# Surly Troll fork on rigid Nishiki Cascade?



## michaeld61 (May 11, 2014)

I recently came across a Nishiki Cascade in my size(xtra huge). I was wanting to change to a threadless headset with the obvious choices being a LHT fork or a troll fork. I really want to go with the troll but I am concerned about putting a suspension corrected fork on a rigid bike. Will this screw up my handling. I am planning on trying a little bike packing and the troll fork would be a nice addition. Thanks in advance for your input.


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## jmmUT (Sep 15, 2008)

If your headset is threaded then your headtube is most likely 1" in diameter. Most threadless forks are going to be 1 1/8" diameter. 

So you are probably stuck with a threaded headset and threaded fork with that bike.


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## michaeld61 (May 11, 2014)

Thanks, but it's 1 1/8. Part of my decision to snag this particular bike.


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## Trower (Apr 27, 2009)

First off, that is one killer frame;-) Really love those, had one and regret selling it when I was in highschool...

Anyhow what makes you want to run a troll? Why the need for threadless? What do you plan on using for tires on the rig? I have an old peogeuot that I just use a threadless adapter with for ease of stem and bar swaps and those work quite well. 

Anyhow best of luck with the project, and make sure you post some pictures!

-Nick


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## Trower (Apr 27, 2009)

Also another thing to consider is that there would be no rake on the troll fork, so your wheelbase would be affected as well. Unless you wanted to run a larger tire I wouldn't bother changing forks. You could get someone to weld on rackmounts or a diskbrake mounts easy enough if that's the reason as well, though I'd keep canti's anyhow;-)


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## ScaryJerry (Jan 12, 2004)

How long is the current nishiki fork? I feel like an older 413mm 1x1 fork would be a better match


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## big_papa_nuts (Mar 29, 2010)

https://www.bikeforest.com/CAD/faq/axle_to_crown.gif

There are other things to consider but that is the big one.


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## michaeld61 (May 11, 2014)

Fork length is 400mm. The reason I may change the fork is basically for the extra brazeons and the ability to change bars, etc. I like to tinker with my bikes a bit. I is very difficult for me to find older rigid mt bikes that fit me well(tall). A previous cascade fit great, but sadly was run over by an angry driver. (the bike not me). I also want to do a little bike packing on this bike, that's why I'm thinking Troll.

Thanks for all the replies, Mike


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## Freightlinerbob (Feb 4, 2014)

Trower said:


> Also another thing to consider is that there would be no rake on the troll fork, so your wheelbase would be affected as well. Unless you wanted to run a larger tire I wouldn't bother changing forks. You could get someone to weld on rackmounts or a diskbrake mounts easy enough if that's the reason as well, though I'd keep canti's anyhow;-)


Isn't " offset" synonymous with "rake"?

Troll forks are listed as having 40 mm offset.


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## michaeld61 (May 11, 2014)

I'm going to have someone at work show me how to measure rake today. A troll fork is 453mm compared to the existing fork at 400mm. that does not seem like a big difference. The stock fork is very straight also, so maybe the troll will work fine. Sorry about the lack of photo's, I gotta buy a new camera.


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## Freightlinerbob (Feb 4, 2014)

michaeld61 said:


> I'm going to have someone at work show me how to measure rake today. A troll fork is 453mm compared to the existing fork at 400mm. that does not seem like a big difference. The stock fork is very straight also, so maybe the troll will work fine. Sorry about the lack of photo's, I gotta buy a new camera.


453mm vs 400mm is the axle to crown measurement.

There is a 53 mm difference in the distance, measured in a straight line, (edit: a straight line but parallel to the steerer) between the center of the axle and the top of the fork crown where the bearing sits.

25.4 mm per inch. From your numbers, troll fork is 2 inches taller.


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## ChristianCoté (Jul 13, 2014)

I would consider that a rather significant alteration to the frame's geometry myself, but I can't think of any forks that offer the braze-ons you want within the +/-20mm threshold I'd prefer. You're sure you wouldn't prefer to just have those mount braze-ons applied to a fork that offers everything else in a more manageable size? The Surly 1x1 makes a lot of sense size-wise, but a Salsa Cromoto 26" would cut the axle-to-crown penalty in half, offer forward-facing dropouts, be noticeably lighter than the Surly Troll, and be much easier to add braze-ons to due to it being straight and the Surly 1x1 being curved.

If you're really fine with adding that much slack to your frame the Surly Troll fork is still a fantastic fork, obviously, but with a little more investment of time and money I think a closer-to-perfect result can be attained than that.


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## jcaino (May 26, 2007)

2 inches difference in the axle-to-crown is going to be a big change and would not be recommended.

If your axle-to-crown is indeed 400, then a straggler fork would likely be a direct replacement, depending on the rake (offset) of your current fork. Of course, you would have to switch to disc brakes up front for this.

The 1x1 fork would be a good replacement at only 13mm more axle-to-crown and would let you keep your rim brakes.


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## dbhammercycle (Nov 15, 2011)

I would try to stay very close to the original a-c. That said, choosing a fork is tough with the options available. The 700c disc trucker fork with mid blade eyelets has a good a-c at 390, but may not have much clearance for a bigger volume 26 tire. The 26er trucker disc a-c is short at 376. Another option I'd consider is perhaps the big dummy fork at 425, but it may be long. The cromoto at 425 is solid fork, I have 2, but 425 is maybe a little long and no mid-blade eyelets. It does have brake post mounts, but I'm not sure how useful those are for a front rack. Obviously, you would need to switch to a disc brake too. It may be that, as suggested, the 1*1 fork is the closest in the surly family to your original fork. You are looking for a fork that doesn't exist so you'll have to compromise, have your current fork modified, or have one purpose built. It's not an easy task, good luck.


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## michaeld61 (May 11, 2014)

I guess I will stick with the stock fork . I can add some brazeons myself. I have never done that but have done a decent amount of brazing. I really like how this bike handles and don't want to screw that up!


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