I don’t know how local it is to you, but “Justridingalong” do nice wheel builds and I think they offer Crests and CK’s as options. i had a Flow rimmed wheel from them and there’s no probs with that.
i had the blue explosif from about 2004/5 and replaced the 80mm Marzochi forks with some 100mm fox vanillas. it didn’t increase the axle crown height at all and made the ride far nicer. no problems so far
I have a 2.4 advantage on the front of my bike, and a 2.4 ardent on the back. seems to work ok. i was considering both like you when i bought my tyres, so got 1 of each. the advantage is just slightly bigger, and the ardent has a slightly rounder cross section profile. if this is any help
hi ,
I know that the Evil sovereign, kona explosif,and voodoo wanga have all used sliding dropouts . you can set them up for gears or ss.
If its longer travel forks you want, the Evil Sovereign is the one.