Following on from my post the other day about some DT swiss forks for my Lurcher, i am now scouring the web for a good deal on something to stick on then front (although i’m not 100% on the DT’s cos of the price). 100mm forks with maxle are pretty easy to come by, but when i discount all the ones with straight 1 1/8″ steerers the bargains disappear.
So, do the bigger steerers make a lot of difference? Would it be a safer option for a 15st clumsy fecker like me? Or should i go for the cheaper non-tapered forks & spend the extra cash on a slackset & properly spaz out the handling?

Get the bargain. Nobody “needs” a tapered steerer.

The bolt through makes the front end stiffness difference, I very much doubt anyone could notice the difference in steerers unless pushing exceptionally hard. FWIW I’ve had both on my Scale 29er, a standard steerer F29 whilst my others were being fixed/serviced and there was no noticable difference.

Pretty much what i thought. Kings new clothes and all that.

The wider base to the headtube and interface with the downtube probably makes more difference than the steerer itself.