Carbon fibre, geometry adjust, and mudguard?
Until now, riders have had to ride road or ‘cross to enjoy one of Enve’s carbon forks. But no longer: the Utah company’s rigid Mountain Fork is now available. What makes it special?
To start, the fork features ENVE’s unique carbon fiber brake line clasp which secures your brake lines to the fork without the added complications of internal routing or extra hardware. If you will be using the fork in wet or muddy conditions, ENVE have produced a molded carbon fender that is easily interchanged with the individual brake line clasps. The fender adds minimal weight to the system and provides just enough protection to reduce the amount of mud and water that ends up on your face.
What’s that? A product from the desert that takes a dedicated mudguard? Fantastic! Toss in a clever axle “axle chip” system that allows a choice of effective fork rakes and you’ve got a product that stands apart from the other carbon-legged forks on the market.
Being an Enve product, the Mountain Fork is manufactured using a process that allows fibres to run from the top of the steerer tube through the crown to the bottom of the dropouts- which should reduce unnecessary weight while improving strength.
The Mountain Fork is available with a 29er-friendly 470mm axle-crown height with the axle chip at 44mm of offset. With the rake out at a quicker-handling 52mm, axle-crown height increases to 472mm. Weight for the thru axle-compatible fork is 686g with the brake hose clips and 711g with the fender mudguard.
According to Enve’s Jake Pantone, “often the best solution to a problem is the simplest one. Despite the evolution of suspension technology over the past ten years, rigid mountain forks still provide the optimal platform for many of the off-road riding and racing formats that riders participate in. For this reason, a mountain fork has been one of the most highly requested products from ENVE over the past 7 years.”
No word yet from UK distributors Saddleback– but suggested US pricing is $625.
Comments (8)
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So about £900 over here then?
That would be mint on a nice carbon SC highball.
Still think steel is the way to go on a full rigid bike though…
It’s gonna be north of a grand by the time that gets over here. Which is a bargain compared to the dental work you’ll need when it performs like their wheels.
New full rigid fork that’s as much as a reasonable hardtail frame. Hmm, OK if you like that sort of thing. Trail offset chips? You have my interest! Why has nobody done that before!? I’m sure there are lots of people out there desperate to find new ways of messing up the handling on their bikes that will pay good money for that!
I thought Enve had a good rep?
“Trail offset chips? You have my interest! Why has nobody done that before!?”
I think Canyon offer that on one of their road framesets, you know… the one good looking one… I forget the name.
Thanks Kelvin. For anyone that’s interested, it’s called Canyon Rake Shift. Looks potentially flimsy to me. But given that the new Fox 36s already have a 20mm to 15mm converter, something like this wouldn’t be hard to engineer for tinkerers.
Aimed at people with too much money. My 2nd hand commuter forks cost £20 and they’re great.