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@exteroceptive
As I've detailed before, finding a fork for this bike has been a bit of a journey. I'm aiming to fit 32 mm tyres on this bike, as this is what the frame allows for. I visited Condor to see if they had any old stock of their winter caliper fork, but they didn't. What I did see though was their Fratello audax bike built up, which had a very appealing fork on it. The specs state 28 mm clearance but it looks like it will comfortably do more.
Unfortunately £300 for a fork is way out of my budget. The helpful man in the shop suggested that I try contacting Spa Cycles since they were specialists in touring bikes. I'd already been offered a Spa fork on here by someone who had managed to fit 32 mm tyres, but that offer had been withdrawn over concerns about damage to the fork.
So I contacted Spa cycles to see if they had any old stock of their Audax fork lying around, despite it being out of stock. As it turns out they had one with a few minor blemishes on it that they would sell me for cheap. That was lucky because they said the next shipment of forks wasn't due for months. I have to say John at Spa Cycles was very helpful and nice to deal with.
The fork arrived yesterday and I was excited to try it out. I took the front wheel off my rim brake commuter, and put it on. Hmm. Even with these 25c tyres (Mich pro4) there wasn't tons of space. And was I imagining things or was the spacing uneven?!
I got out some calipers and measured the width of the tyre. It was around 26 mm. Notably, the rim's internal width is 15 mm, versus the 19 mm rims to be taken from the donor bike. So in theory the tyre would be even wider on those wheels.
Further testing was needed, so I swapped on a pair of 32c Conti Ultra Sports. There was definitely something wrong. The tyre would clear the fork by 1-2 mm on the left, and rub on the right.
I tried reversing the wheel to see if it was a wonky wheel rather than a crooked fork. Ultimately I was too vexed by the rubbing at all that I couldn't remember which side was which. Taking photos wasn't a huge help because it's very difficult to photograph tyre clearance while trying to hand-hold a fork completely straight-on to the camera. So I don't have a conclusion on this, and should probably try it again.
What I will say though is that the wheel I was using was a low-end Shimano wheel with only 16 spokes, which has been used for a few years on my commuter, so it wouldn't surprise me if it was out of true. On the other hand, it seems impossible to expect a 32 mm tyre to fit on 19 mm internal rims, if space is this much of an issue with 15 mm. In all likelihood, I'm stuck with 28 mm tyres if I'm to use this fork. I'm not sure if I should try to return it, or admit defeat at this point.
The clearance issue stems from the shape around the crown area, where there is extra space carved out for a mudguard above the tyre, but these protrusions narrowing it on either side. The Condor fork by contrast has a smooth bowed shape.
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