I suspect I’m kinda looking for the moon on a stick but here goes 🤔

I seem to be drawing a complete blank in my hunt for a steel Salsa Firestarter fork so could anyone recommend an alternative?

The intention is to replace the crappy Suntour fork on my girlfriends Specialized Ariel hybrid to make it a bit lighter. She always rides with it locked out anyway so rigid would be ideal.

A2C of about 480mm, rake of about 45mm should be about right…

9×100 QR dropouts and IS or post disc mounts…

Mudguard eyelets pretty much essential and pannier eyelets if possible…

She doesn’t like the idea of CF so it’d need to be steel.

Surly Krampus Fork QR version

https://surlybikes.com/parts/krampus_fork

Thinking about it if it’s replacing a 60mm travel fork maybe the Bridge Club or Ogre fork might be more suitable. Surly will have an answer anyhow. I use a Krampus fork on a Rockhopper so was replacing a 100mm travel fork and it’s fine.

https://shop.bikesandbuddies.co.uk/kona-kona-p2-fork-29-275-plus.html

I got a pair similar to this from these guys. They were quick to get back to me with figures for AC etc (mine are 467mm, iirc).

I’ve had quite nice Soma forks from these guys earlier this year (they might be a bit less “heavy duty” than the Surlys). Slightly odd website where you ring up to pay but very friendly. Might take a week or two as they do one order from USA each week. Also found bikes and buddies mentioned above very helpful for Kona stuff.

https://southerndistributors.co.uk/product/soma-mtb/