bargo68 

Finally got the Soma Champs Elysee low trail forks for my Cross Check experiment. I already own a Soma Grand Randonneur, and I'm pretty sure that the forks on this bike are the same forks as the Champs Elysee. Took a few hours to diasssemble the Cross Check, clean and repack the headset, measure and cut the steerer tube, set the star nut and reassemble, but the only real difficulty was replacing the crown race on the Soma forks. Had to go to the hardware store and get a length of 1 1/4" PVC tube and a cap to complete the job. Thanks RJ the Bike Guy! Worked like a charm.
Took it out on a neighborhood ride and so far, so good. Much quicker steering and NO TOE OVERLAP!!! Finally.....
I got it up to about 30 mph and no wobbles, but I have a section on my commute where I can get up to about 45 mph, so we'll see.
Here are some before and after




pics.

MarcusT

That's quite a difference in fork rake. Be very careful doing the speed tests

bargo68 

I will. Thanks for your concern. Want to live to ride another day!

trailangel

Hey why would you change to low trail ( I guess to better carry heavy touring load at slower speeds) and then take the bike downhill hill at 45mph? Just to test it? Have you tried it with a load?
I like those chromed Tange forks.

bargo68 

I always wanted to try low trail and I knew about the forks but they were not available from Soma for a long while. The Cross Check geometry seemed doable for adding the low trail fork. The bike is mostly a commuter bike that I carry stuff with. I used to use panniers and noticed that I got a lot of ghost shifting when the back of the bike got too heavy.
I bought a Soma Grand Randonneur a while back which is a low trail, 650B tire bike. I like it well enough but I like the feel of the Surly more and I was curious if I could give the Cross Check more sprightly handling and carry front loads better by adding the low trail fork. Also, the Cross Check has a toe overlap issue and the Soma forks took care of that.
As for downhill speed, I don't do much high speed descending, but there are times when I ride in the hills and like to go for it a little. Low trail bikes have a know "shimmy" issue that occurs at high speeds. Most people take care of this with roller bearing headsets. I currently have a Ritchey Scuzzy Logic headset and would like to not have to change it. We'll see. I did not intend to give the impression that I changed over to a low trail fork just to zoom down hills. I actually have a Miyata Ridge Runner with high trail and a long wheel base that would be great for that!

ironwood

Have you calculated the trail? Also what tires are you using?

bargo68 

Yup-43mm trail with Gatorskin 28's.

Spoonrobot 

Nice conversion. I have the disc version of that fork and really like how my conversion (Soma Fog Cutter) came out - it rides really well and not hint of shimmy. If you do end up looking for a roller/needle bearing headset, there is a shockingly cheap one on eBay from time to time. I use one even though I didn't have any shimmy issues, just to meet my Bicycle Quarterly influenced goals, and it's a great value.

bargo68 

Thanks! And thanks for the head's up on the headset. That is shockingly cheap! Looks solid, tho, and it matches my bike's color scheme, heh heh.
I had about 8 pounds in my rando bag on the front rack and tried some no-hands riding and that was a big no-no. I got an oscillation that might have been from an unbalanced load or maybe just the weight in general. I'll have to play around more and see.

radii

Thanks for posting this! Over the years I've toyed with the idea of putting of disc fork on my cross-check. I figured the Straggler disc fork would be the obvious choice, since the Straggler more or less the same dimensions as the Cross-Check. However, after reading your post I found that Soma also makes a disc version of their low-trail fork. It seems pretty much ideal because it would fix three problems I have with the Cross-check:

- No disc brakes
- No front rack mounts (Newer CC forks seem to have front mounts, but mine is old.)
- Too much toe overlap

I might finally go through with the disc brake conversion with this fork. I don't want to go through another winter commuting with just rim brakes.

Just to confirm, I assume you used the longer "Touring" version of the fork, as opposed to the "Road" version?

bargo68 

Yup-they call it the Champs Elysee low trail touring fork. It has studs for cantilever brakes. They come in disc and rim brake styles. Rake and axle to crown measurements are the same. The only difference I can see is that the disc brake version does not have the "French flick" bend.
I assume that is to stiffen-up the forks for the extra strength required by the disc brakes.
Are you using one of the conversion kits for the rear or are you having the frame welded?

aeshultz

[QUOTE=radii;21098774]Thanks for posting this! Over the years I've toyed with the idea of putting of disc fork on my cross-check. I figured the Straggler disc fork would be the obvious choice, since the Straggler more or less the same dimensions as the Cross-Check.

I have a Cross Check with that conversion done - Straggler fork w/ disk on front, standard cantis on the rear. No ill-handling traits other than the standard Surly heavy and dull feel. It also messes up swapping in wheel sets, so it's not ideal.

radii

I would just leave the rear as is, since most of the stopping power comes from the front brake. It will be weird but hopefully functional. Also cheaper since I wouldn't have to buy a new rear wheel, brake, and rotor. I'm just looking for a bit better stopping power in wet weather.

Loose Chain

I am sure you know that Surly makes a disc version of the CC called the Straggler?

What do the new forks accomplish for the bike and what is going to be welded on the rear?