Hey Ed! Hope all’s well.
Yes, the fork came with the frame – the idea was that you could run it with 100-120mm at the front with a 26″ wheel, or rigid and a 29″ wheel. The fork has a custom offset to (from memory) deal with toe overlap and adjust handling a little.
You can run it with 26″ both end – you just need a suspension-adjusted rigid fork, or the existing one – although the a-c will be a little shorter because you’re running a smaller wheel with that funny offset.
(I hope that makes sense – I’m not a bike designer, and I don’t play one onf TV, and I’m sure Singular Sam can explain far better).
It really is a smashing bike – it replaced my DeKerf and a dedicated singlespeed (although I’ve never run it with gears, for some reason). The only catch is that trying it as a 69er has led me to buy a full-on 29er, and Sam doesn’t make those for people who are small enough to ride 16″ frames.
I’m currently having a slight wobble about whether to sell it or not. Sold my FS bike, now have two hardtails set up as singlespeeds…
Paulsoxo – yes, they’re discontinued – a real pity. The geometry of an older 16″ Genesis Io is very similar with a 100mm fork on the front, if that helps – unfortunately,the Io feels rather vague if you bump it up to 120mm.
Alternatives? I’d suggest a Cotic Simple (although it doesn’t have the versatility of geared and singlespeed without a little tinkering) or the new Chameleon, which has those seriously tasty swinging dropouts from the Aluminium Highball.
