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Trying to sort this out for touring in the summer. It's got a broken set of Fox's on at the moment. Its the tapered head mk3 version
What do I need? Any suggestions?
Cheers Paul
TBH it depends a lot on what you want the bike to do. I put a set of Exotics in mine, these ones I think:
http://www.carboncycles.cc/?p=197
They were officially 29er forks, but worked great for me in the Soul as they were effectively 130mm suspension corrected, just how I liked the Soul. And they were ace forks- not super light but tough (most rigid bikes won't do any uplifts...), and had a nice amount of flex in them which added a lot of comfort (I know marketing people like stiffs, but I've had stiff rigid forks and didn't like it as much). Maybe not ideal for you, for touring, since it lacks mounts.
But for touring I guess that might not be what you're after? I had a shorter fork in my Soda, tbh it rode less well but it made it "more XC" which was the feel I was going for, so it was pretty succesful.
I have a friend who put some of those 29er Exotics on his Whyte 19 (more or less the same geometry as the Soul) in order to correct for 130mm forks. Works well for him.
Lauf? A bit pricey though and not sure that they do a version for 26".
As @Devash... I have a 26er Soul frame with 650b wheels in it and 29er exotic carbon forks. It works really well...
As above, recently put the 130mm corrected, 46.5cm axle to crown on my 26in cotic simple. Geometry seem spot on, rides really well.
Exotic carbon 445mm in a large 26" Simple work perfectly for me. Wouldn't want it slacker with a longer fork as it wouldn't be so nimble - but that depends on your riding style.
As @Devash... I have a 26er Soul frame with 650b wheels in it and 29er exotic carbon forks. It works really well...
whats the rear clearance like? I"m thinking of doing the same.
I've recently fitted some second hand Exotic 29er forks on a Cotic BFe with 26" wheels that I have converted to single speed....
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They work perfectly and were selected as the A-C height most closely matched the 140 mm travel forks I had on it previously. I've probably done about 200 miles on it so far and it's brilliant 8)
Edit; I have changed the chain tensioner device as that one turned out to be crap!
What do you want out of the bike?
A set of Surley ECR 29ers would get you s similar AC and give you plenty of mounts. The steerer would be easy to sort out with a reducer crown race.
I've got a 26" Pipedream Sirius which has similar geometry to the Soul. It will also take up to 130mm forks and Pipedream advised that it would therefore be usable with a rigid fork of up to 480mm. I went for MRP Rocksolids and MRP recommended the 465 length fork which works really well.