Tapered TA Fork with 60mm Offset?

[Nomadmax]

I have a Lynskey GR300, 70.5 HTA, 50mm offset that is the worst handling bike I have ever ridden, but for my old Schwinn Varsity in the 70s. The long trail, 72mm, 23mm wheel flop (with 38mm tires), hunts like a dog with his nose to the ground on slow seated climbs and literally wants to twist the 44cm bars out of my hand when standing to climb or accelerate over the crest of a hill. It's not even tolerable with 28mm tires/road wheels (68mm trail, 22mm wheel flop).

My regular daily rides are Merckx SL/SLXs and Guerciotti SL/SLX/PRXs road bikes. They do everything I want and nothing I don't, they go where I look without talking back. I use the Lynskey solely for gravel riding but would like it to handle well enough to be a "dual purpose" bike, especially in poor condtions given my vintage fleet.

Does someone make a tapered TA fork that has 60mm of offset? That would put me at 61mm trail, 19mm wheel flop with 38mm tires. With 28mm tires, 58mm trail, 18mm wheel flop. I have no idea what the trail/wheel flop numbers are on my vintage fleet so I can't say what I consider to be "perfect" is. That said, I know what I don't like and if I can't get this thing to suit, it's going out the door.

Math is the shortest suit I have, but I'm guessing that when offset/rake increases, axle to crown has to increase so the front doesn't drop (which probably opens another can of worms). But, I'm not smart enough to know if that's the truth.

I do know a frame builder and I'm sure he can build one out of steel, and that wouldn't bother me at all. However, I'd hate to find out that my simple solution isn't so simple after having a custom fork made for it.

So, what are my options, including, sending it down the road and getting something else?

[Matt92037]

Seven makes a 55mm. Finding a 60mm may be difficult. What length stem are you running?

https://sevencycles.com/accessories/matador-fork-data.php

[Nomadmax]

100mm

[NHAero]

I feel your pain.
One more possible option (?) might be to buy a stock steel fork with the same A-C measurement (looks like 395mm) and have a frame builder add some offset to it. The All City Space Horse fork (https://allcitycycles.com/parts/forks/space_horse_fork) has 52mm offset to start, so you wouldn't be adding that much more offset. And, you could try it as is first.

[NHAero]

Here's another suggestion. I did this to convert my Litespeed Unicoi MTB to a drop bar rigid fork bike. Get a fork with a shorter A-C, which steepens up the HTA. Make sure you have enough BB height if you do this. Say you find a fork with a 383 A-C measurement (not uncommon, my Whisky No. 9 Road+ is this length). That 12mm lower A-C steepens the HTA 0.66 degrees, which reduces trail. Ideal would be a steel fork that can also be re-raked.

[sblackmacken]

Enve Adventure fork has a chip for either 49mm or 55.5mm of offset:

https://www.enve.com/product/adventure-fork/?gclid=CjwKCAjwxr2iBhBJEiwAdXECw5URX8lHokfqrUFo9Rq zmiTsJTZtKgUEPMnSo22BLba0AL0n0ba4gRoC7vAQAvD_BwE

Columbus Futura - adjustable for 47/52:

https://www.columbus1919.com/en/portfolio/futura-cross-en/

I haven't seen anything stock over 55ish.

[Nomadmax]

I feel your pain.
One more possible option (?) might be to buy a stock steel fork with the same A-C measurement (looks like 395mm) and have a frame builder add some offset to it. The All City Space Horse fork (https://allcitycycles.com/parts/forks/space_horse_fork) has 52mm offset to start, so you wouldn't be adding that much more offset. And, you could try it as is first.

What I know about "new" bikes you can put into a thimble. The fork steerer I have is 1 1/2" at the bottom and tapered down to 1 1/8" at the top. Is there some kind of conversion bearing set that will allow for 1 1/8" straight steerer tube to be used in my frame?

[NHAero]

Enve Adventure fork has a chip for either 49mm or 55.5mm of offset:

https://www.enve.com/product/adventure-fork/?gclid=CjwKCAjwxr2iBhBJEiwAdXECw5URX8lHokfqrUFo9Rq zmiTsJTZtKgUEPMnSo22BLba0AL0n0ba4gRoC7vAQAvD_BwE

Snip



AFAIK, the Enve fork, when set up with more offset, also grows in A-C length, so that's heading in the wrong direction unfortunately.

[prototoast]

At this point, I would just sell the Lynskey and buy a bike whose geometry you're actually happy with. I don't know of a tapered 60mm carbon fork. You can get up to 55 with Seven and some OEM options (Cannondale Topstone comes to mind), but at that point, you're spending money to only get the bike part of the way towards where you want it to be. Or you could get a custom steel/titanium fork, but again that's a lot of money to put into a bike you're not fond of.

[NHAero]

If you send the Lynskey on to a new owner, and want a Ti frame that takes fat rubber but handles more like a road bike, I suggest the Habanero Cross (https://www.habcycles.com/cross.html) frame. I have the 51cm size (55 ETT) and it has a 72 HTA and is designed to work with a 395mm A-C fork. I'm running mine with the Columbus Futura Cross fork with the flip chip set on 52mm (alternative is 47mm). With a 700x38 tire that's 60mm trail. I run 650Bx42 on that bike, trail is 55mm - it's identical to my Firefly road bike for HTA and trail.

[mstateglfr]

What I know about "new" bikes you can put into a thimble. The fork steerer I have is 1 1/2" at the bottom and tapered down to 1 1/8" at the top. Is there some kind of conversion bearing set that will allow for 1 1/8" straight steerer tube to be used in my frame?

Ive seen examples were a zero stack lower bearing was swapped for an external cup(so ZS zero stack swaped to EC external cup) and the external cup is sized to take a 1 1/8 fork crown.

There are other setups too, the one above is just one I have seen in person.

[prototoast]

Ive seen examples were a zero stack lower bearing was swapped for an external cup(so ZS zero stack swaped to EC external cup) and the external cup is sized to take a 1 1/8 fork crown.

There are other setups too, the one above is just one I have seen in person.

Lynskey frames use an integrated headset, so you can't use a cup to step down in bearing size, but there are adapter crown races (e.g., https://northwestbicycle.com/products/cane-creek-40-series-steel-52-30-conversion-crown-race-1-5-to-1-1-8-hd2438).

That said, sticking a straight steel fork into that head tube probably looks awful, and who knows how well it would even ride?

[rothwem]

Assuming you have the stock Lynskey Gravel fork, that's actually a 45mm offset, so that would explain some crappy handling. I had a Kona Jake the Snake with a 71.5°HTA and a 45mm offset fork and it did the same things you're describing.

Anyways, I'd try the 55mm offset forks, maybe the Enve one would be fine. The Cannondale SuperX from 2017-202X used a 55mm offset too, it was paired with a 71° HTA and they're supposed to handle very well. I'm not sure what the Axle to Crown measurement is on the Cannondale though.

Also, I'm not sure how relevant this is, but the Jake the Snake I had with the floppy low speed handling was the best descending gravel bike I've ever ridden. On Strava, all of my downhill gravel PRs on are still on that Kona and its been off the road for almost 3 years now, I put up with the wonky climbing because it was just so good once I got it over 15-20 mph, and it was magical above 30.

[Pegoready]

I don't think Seven will sell their fork alone without a frame.

The Enve Adventure Fork has a 55.5 mm rake but given it is taller than an average gravel fork (406 mm Enve vs. 395 mm most others) it will slacken your head angle and counteract the direction you're trying to move toward.

[Nomadmax]

I'm not tech savy enough to quote all of these very good responses. But, I had it wrong, the adventure fork I have is 45mm offset, not 50mm. And yeah, that's even worse.

The suggestions to get something else hit home and that's what I was leaning toward. But, I didn't want to throw the baby out with the bath water before seeing if it could be salvaged. I'd say at this point, it's got to go down the road. Driving 2+ hours each way to some passable gravel is getting kinda old to boot. I'm a door to door cyclist at heart. Thanks all!

[owly]

Wouldn't dropping in a angled headset achieve what you're chasing?

[prototoast]

Wouldn't dropping in a angled headset achieve what you're chasing?

His frame has an integrated headset. The only options I know of for an angled headset (and really the only way to make it feasible that I can think of) put an external cup underneath. This effectively raises/slackens the headtube on its own. If you're a mountain bike and this is what you're going for anyway, that's fine, but he'd negative most of the benefit of the angled headset if he did that to make it steeper.

[NHAero]

My opinion, sharing the unfondness of the OP for slack and flopful road geo, is that this is a characteristic of the design and not easy to change. He is better off finding a good home for the Lynskey and finding a frame, stock or custom, that meets his handling and fit needs. I did it with Brad Bingham, fabulous but commensurately expensive. He could get a custom Habanero (the stock one works well enough for me, though I have 35mm of spacer and a +6 stem) for $1,800.