Thinking of getting sus forks for my Scandal 29er and not convinced. Still have a steel 26″ HT frame (Sanderson) and wondered about swapping forks (rigid and sus 29ers) between the frames.
Any experience of sticking 29″ forks and wheel on a 26″ frame. The Sanderson feels best to me with 20mm more fork travel than recommended.
Collective 2011 thoughts?
p.s. no, not hungover – young kids so earlyish night and now raring to go.

Plus, the A-C of the On-one 29er carbon fork on there is 470mm, but the A-C of the recommended suspension fork (100mm) is 510mm sagged at 20%.
Am I missing something obvious?

I’ve run 440 pace rc31’s with a 29er wheel no probs,my actual 29er runs 470 niner carbons,the thing that will make a difference is the rake.
I’ve no experience with on-ones,so can’t say,but personally I’d try it,and if you’re happy with the way it handles,then bob’s yer uncle…..
What have you got to loose ?

I’m in the process of doing this at the moment.
Currently running 445mm P2’s, but with a 26″ wheel as my mate who builds my wheels is in Greenland.
Feels the same as with an 80mm fork at the mo, 29er wheel will raise the front about another 25-30mm so the equivillent of running a 100mm fork?
Suck it and see really, it will either handle like a chopper or it won’t.
One bonus i have found already is that the slight raise at the front has moved the centre of gravity a little and gives a bit more traction when climbing.

I’ve mostly run my trek 69er with 26″ rigids ie 445mm and it rides fine, super fast handling – if that’s your thing. The Trek was/is s’posed to run with a 29er sus fork btw.

i put a 29er wheel in the front of my rigid inbred – it was the worst bike i’ve ever had; thats saying something too – my 120mm forked, supposed to be rigid, GT had less chopper flop.

I’ve put 425mm A-C 26inch rigid forks on my Scandal and have run it with a 29 inch wheel for a few years. This set up doesn’t affect the geometry and it’s a great ride.

im currentley using a sanderson soloist with 26 front and rear but with a 29er fork to match my 130mm recons they come in just under the sus a-c length they just look abit funky due to rake and extream mud clearance but they feel superb to ride

i found sandersons handle better with longer fork aswell
heres a pic for visuals.

Ta, I’ll try it with 26 and 29 wheels up front.

I did run a 456SS with an On-One CF 26″ fork and a 29’er wheel. Handled better than with my current 150mm forks and a 26″ wheel.

I thought this was going to be about….sucki…..something else.

I thought this was going to be about….sucki…..something else.

Can’t be done DIY!
Should have given you a heads up……..

🙂

I’ve been thinking about this after weighing up build options for for my d-jab frame i just bought.

I found a guy on mtbr turned one into a 69er (with 29er forks)

his comments:

i love this frame built SS, rigid, with the 29er front wheel, my friends do not. This is one fast bike and thanks to the sliding drops supper tight. Voodoo should build this option for everyone.

So, Can you run a 29er fork (470mm) because the frame is designed up to 120mm fork? (well mine is the earlier one which is 120)

My on one inbred 69er uses a rigid singular fork which is 445 AC with 55mm offset. Using a 29er suspension fork (even 80mm) chops it big time.

what’s the AC of the 29er sus fork?

Is your inbred frame meant for a 100mm fork though?

Just seen a guy using a niner fork on an inbred

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=663887

Been thinking of a Trek 69er for some time but the idea of the On One conversion interests me not least as my SS On One is languishing in the garage as we speak!

Is there cheaper options than the niner fork tho’?

yep.. the exotic carbon forks

http://www.carboncycles.cc/?s=0&t=2

Cheers tricky – excellent find

On One 29er forks are in the sale at £99 too.

I’m thinking of doing this but with a 29″ wheel in a 26″ fork.
The fork I have is 440mm axle to crown, the On-One 29er fork is 470mm so (I think) the 29″ wheel in the 440mm fork shouldn’t end up like a chopper.
I may (and usually am)be wrong but i’ll try it and see when the frame arrives 🙂

I had an old inbred like this a few years ago I used some 440mm pace rc31 forks it wasn’t bad but a little chopper like. Have pics somewhere will have a look

I had an old inbred like this a few years ago I used some 440mm pace rc31 forks it wasn’t bad but a little chopper like. Have pics somewhere will have a look

Edit…

Spev, the Salsa 26″ fork should be fine, On-One CF or Bontrager Alu 26″ is fine (mine were at least).

firestarter – I also have Pace RC31 440mm carbon forks on mine

What was the clearance like with the 29″ wheel (assume you used a fairly low profile tyre)? And was the ‘chopper like’ qualities not simply par for the course with a 69er?

Cheers

firestarter, is that the old 80-100mm geometry inbred or the newer 100-120mm geometry (ir. current geo though they now say 100mm because of the CEN testing)?

It looks like an older one to me, in which case a 69er on the newer geo might be better

Hope that made sense!

Yes it was an old one from around 2002 and tank tyre was a nanoraptor think it was 2.2 loads of clearance tho. Chopper like could have been as it was a 69er I also had neverridden a long travel hard tail when I built this and I find them quite chopper like too tbh Lol

445 ac fork 29er front wheel this rode nice
tried the same set up on a inbred frame not as good. it felt a bit flip/floppy

hmmm ta

rob, what age/geometry was the Inbred you tried it on?

20″ Inbred 69er using 26″ on one carbon forks, flippin brilliant, much better than in 26 mode.

RestlessNative it was a 2006 ish inbred, just felt a bit odd when stood up climbing the bars just wanted to flop from side to side

rob-would the geometry in the 20″ inbred be sufficiently different than in the medium (15″) frame to make a difference?

Really like bigpete’s set-up

re geometry dunno what the difference is between frame sizes
big pete’s bike looks a lot better than mine did a lot less chopered out
were as that one with the niner fork up there looks a tad slack

A big burly 69er (currently half in bits due to another new build). Bonkers fast down hill and climbs fine once you get used to the slackness – sort of feels like a long travel full susser, i.e. a bit floppy, but nothing that leaning forward a bit won’t cure.

Genesis Alpitude 69er by robkhoo, on Flickr

I may be missing something but why go from a rigid 29er to a rigid 69er in order to simulate a 29er with front suspension?

as a mate put it “69ers are for the indecisive and lady boys” go big wheels or don’t bother you big bunch of ladies blouses 😉

Tazzy – I’m in at least one of those categories…. 😆

I may be missing something but why go from a rigid 29er to a rigid 69er in order to simulate a 29er with front suspension?

because I’ve just bought some sus forks for the 29er and so will have a Sanderson 26″ frame and some 29er carbon forks sitting about. I suppose I could sell them.

I’m borrowing a wheel to try on mine next weekend hopefully. In 26″ wheel 440mm rigid forks. Will report back.