Talbot Path Racer

That's really good info, thanks Al

I honestly notice a big difference between OTP steel fork and custom fork, the latter felt much more comfortable, even the disc brakes version.

But I guess one of the other problems is you're going to be paying at least £200 for a custom steel fork, right?

I know Some carbon foks are pricey but £200 will usually get you a decent, light, stiff and comfortable fork.

I can see the point in a steal fork on something like your Elephant where your odds of finding a carbon disc fork with braze ons in the right geo are slim to none. But otherwise steal forks often seem to be more abot aesthetics.

I've just thrown my fifth set of brake pads in the bin - if I were to build this bike again today I'd definitely use a disc brake on the front.

I think I'd also go for mudguards with more wrap - these are good, but the problem with good is that you get frustrated that they're not great, which happened yesterday when the spray soaked my shoes.

I might experiment with some PDW ones, but I'm more tempted to make my own, which would be a fun I think.

Has anyone seen a commercially available carbon fork with a standard road A/C that mounts a disc caliper?

http://www.woundupcomposites.com/pricing.html

This one?

^ ugly as sin and even colour-coded would kill the aesthetics... but probably the best option.

^^ any ideas on how you would make the mudgaurd?

I think it looks ok on polished steel/Ti

decent clearance too:

I think you are either a fan of that particular aesthetic or you are not - I'm in the latter camp.

Mudguard - either an old fashioned eccentic wheel and some alloy stock, which I suspect would provide somewhat variable results until proficiency is reached, or a mould and carbon twill/resin, which would take longer to make the tooling but once done could be replicated fairly easily.

Making a mudguard out of carbon would be pretty easy.

you'd need some kind of former/mould though.

I've got the tools to make a former out of wood pretty easily, my thinking was that I could then make a mould from plaster of paris.

Release agent into the mould, twill and resin, then use the former to press it into shape whilst the resin goes off.

Sound about right?

If it worked the resulting guards should be very light, very stiff and - crucially- very thin.

Can't Talbot make you a disc fork that fits the requirements?

Out of steel, yes, out of carbon fibre, no.

Out of newspaper, painted black and with "Cbaron feebr" written on it in marker, definitely.

Out of newspaper, painted black and with "Cbaron feebr" written on it in marker, definitely.

I'd like on of these...

enter code here

Would Matt not like to experiment making a steel disc fork with thru axle?

Possible solution?

http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/08/15/enve-rigid-carbon-mountain-forks-now-shipping-thru-axle-adjustable-geometry-and-mini-fender-come-standard/

That'll be loads too tall

If it worked the resulting guards should be very light, very stiff and - crucially- very thin.

I guess you could potentially make it a lot thinner under the fork crown. Which I'm guessing is the main place it needs to be thin.

If you have some sort of support/mount on both sides of the brake caliper then I'd guess it would need next to no strength in that section... But that would be for a rim brake.

How would you* fix it to the underside of the fork crown on a carbon disc fork?

*or did you on the TM?

On the Time Machine we put a mount on the rear of the crown that uses the caliper brake mounting point on the mudguard

There was a thread on here where we were looking for the holy-grail crabon road disc fork with mudguard eyelets and someone actually found one that wasn't a wound-up.

But I can't remember where the thread is.

DJ's commuter thread, and Whisky Parts?

The whisky cross forks have mudguard mounts but not the road disc forks

Yarp, we used a bolt-thru Whiskey fork for the disc-braked Dalsnibba - very nice fork, no eyelets.

Availability of the ENVE stuff is a lot better than the Whiskey - which is a shame as we'd use it if we could buy it.

Any use?

https://www.lynskeyperformance.com/store/lynskey-endurance-road-carbon-disc-fork.html

Looks like a nice fork, but 397mm A-C versus the standard 367-370

Maybe you could attach eyelets to a carbon disc fork yourself?