of the slots is mostly a few degrees AFAICS – maybe they’ve done their sums, I dunno

I’d take a through axle every time, given a free choice

So I believed the hype and spunked the money. Sorry jameso, you seem like a good man. I was in a lose-lose situation: either hate myself for spending the money or put up with a niggling feeling that the forks could be better every time I rode them. The fact that I chose the former tells you all you need to know about me as a person.

I’d take a through axle every time, given a free choice

This

So, new 15mm Cromoto Option – has anyone seen one, or measured one?

Wondering if it will still have awesome clearance like the 20mm one that can fit a Krampus 29×3 in it? Anyone know anything?
Imagine Charliethebikemonger will get some in off Ison at some point..

if it’s tapered, thru axle, massive clearance, 100mm 29er corrected (483mm) and steel, could be finally the sub-niche fork I’ve been after…

Security and stiffness are nice, whether benefits are felt or imagined.

But compatibility would be the seller for me. I’d have spent a fair bit extra on a 15mm Maxle 425mm Cromoto if it was available. The wheels are shared between the bike with the Revs and the bike with the Cromotos, and the hub adapters can’t be swapped without taking the disc rotor off first.