reckon mine’s the ugliest:
(not quite rigid either)

P1020155 by scaredypants, on Flickr

@rewski
Go for it, I was after exactly the same thing. I ride 13 miles each way to work on the canal (in the nice months) and wanted to build a lightweight mtb type bike so I could also use it as a mtb bike in the weekend/evening and in complete contrast to my big bouncy bike. I just started with a light frame, with a split crown race on the headset, so forks are easy to swap. As it happens, I’ve actually been regularly out mtbing in the Yorks Dales with the carbon rigids and really enjoying it. You don’t have to spend a fortune, everything on my sub 20lb bike is 2nd hand or last years heavily discounted, the only bits that are new are the handlebars, saddle and cassette/chain/rings. All the drivetrain is xt or slx, rings are cheapo deore. The important bits are frame, wheels, forks, tyres, brakes and finishing kit, you just need to wait for the appropriate bits to come up in classifieds or ebay. I bought some new Salsa cromo rigid forks for fitting trad mudguards in the rain/gloop.

been thinking of doing this on the sanderson….

found a 2nd Surley 29er steel fork in munich. would it be worthwhile buyijng it, but using my existing 26″ wheel in it? obviously using a disc brake.

anyone else tried this?

I think 29er rigid forks will be OK on 26er frames which are designed for 120mm sus forks. 445mm crown to axle are for 100mm. Are 29ers 265mm crown to axle?

Thanks lads. You have given me some food for thought with this. I have an extra set of Fox TALAS in the shed that I’d pop on every now and again too. Never even entered my head that I could swap the forks from rigid to sus. Now I just need to decide on the frame.

been thinking of doing this on the sanderson….

found a 2nd Surley 29er steel fork in munich. would it be worthwhile buyijng it, but using my existing 26″ wheel in it? obviously using a disc brake.

anyone else tried this?

This is my Inbred with a carbon On-One 29er fork. It rode better IMO. (470mm A to C).

IMAG0223 by pten2106, on Flickr

I ride a Gunnar 29erSS. It’s 19lbs still fitted with the orig steel forks, Easton carbon bars (quite wide) a 2.3 tubeless up front and a 2.1 tubed out back. I’d planned to fit some carbon forks when I bought the bike last year but TBH it doesn’t need them, the steel ones are tapered and soak up buzz well.
I ride the South Downs and Forest singletrack and love the direct feel, light weight and pureness of it. I also ride roadie so needed something in an MTB with similar feel, which it has.
Perfect combi my two bike “shed”

winter bike / city bomber with tyre change

Nothing else comes close for me. Love it!

Rigids nice for winter sluch and buff smooth summer singletrack. Rocks are ok in moderation but not towards the end of a long ride, annihilates your upper body 🙁

Clifton 2 by D0NK, on Flickr

Oops! How silly of me to google fully rigid at work.

Raced fully rigid last season and found it really good fun. Less to service made racing much much cheaper – I did swap to sus forks half way through and then went back as I prefered the lightness/directness of rigids.

Those riding rigid bikes clearly do soft rides on soft terrain.

Al you can manage rocky stuff ok it just takes a lot out of your arms wrists and shoulders. If you are doing a short ride it’s not really a problem you just go a bit slower down rocky stuff. On long rides you do suffer, once tired your arms can’t take it, shocks seem to jolt up your arms it gets uncomfy, you get distracted and if you aren’t careful you crash. How far you can manage a rocky ride comfortably is down to your fitness and more practice helps I guess but you can ride rough stuff rigid, after all we used to, we had no choice.

….wistfully daydreams…ice cream run, mid 90s, rigid kona, vbrakes, xc race geometry, 135mm stem, 22″ bars, scary as hell but doable.

My rigid cost far too much with pimp bits , but the boone ti ring is gorgeous 😉 currently for sale , whole bike not just the ring lol

I live in Herfordshire, do most of my riding in Hertfordshire, and for Hertfordshire, rigid is just about all you need – if you just want to ride XC. Besides I kept breaking myself on my Soul. If I lived in a rocky locale I wouldn’t ride rigid.

where before it was ‘i miss the alps’ all the time.

Exactly the reason I’m about to give it a try for the first time in 16 years!

Cheers again for the forks jameso, my 2.4 rubber queen turned up this morning too, so should be good to go soon!

I’ve had this for over 5 years and it needs minimum maintenance. It is used as a commuter with a spare set of slick tyred wheels.

I like having a bike that can go anywhere with little chance of problems. It is harder work on the arms when going down long rocky lakeland descents but it is mentally more challenging and enjoyable.

I have only used suspension briefly on my own bikes around 1997, they were horrible Quasar double crowned things and thankfully put me off.

Those riding rigid bikes clearly do soft rides on soft terrain.

I use mine for more fitness type rides where I want to cover miles rather than playing. I wouldn’t take it to the Lakes, but do ride in the Yorks Dales regularly. Like said above, it can be punishing on the arms and hands, but also more requirement to pick the right lines, so interesting. Occasionally it does ruin a long techy descent, I’ve sometimes wished I had the big bouncy bike.

I mostly ride farm tracks / bridleways, so suspension is overkill.
I’ve not ridden anything with suspension for the last 12 months, and I don’t miss it at all.

’92 Fire Mountain, still 26″ wheels F and R, but fitted with a 29er version of the PII fork (465mm A-C) – and whilst that might sound like a rubbish idea, it actually works really well:

I regard this as a mountain bike, but I’d be the first to accept that not everyone will: It’s my Singular Gryphon (I also think of me Peregrine in the same way, but I won’t post that one as well 😉 ):

cynic-al – Member
Those riding rigid bikes clearly do soft rides on soft terrain.

There is no other tye of riding on merseyside tbh, only road…

great fun and built it for roughly £400. Bargain!

024 by coastkid71, on Flickr

IMG_0366 by Northwindlowlander, on Flickr

My Carrera, up the top of innerleithen, just before a run down the red/black/downhill… Nice to get back to rigid, to me it’s just a machine for making things harder, which is nice to have. You hear people talking pish like “Glentress is so smooth”, well, take a rigid XC bike there and you’ll learn better.

I’d never have one as my only bike but they’re great fun. I do insist on a big front tyre though!