Affordable steel forks

[litcrazy]

Hello,
I'm a believer in steel forks for road, gravel and mountain.
I've enjoyed the Rivendell Carbonomas on my ti road bike and a Black Mountain Monster Cross fork on my steel cross/gravel bike.
I recently bought an old Wily 29er and was amazed how much more compliant its fork is versus a Salsa Chromoto Fork.

So my question is, what are the nicest (with a bias towards compliance) options for reasonable steel forks?

Rivendell has moved all there Carbonomas. Are there any options beyond Soma? If not, does anyone do custom road/gravel forks for $300 or less?

[robt57]

All City? I've used repurposed/painted Soma and Kona too.

[weaponsgrade]

Endpoint comes to mind: https://www.endpoint.bike/collection...rch-light-fork

[David Tollefson]

At the risk of being "advertising", you can email me at mjolnir.cycles@yahoo.com and we can talk details.

[rccardr]

Andy Gilmour in Tucson.

[AngryScientist]

I have one of the Tange infinity ones on my Ti bike and like it. For the cost, they ride well IMO.

[arimajol]

Maybe Marinoni? Give them a call, their prices are very reasonable.
Not sure how much Waterford would run, probably a little more than $300, but worth a call to them as well.

[bfd]

Check out Soma Fabrication, they have a bunch of steel forks starting at like $160 and go up to $230 or so! Good Luck!

https://www.somafabshop.com/shop/cat...road-steel-771

[kingpin75s]

Originally Posted by litcrazy

Hello,
I'm a believer in steel forks for road, gravel and mountain.
I've enjoyed the Rivendell Carbonomas on my ti road bike and a Black Mountain Monster Cross fork on my steel cross/gravel bike.
I recently bought an old Wily 29er and was amazed how much more compliant its fork is versus a Salsa Chromoto Fork.

So my question is, what are the nicest (with a bias towards compliance) options for reasonable steel forks?

Rivendell has moved all there Carbonomas. Are there any options beyond Soma? If not, does anyone do custom road/gravel forks for $300 or less?

Love steel forks and ride a lot of rigid.

Short of it IMHO is that stock or custom production forks fare better for road and gravel. You can still get a fork with feel.

For steel mountain forks, if it is not custom built for you, it has to be built to take abuse from someone of any size, so they tend to be very overbuilt and often dead feeling. Never met a stock or custom production steel mountain fork I liked, Vicious included. Love my Vicious off the shelf cross fork, but the mountain ones I have are just too overbuilt.

Best value in custom forks IMHO is Joel at Clockwork and I have a number of forks, stems and frames built by him. All excellent. You can likely get out the door for around $300 or so depending on config as forks start at $250.

http://www.clockworkbikes.com/options.php

[Look585]

Originally Posted by David Tollefson

At the risk of being "advertising", you can email me at mjolnir.cycles@yahoo.com and we can talk details.

Dave has built me three custom forks over the years. All have been exactly what was ordered and each not remotely available "off-the-peg". Highly recommended.

[lorenbike]

Stock All-City canti brake fork has been a nice smooth ride. I meant to pick up one of those Riv forks a few months ago for a road build, but missed out (anyone selling one??). For MTB, check out the Mone biplane fork. I've heard good things, and have been eyeing it up for my rigid 29er. Agree with others, especially for stock steel MTB forks.

[samwell187]

Waltworks should fit the bill as well -- a bit above your stated price, but extremely high-quality and with a range of off-road-centric features (suspension-adjusted, disc-ready, etc) in case that matters

[jadmt]

Originally Posted by David Tollefson

At the risk of being "advertising", you can email me at mjolnir.cycles@yahoo.com and we can talk details.

do you make a fork for a classic 90's mountain bike 26" v brakes, 1" steer tube? I am running a soma and it looks bad.

[David Tollefson]

Originally Posted by jadmt

do you make a fork for a classic 90's mountain bike 26" v brakes, 1" steer tube? I am running a soma and it looks bad.

Lost me at "v brakes". Never liked them, don't build them. But... I could send you toward Igleheart or Ahearne for such, both custom builders that would do justice to what you're looking for.

[litcrazy]

Thanks for the ideas. It looks like some nice custom options are available. Tempting.