Anyone regularly swap between a rigid and a suspension fork?

Does anyone have a setup that involves them swapping forks on their hardtail?

I have a rigid SS and I have a geared hardtail. Former will stay as it is but I’m getting myself a rigid fork for my hardtail so that I can also run a geared rigid bike (I quite like riding rigid)

Does anyone swap forks regularly? I have a solaris with hope headset, if I can a headset bottom cup and fit these to the rigid fork would that let me swap forks relatively easily? (Assuming I can fit the wheel/brake/stem easily)

Edit – I think my Solaris needs an EC 44/40 bottom cup, it’s a non-max 2014 vintage

I have 2 forks and 2 sets of wheels for my Pact. It’s primarily used for bikepacking – rigid/B+ – but the Rebas and the 29er wheels give it added flexibility. It’s certainly cheaper than having 2 bikes.

Swapping over takes minutes. I’m not sure why you need another headset cup. At the very most, an additional “crown race” will save a few seconds.

Not regularly, but I have both rigid and suspension forks for my fatbike and change occasionally. You don’t change the bottom cup when you change forks though, so you just need a spare crown race for the other forks.

I’ve a fatbike that I’ve got some 29er wheels for, and swap between those and fat ones. Also got a bluto for it  but tbh I really don’t use it, even when using the 29er wheels and haven’t missed it.

Disclaimer, it’s not my only mtb, would think differently if it was.

+1 on just getting a matching crown race. That’s what i did when swapping between 160 and 200mm forks on a freeride bike a few years ago.

If it’s a Hope headset then the “crown race” is already split and simply slides off/on the sterrer.

Excellent. So to be clear, I don’t need anything extra from a headset perspective, I can use what I have? (that’s a good answer)

This could well lead to an N-1. I really like having a rigid SS for the lack of maintenance and cleaning but it would be nice to have some space back in my garage and it would mean I use each bike more

Split crown race is the answer. You can buy two if it really is too much bother to swap that.

Or just leave the shonky single speed on the drive rather than cluttering the garage with it, mine doesn’t make it past the van usually 🙂

Just make sure they both have a tapered steerer… Or you get one of those crown-race converters for the rigids (I’m assuming there that your suspension forks are tapered, but the rigids may not be)

Rigid forks are tapered too so should be OK (hopefully), I’m sure I’ve forgotten something though

Both are Post Mount?

A2C is correct/close enough?

Steerer lengths are the same (or you have spacers to suffice)?

For the simplest swap probably a 2nd brake and extra crown race, that means you don’t have to deal with taking it off and on again and realigning it.Easy enough to get the lever off the bars.

I’d get some spare bolts for your Stem though as that could turn into the weak point if your cracking them off a lot.

Same axle size, same brake fitting. Pretty sure a2c is OK too

Steerer length is more than I need but I’ll get some extra spacers

Extra crown race is a cheap thing to pick up so that might make things easier

How would a 2nd brake help?

May not be what you’re after, but have you considered just going with the rigid forks only, and having two front wheels instead, like a skinny 2″ 29er and a 3″ 29+ or something?

Obviously no where near the same difference, but so much easier to do regularly…

Bare in mind my bias though, as I abandoned suspension about 5 years ago

Well that would be my next step, but I’m an average rider on a good day so on some trails the suspension helps compensate for my lack of talent. I do like riding rigid though, this fork will take a 3 inch tyre so that might be my next step.

Lets see how I get on with the fork first, might be the end for my El Mariachi…!

Actually, having thought about it, I like my Jones Loops on my El Mariachi, but I also like my Thomson carbon bars on my Solaris. Might have a bit too much choice

How would a 2nd brake help?

Because it’s probably the most faffing bit of swapping a fork, and getting it wrong is annoying as a minimum. Leaving the brake on the fork means the spacing it set up and never changes. If you take the brake off the bar it’s 1 or 2 bolts.