New NFE fork?
Nate P
Eric Keller
> Am I alone in my utter disgust of unicrown forks?
like the way they look,especially if the blades have a pleasing curve.
But I'm not going to fight fashion.
Eric Keller
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania
Daniel Jackson
Alex Wetmore
I have one of the first run of new forks on a semi-custom NFE. There are photos of that bike here: http://photos.alexwetmore.org/Bicycles/Bicycles/Elephant-NFE
They ride nicely and are lighter than the older forks. Going to unicrown allowed them to get blades that are better suited to disk brake use. There is a big gap in availability for fork crowns that have at least 70mm clearance
between the fork blades. There is the Nova "old school" crown that Elephant used previously, but that limits you to two blade choices, neither of which is well suited to disk brake use. There was the Pacenti MTB crown, but it is no longer being made and
was quite a bit more expensive. There aren't any other choices that are widely available.
I think that the Elephant unicrown forks look pretty nice. They still have nice details like internal wiring for a dyno headlight that few others do, and a very nice bend in the lower portion of the blade. Given the parameters available I think that they made the right choice.
alex
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2016 12:25:18 PM
To: 650b
Subject: [650B] New NFE fork?
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Nate P
Alex Wetmore
Hopefully bikes like the NFE and Romanceur show Nova that it would be a good idea to offer a proper disc-ready blade that fits their oddball (but nice dimensions) fork crown. Nova does make a disk specific fork blade for standard fork crowns, but not the 70mm wide one.
In the meantime the options are slim for those who like 50mm+ tires and fork crowns. It's hard to blame any small producer for moving away from crowns. I've noticed many other builders moving to segmented forks given the same restrictions, but personally I prefer the look of a unicrown to a segmented fork (and I think the unicrown is almost certainly stronger).
alex
To: 650b
Cc: nphi...@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [650B] New NFE fork?
Chris Cullum
On Sep 26, 2016 12:39, "Alex Wetmore" <al...@phred.org> wrote:
>
> I have one of the first run of new forks on a semi-custom NFE. There are photos of that bike here: http://photos.alexwetmore.org/Bicycles/Bicycles/Elephant-NFE
>
>
> They ride nicely and are lighter than the older forks. Going to unicrown allowed them to get blades that are better suited to disk brake use. There is a big gap in availability for fork crowns that have at least 70mm clearance between the fork blades. There is the Nova "old school" crown that Elephant used previously, but that limits you to two blade choices, neither of which is well suited to disk brake use. There was the Pacenti MTB crown, but it is no longer being made and was quite a bit more expensive. There aren't any other choices that are widely available.
>
Are the former Pacenti lugs and crowns no longer made by Long Shen? I thought I recalled still seeing them in the LS offerings. If not, that's a shame.
Greg Walton
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Philip Kim
Alex Wetmore
I assume that a custom twin plate fork crown was a lot more fuss with small gain, but I don't have any insider knowledge on that option. Twin plate fork crowns aren't awesome in torsion.
Chris Cullum said: "Are the former Pacenti lugs and crowns no longer made by Long Shen? I thought I recalled still seeing them in the LS offerings. If not, that's a shame."
I believe Long Shen always made them, but Pacenti owns the design and they can't be sold elsewhere. It would be nice if they stay on the market, but I don't think that they are. There are two sources for buying them, Pacenti/bikelugs.com (which is closing up shop), and Ceeway, who doesn't sell them to North America. I think they are gone (or available in very limited quantities, which obviously doesn't work for a production bike).
alex
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2016 12:58:28 PM
To: Alex Wetmore
Cc: Nate P; 650b
Christopher Grande
Your NFE is beautiful, any plans for fenders, racks and lights? You're builds are always on point.
Honestly, I like the unicrown fork more than the double-plated 'wishbone' stays. Still a great frame and company either way.
Chris
Mike Schiller
~mike
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Evan Baird
eric moss
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eric moss
Igor Belopolsky
On Monday, September 26, 2016 at 11:52:01 PM UTC-4, raisondhetre wrote:
BTW, a bit more love for 650b bikepacking: http://www.bikepacking.com/plog/2016-interbike-awards/
On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 10:13 PM, eric moss <eric....@gmail.com> wrote:
Google Pech Tregon Randonneuse. Mini-review at https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/print/issues/bq-57-autumn-2016/
On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 10:08 PM, Evan Baird <vanst...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Tamaso Johnson
ilter
ilter in chicago
Steve Park
eric moss
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eric moss
Igor Belopolsky
Ryan C
My sentiments were identical to yours, Nate. As someone who wants to use the Elephant more for allroad (but mostly road) rando riding and not bombing singletrack with 40lbs on the front rack, I'll take the sexy fork with the risk of cracking over the unicrown allll day long. Too bad it wasn't kept as something one could opt for.
Keeping my spot on the waitlist though, for sure. I think the fork crown won't be as visible once I have a front rack and rando bag on it anyway. And if it's really lighter then that's a plus. If I build up the bike and still feel salty about the unicrown after living with it, then I figure I could always just get a custom fork made and powdercoated, although it's a shame it's come to that.
Finally, from the email:
"In the last year with about 90 NFEs in the world, we’ve had a few fork cracks. We take this super seriously and it jammed up production for a while. We replaced a batch of forks that we were nervous about and dug into the fork design at length. The result of this investigation revealed a number of factors that led us to a new design. There are some availability issues with the crown we were using and those that we looked at for replacement. Disc-worthy blades that fit with available crowns are not yet abundant. But ultimately, the cost (in materials and time) for producing the old fork is too high to keep the stock NFE project profitable without raising the price.
It has the same rake. And it has the same attachment points at the same spots as the old forks. Fits same fat tires.
Our goal from the start has been to build a super high-value, American-made low trail/adventure whatever rally bike. We love this bike and we want it out there. So far our customers have ridden these bikes all over the world. Many of our customers ride the hell out of these bikes in backcountry, over 1000’s of miles of fire roads. This is what we want. This is why we build the bike. The new forks are stronger and lighter than the old forks. They take less time to build and materials are more abundant. We can hold the price where it’s at for the foreseeable future.
We hope you agree that this is the right move. I know there’s an aesthetic coolness to lugged crown with windows and such. But we believe this is the right fork for this bike. Someday when the queue is more manageable, we may look at an NFE with a lugged crown and perhaps canti’s or Jan’s centerpull brakes. Right now, however, we don’t have plans to offer a lugged fork."
Ryan Ray
Ryan Ray
On Monday, September 26, 2016 at 12:25:19 PM UTC-7, Nate P wrote:
Nathan Phipps
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Nick Favicchio
Like a taller, stouter and obviously wider PBP crown designed for disc blades. And maybe an option for the rim brake crowd, but considering it's 2016, whatever :). Prolly not.
Fork crowns scream fancy. Unicrowns tell my eye old mtn bike. It's a bummer Elephant had to make the choice they did but rider safety, functionality and money are real. And it's still a super cool bike.
Kevan Rutledge
Alex Wetmore
It can. It uses the standard 28x20 oval, and Nova makes a disk friendly blade for it. It won't handle tires over 50mm though (clearance is 58mm, it is pretty tight with the Quasi-Moto) and is no longer being made.
alex
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2016 10:41:04 AM
To: 650b
Subject: Re: [650B] Re: New NFE fork?
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Nick Favicchio
Tight with a Quasi-Moto, but it looks dope :).
The Pacenti Ritchey knockoff is amazing! And no longer made :(. The PBP is lovely! And no longer made :(.
Is this niche so insignificant? Nobody wants to take Elephant's and I'm sure loads of other people's/company's money? Boo! Dumb!
Hell, even the nice old mtn bikes had crowns! The cheap old mtn bikes were unicrown! And I don't think anyone wants their NFE to look more like a Hardrock than a StumpJumper.
Chris Cullum
On Sep 29, 2016 00:51, "Nick Favicchio" <nickfa...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> https://flic.kr/p/KhDhPw
>
> Tight with a Quasi-Moto, but it looks dope :).
>
> The Pacenti Ritchey knockoff is amazing! And no longer made :(. The PBP is lovely! And no longer made :(.
>
Those crowns are no longer produced because Kirk Pacenti is getting out of the framebuilding supply business. Not do to lack of demand. Bikelugs.com was being offered for sale but I don't think as yet anyone has taken up the torch, so to speak.
> Is this niche so insignificant? Nobody wants to take Elephant's and I'm sure loads of other people's/company's money? Boo! Dumb!
>
> Hell, even the nice old mtn bikes had crowns! The cheap old mtn bikes were unicrown! And I don't think anyone wants their NFE to look more like a Hardrock than a StumpJumper.
>