Rigid fork conversion tips for Giant XTC 29er?

[Jordan Ackermann]

Hi there! I am looking at putting a rigid fork on my Giant XTC 29er, carbon frame size XL. The steerer tube is Giant's "Overdrive" size, and the wheel is mounted with a through axle. I would like to build across the original wheel, disk brake caliper, handlebars, levers etc. 

Does anyone know of a suitable fork for this conversion, preferably carbon?

What other bits and pieces will I need to do this job?

Has anyone else done a similar conversion?

If you know where I can order a suitable fork please let me know! Any secondhand ones out there?

Thanks in advance.

[esCape-ist]

Overdrive is just Giant lingo for tapered head tube, so any fork with a 1.5inch tapered stem (1 1/2 bottom with 1 1/8th top) should work. 
 

but the bigger question is why? If your fork is poked, there a lots of options on the classifieds for decent, light XC forks that will cost you less than a good carbon fork, and give you some comfort. 
 

You could probably use a road bike fork with an adaptor for the lower bearing to size it down to 1 1/4 inch 

[Jewbacca]

42 minutes ago, esCape-ist said:

Overdrive is just Giant lingo for tapered head tube, so any fork with a 1.5inch tapered stem (1 1/2 bottom with 1 1/8th top) should work. 
 

but the bigger question is why? If your fork is poked, there a lots of options on the classifieds for decent, light XC forks that will cost you less than a good carbon fork, and give you some comfort. 
 

You could probably use a road bike fork with an adaptor for the lower bearing to size it down to 1 1/4 inch 

Not entirely true.

Some of the GIANT OS has a 1 1/4 top and 1 1/2 bottom bearing. They have specific OS stems and top headset assembly.

If this is the case, you can just buy a top bearing cup assembly to reduce from 1 1/4 to 1 1/8th. The bottom bearing stays the same.

If you go rigid, you want a fork with an axle to crown of between 470 and 510 depending on your geometry. I think the old XTC HA was pretty steep and built around a 100mm fork so at sag 480ish.

The only option I know of Locally is Kean bikes;

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/mountain-bike-forks/2510/carbon-29er-rigid-fork-15mm-thru-axle-ud-matt-a

So if you has the OS with the larger top diameter steerer, you will need to replace the stem, top headset bearing assembly and the fork, regardless of which option you buy unless you can find another OS fork in the classifieds

[esCape-ist]

Okay, my mistake. I thought only the road bike “Overdrive” was a proprietary sizing, and that the mountain bikes were regular 1 1/2 tapered headsets. Guess you learn something every day.

[Jordan Ackermann]

Thanks all for the input, much appreciated!