Thankfully, gravel forks are pretty simple. Namely, the head angle, seat tube angle, and bottom bracket height. The AC height has a direct impact on several important factors in a bike’s geometry. When perusing the specs of each of the forks listed below, the single most important number to consider is the axle-to-crown (AC) height. In our opinion, all forks branded for “adventure” should have three-pack cage mounts on each blade, dynamo wiring, and rack mounts. The option for water bottles in that position is extremely practical, and a three-boss configuration is even better, providing two vertical bottle position options or the ability to mount Anything-style cargo cages.
However, since we first published this Gear Index, they both released new forks with mounts, as did many other manufacturers. Our best guess is that they wanted to retain a sleek, clean look. But still, just last year, we wondered why popular carbon fork manufacturers like ENVE Composites and Whisky Parts didn’t put bottle mounts on their carbon offerings. And 2018 saw the rise of the carbon utility fork when several smaller companies, such as Rodeo Labs, Curve, and Bearclaw answered the call and created forks loaded with mounts and utility. Nowadays, there are quite a few steel options-mostly from Surly and Salsa, loaded with mounts. Most of us want bottle mounts as well as other features, such as internal dynamo hub wire routing, rack bosses, fender mounts, and the latest thru-axle standards-12 x 100mm for gravel grinders and BOOST 110 for ultra-endurance mountain bikers who want to get their rigs race-ready by swapping out the suspension fork.įorks with Bottle Cage Mounts (Three, please!) The boom in utility forks over the past few years has made a lot of bikepackers and gravel cyclists happy. Even so, it wasn’t until 2016 when mount-laden carbon forks first started appearing.
The Salsa Enabler was one of the first, back around 2009. This inspired a handful of steel utility forks to come on the market, each with built-in bottle bosses. Then came the Anything Cage, a new way to secure gear in that position without a big rack. In the meantime, most of us resorted to pipe clamps, electrical tape, or rivnuts to add bottle cages in this extremely practical location. It was the first production fork we know of that focused on utility.
It wasn’t until the fall of 2008, on the inaugural “Fun Guy Green” Salsa Fargo when forks with bottle cage mounts appeared en masse. However, forks with bottle cage mounts were hardly commonplace until recently. Carrying water bottles and gear on your fork is now a standard bikepacking practice, and one that can be found on touring bikes going well back into the 1970s and 80s.
0 kommentar(er)
