My niche bike forks may have died. The magnesium bottom end with the brakes has shifted and is not longer glued to the carbon leg. I used a long bar to get it re-aligned but am a bit concerned now that it moves relatively freely on the bottom of the fork leg. I have been advised by various friends to 'stop riding the ****in death trap' so am considering buying a new fork.
The bike is a pure vanity project and I have an electric full suss for general duties and an On One Parkwood as a more normal bike. The vanity bike means titanium frame and that everything on it that is not titanium is carbon. The front wheel is 29" and the rear is 26". It is customer geometry designed for me by Davis Carver. It is not only single speed, most of the time I ride it as an off road fixie.
As I said, a vanity bike for really chilled solo rides across the New Forest relaxing in a Zen like state of happiness.
The original fork was a fully rigid carbon one which was nice but perhaps something different but not main stream. I was looking at the Lauf as a possibility but would be interested in hearing from people who have had them, or their rivals, especially if they are approx 100kg kitted up (still in the Lauf accepted fat bloke weight range)
What fork do I want costing less than £1,000?
Links to videos and reviews welcome. Real world experience even more welcome. Remember this is not my main bike and mainly used to confuse other riders as to why it exists.
It's a straight 1 1/8 steerer isn't it?
How about a lefty carbon.
Hmm - that fits the criteria
Anyone got anything more left field than a left carbon?
Alright N. Is this for "that" carver? The one when we were riding Lordswood and you skidded to a halt in front of me with a resounding CRACKPING!? Whats the headtube; straight or tapered?
It is indeed that Carver and with the fork that I was riding at the time. Glad you remember it 🙂
I will need to check out what the headset is but I think it is straight.
How about a Jones fork?
Just found this review of the new Lefties from a guy who runs a Cannondale specialist repair shop. Particularly scathing about the hybrid but doesn't rate the rest. At least the Lauf is low maintenance which suits my style.
[i]Just avoid the Hybrid fork design, as it's proven to be nothing more than a ATM linked directly to Cannondales unsuspecting customers wallets. They are damage prone, wear prone, leak prone, and spend more time getting routine upkeep done on them than any fork that company has ever produced.
On top of that, if you DON'T keep up, you cost yourself multiple hundreds of dollars, just for the pleasure of repeating the process.
Been hip deep in Lefty and Headshock maintenance, service and tuning since the day they were created. Don't believe me if you don't want or care to, but the new crop of forks, single crown, or double, are a steaming pile of dung on the reputation that pre Dorel/Schwinn/GT/IronHorse/Pacific/Charge/Sugoi/the list goes on Cannondale worked so hard for so many years to build.
Disposable is what they are now, and it's by design, which is frankly, reprehensible from an environmental standpoint if no other. The first Headshocks featured this concept in their dampers, then Cannondale woke the hell up and stopped the nonsense....[/i]
Can't you make something out of gear cables using your newfound tensegrity expertise? 😉
I have had a Lauf fork and would recommend it.
If you have got a tapered steerer tube, then this is the way to go.
No straight 1 1/8th Lauf though.
110 x 15, or 100 x 15 , so boost or non boost
Bit spendy though
You could see if English cycles would knock you up a rigid single sided fork like the one below:-
https://www.englishcycles.com/custombikes/forkstems/23-october-2012/.
Or look for a rigid lefty(again like below) and fit a new 1 1/8th steerer (not sure the fork is that easy to find):-
Or possible a Van Nicolas Titanium strut and see if its possible to replace the steerer with a straight one(Looks like one of the Lefty conversion ones might fit):-
I have had a Lauf fork and would recommend it.
Oh, any more details? Another potential Laufer here, but at the moment, the lack of damping is putting me off. Do things not get a bit bouncy on a long bumpy downhill section, like Nine Barrow Down into Swanage, if you know it, say?
(I am thinking of putting one on my monster-gravel/XC bike, I am not talking trail centre nonsense.)