ckritzinger

So after a lot of searching, I got an Xfusion Trace. 140mm travel, straight steerer. Have had a couple of rides on it - fork that seems to do exactly what I was hoping for. I also tried adjusting the Epicon up to 120mm. Was a bit better but the Xfusion blows it away. The slightly slacker head angle makes the bike feel a bit more cushy on the downhills and i can't say I've noticed a big difference while climbing. Thanks for all the advice

Ja, that darn straight steerer is making this really tricky

Hi Guys Thanks for the great advice and suggestions. @Smimby: Evolv comes with 120mm as standard, so i figured 140mm would prob be OK. @Flowta: I've actually been chatting to William - he is the one getting me the quote on the Minute. The Pike looks nice, but as you say, quite pricey. I'm running (tubeless) Crossmark USTs on Alexrim XDs. Not actually blowing the tire itself, just breaking the seal and burping out the side when I land hard or turn hard - even when running the tires really hard. Thinking I might have to look at proper UST rims. @Maximis - I'll have a look at that - sounds great. Chatted to a local dealer who told me Suntour don't stock anything that would work for me. Think he was maybe trying to get me to buy a Fox... Shot for all the advice, gents!

I bought a secondhand Ellsworth Evolve frame a couple of months ago and built over all the components of my old hardtail. Its working very nicely and the plush dual-suspension is making me push my riding to places I never thought it would go. I'm now hitting the limits of my 100mm XC front fork quite solidly and picking up plenty of scars (as well as a couple of blown front tyres). So I'm looking to upgrade to a fork with 140mm of travel in the front. Problem is, the frame has a straight steerer (and won't fit an adapter for a tapered steerer). The only fork with those specs that I can find is the Manitou Minute, which seems like a reasonable (if pricey @ R10k) option. Does anyone know if there are any other options around? And (more importantly) does this seem like an insane thing to do? Should I just give up and buy a 650B? FWIW I'm 1.9m tall and weigh 90kg, so the bigger bike fits me rather well.