http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330076201742

I pulled the trigger on this today. Thanks to our mod Dave Hickey for his help while I agonized over this decision.:thumbsup:

So what do you guys think for spec? I'm going to try to move over my Sugino crankset from my fixie conversion and use any other parts from that to keep the cost down.

Now comes the decision on the fork. I'm leaning towards a threaded fork but a little unsure about using a spacer for the stem. Right now the candidates are the Surly Cross fork (steel, huge clearance, black), Nashbar Carbon Cross fork (black, a little lighter), or a fork from NYCBikes (can have painted any color, pretty cheap on ebay).

Give me your best ideas!

I'm leaning towards a threaded fork but a little unsure about using a spacer for the stem.


What does that mean???



Right now the candidates are the Surly Cross fork (steel, huge clearance, black), Nashbar Carbon Cross fork (black, a little lighter), or a fork from NYCBikes (can have painted any color, pretty cheap on ebay).


Aren't those all only available as threadless?

What does that mean???

Most threadless stems are for 1 1/8'' steer tubes so you have to use a shim (I incorrectly said spacer) to make a threadless stem work with a 1'' steer tube.

The NYC fork is the only one of that group that is threadless but it manages to be heavier than the Surly. I'm not a weight weenie but I'm not looking to add weight either.

Most threadless stems are for 1 1/8'' steer tubes so you have to use a shim (I incorrectly said spacer) to make a threadless stem work with a 1'' steer tube.



if you're worried about the shim slipping inside the stem, it's a non-issue... and if you go threaded it's not even in play since you'll be using a quill stem

Go threadless, aside from aesthetics (for some people), it is far superior.
Threadless with a shim (I have one bike set up this way) is still mechanically better than a quill stem.

Ditto FTM and FTF, just go threadless. I've never had a problem with using a stem shim on the steer tube even under heavy sprinting. Although I'm not really sure what could go wrong other than the stem somehow coming loose but I've never had that happen. I can't prove it, I'll leave that to someone more qualified, but in my experience theadless stems feel stiffer than quill stems.

Thanks for the help guys. Their site says they will build a fork for $195 so I'm going to give them a call on Monday. A little more than I had planned on spending but I think its the best way to go.