I ride a26″ wheeled hardtail and am currently using a 100mm suspension fork (straight steerer).

I’m beginning to think of setting it up with a rigid fork (steel or carbon) and am just fishing around for options.

Most 26″ rigid forks seem to come in 445mm/450mm A-C heights to replace an 80mm or 100mm sus. fork, but having ridden an almost identical frame with a 450 A-C rigid fork it felt a little low. Since my frame can take up to a 130mm sus. fork I would assume that it could take a slightly taller rigid fork.

I have heard of folk running 29er rigid forks on 26″ frames and did query with On-One whether I could run one of their 27.5″ carbon forks with the frame; the response was that they wouldn’t recommend it as it would place extra stress on the headtube. In the end it turned out that I could only get the 27.5″ forks with a tapered steerer, and I’d need a straight one.

So, can I get a nice rigid straight steerer fork (for a 26″ frame) around the 460mm A-C mark? If not the most promising looking option is the On-One MKM35 at 450mm.

Any thoughts or option appreciated.

Yes. Look at the ISON website, Surly rigid forks will have you covered and the site shows stock levels. Or…you could run a slightly shorter fork with a 29″ wheel, which worked really well for me on an Inbred. If you do go withe the Surly option they also make a couple of wider tyres (dirt wizard and Nate, both around 3 inches) tyres that’ll fit a moderately wide 26″ rim.

The MKM35 looks like the Exotic which is a good fork. Not a bad weight, seems strong enough, lots of people using them etc,.

I avoid steel forks as they can weigh a considerable amount more than the carbon bladed forks and one of the benefits of the rigid fork for me is the weight saving.

Exotic do a 165mm rigid fork which is meant to equate to a 130mm sus. fork on a 26″ bike.

I have a Salsa 29er rigid fork on my 26″ on-one 456. It’s a similar length to a sagged 140mm fork, so rides lovely and doesn’t put more stress on the headtube (unless you assume you only crash headon with a fork fully compressed). Just do the math and get what suits your frame/riding.

Longer fork means even slower handling

I’ve an early skinny top tubed Inbred (so might be different geo). Played with 29er wheel / Fortitude fork and tried On-one rigid steel and Surly rigid forks. Favourite (and current) set up is 26″ wheel with Salsa Cromoto 445mm fork. Might be all in my mind, but Salsa fork definitely more comfortable than OO or Surly rigid forks.

I have a 26″ hardtail with Exotic carbon forks, nice set-up, very light but you have to pick your line when riding! I think if I ran tubeless I could run lower pressures and the ride may be a ‘bit’ smoother.

I run a Hylix 700c cyclocross fork on my genesis ioid. Bought off here, the geometry is a good complement to the Rekon forks it replaced.