you’ve done all this and waited all this time to find a near perfect fork, why not have a longer steerer installed?
Is Frank the Welder still around? He did two forks for me years ago and there was no noticeable damage to the paint. You can barely even tell they were lengthened.
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk