Rigid on Trial

I noticed a few weeks ago that the anodizing is being rubbed off the left stanchion of my White Brothers suspension fork, whether from a defect or a lack of proper maintenance I'm not sure. That was a bit disappointing from a $600 bike part. When you spend that kind of money on something you expect it to last. I was going to need something to use while the fork was getting repaired, and I thought maybe this was a chance to try a rigid fork. Actually, I was thinking about getting a Reba that was on sale and binning the White Brothers, since the repair will probably cost just as much. But then I thought about trying a rigid fork, after the subject had come up recently when talking to Jason Stoner during a trail work day at Gambrill.

During a ride at Gambrill on Sunday with John, Vin, and Dave, I switched bikes with Vin for a while. He was riding a fully rigid steel 29er, the brand name of which escapes me at the moment (I want to say it was a Redline), with fairly large WTB Exiwolf 2.3" tires. From the moment I started on it I felt right at home. It was so precise and efficient feeling, and I loved it. Plain and simple it was just more fun.

After asking around and doing some research, I settled on the Salsa Cromoto Grande to try my experiment on. It was relatively cheap at around 100 bucks, and everyone loved it. I had a bit of trouble finding someone with one in stock, but it finally arrived at my door on Monday. It's sitting on my living room floor right now, clamped in a mitre box so I can cut the steering tube down to size. I can't wait to go for a ride on it!