Rigid forks

tremor

Looking at moving on to a better bike for off-road and upgrading/changing my old avalanche 3 so that it is more suitable for the road commute to work, the spongey fork seems to me to be the first thing to go (aside from tyres) and a rigid seems like the best option. What should i be looking for in a rigid fork?
... ideally i'd like this conversion to be as cheap as poss, dont need disk mounts as it only has v brakes anyway.
How big/long should they be to fit? obviously it needs to take into account to travel on the old fork.

any help/advice would be appreciated

alfablue

The Kona Project 2 is available in lengths to suit 80mm and 100mm travel frames. The triple butted is the lightest of their versions (weighs about 900g). They are available with or without disc mounts.

trail jacker

why not just get some suspension forks with lockout?
rigid forks are very restricting, at least youll have the option to go off road at the weekends without changing the forks!
Dart 3's are pretty cheap...and dart two's may have lockout too, but im not sure.

link (dart 3's): http://chainreactioncycles.com/Models.a ... elID=13107

alfablue

But if it is a second bike, just for commuting, rigid forks can save 1kg or more, and they will go off road too (though obviously no so effectively - my first mtb, years ago, was a rigid).

passout

Kona (as mentioned) are good or maybe Pace if you are flush.

JasonRwmb

Ideally If your current forks are 100mm travel then look for an axle to crown dimension of about 440mm, if it is 75mm then 420mm.

On a budget the best ones to go for are the Kona Project 2 (mentioned above) or a pair of On-One steel forks. You should be able to pick either up for not too much money, if they are second hand just remember to make sure the steerer tube is sufficient for your frame. Carbon forks are nice and do remove a lot of 'buzz' however they cost a bit more and generally don't come with v-brake mounts.

Unless you live somewhere rocky then rigids are fine off road, personally I would rather ride with a decent carbon rigid fork than a cheap full-suss fork. I haven't ridden with steel forks for years so really can't remember how they compare.