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My main bike is a Mk2 soul, straight steerer and I'm contemplating a 2nd hand 29er which also has a straight steerer.
Do you reckon there'll come a point when you won't be able to buy new forks with a straight steerer?
Granted there are plenty of quality 2nd hand forks around at the moment but there has to come a point where the quality of 2nd hand goods will detoriate so it'll be harder to purchase a set with un-pitted stanchions and there'll little choice for new.
I like my Soul and have no wish to replace it with a tapered frame just because of one the components is no longer available for it. Should I proceed with the purchase of another frame with limited fork options?
It's already reached the point where there are a lot fewer options available. I have a Blur XC and I'm aware that resale value will be close to zero sometime soon as straight 1 1/8th forks become harder to source. I'd certainly be building that into my assessment of value of any frame I was about to purchase.
There should be simple forks available, but something worth noting is that Mojo told me they could probably knock something together to suit most needs. I was talking to them about my concerns regarding the 170mm straight steerer 26" forks on my Patriot...
if the 29er has a 44mm semi-integrated steerer tube you can fit an external cup on the bottom and fit a tapered fork. as for the mk2 soul you can get sid and reba in straight steerer but with a 9mm axle, there are also manitou forks too with a straight steerer. If you look on CRC there are plenty of 29er forks with straight steerers
What fork are you currently running.
[quote=molgrips ]26" forks
You're into a whole different world of obsolescence there! Tapered steerers might have been mainstream before the 650B "revolution", but have been rather overtaken by it.
x fusion still do straight steerer forks. I still have two 1 1/8th frames. and i share your concerns.
I have a Commencal with a straight steerer and last time I looked about 9 months ago there was an OK choice of forks but looking around the bike shop recently *everything* has got a tapered steerer so make of that what you will.
You'll always be able to buy straight steerer forks but they'll be in the same category as 9sp and 26" wheels
Decent straight steerer forks are like rocking horse manure. I managed to get some new RC2L Lyriks about a year ago for about 300 quid. They are out there but you've got to hunt.
IMO 26ers are still the majority and people can't afford to make the costly jump quite yet. And it seems because of this the second hand (parts) market still has life in it yet and I've seen some decent forks command some reasonable prices.
Was having this conversation last night. Straight steerers and 135mm. The speed at which these have become less available. Faster than 26 in the wake of 650, 29er, 650B+, whatever+*
Rock Shox still have a few 1 1/8th steer options but nothing really past Reba / Sektor level, although I have seen a few new straight steerer Revelations kicking about.
I managed to get a new 120mm 26" Reba for my Camber a couple of years ago from Merlin but I've had all sorts of problems with it over the years so they sent me a brand new one a few weeks ago. Its quite strange though because it has the 2016 lowers but the older silver anodised stanchions / uppers and not the new fast black ones which seems to me that they've been custom made or custom ordered and built using surplus parts, as if Rock Shox / SRAM straight steerer uppers are now hard to come by.
I rebuilt my Mk1 Soul last year and ended up getting forks from Rosebikes. Real struggle to get straight steerer forks with old fashioned QR.
Any frame builder worth their salt should be able to replace a headtube letting you run taper forks
Or get cheap forks and have them tuned
Rock Shox still sell the Revelation in 26er straight steerer, although when I was looking last month that was pretty much the only option out there now. Luckily the Revelation has a wide range of travel available and is a good fork at a good price.
And answering your question: if I was going to buy a second hand frame now it would have a tapered steerer, definitely.
If anyone is interested i have a set of rockshox revelations dual air 150mm (straight steerer) they can have. They need a lot of love, the stanchion coating is worn away in the usual place and the lower brake mount needs helicoiling.
However internally they are all in once piece. I bought them as spares for another broken set of revs.
If anyone wants them get in touch.
The Germans are still selling 26" straight forks. Not cheap, but reba and I think revs are available
As above, it's already getting quite difficult, but at least with a hardtail you can get some rigid forks you can get some rigid forks, which won't really wear out.
Yes, just got a pair of 26" Revelation RCT3 Solo Air 140mm with fast black uppers for £375 from Merlin, which I thought was pretty good.Rock Shox still sell the Revelation in 26er straight steerer
As this is turning into a for sale thread I do have a set of 120mm Recons which need helicoling on the a brake mount which someone can have for not very much at all!