Troul 

I have been looking into trying out a different fork, & the style I'd like to give a try is a headshock style suspension [like, but not exactly these ones] that mimics the Cannondale Headshok Fork DD60 or JD-JF6 style.

What I have currently is the SR Suntour NEX MLO, 63mm-travel.

Anyone with experience & has input for recommendations? Are there forks that will slide into place? I know I'll have to cut it to length potentially. I do not necessarily need a 63mm travel.

Kapusta

Pretty sure you need a frame with a head tube designed for a headshock.

Ironfish653

The only 'single spring' retro-fit forks I've heard of are from RST

These are urban/treking forks with about 35-mm travel, and minimal adjustment. These appear to be designed for a standard 1-1/8 steerer. 700c and 26" are available.

The classic Headshoks were 1.5" steerers, with their own unique headsets, and even the DD50 was much taller than contemporary forks (like the MAG-21) that Cannondale frames had kinda radical front-end geometry for the day. The design didn't really prove practical to go past 100m travel, so 'Dale went all in behind the Lefty single-leg 'forks' and abandoned the Headshok.


I certianly liked the handling of the DD60/Ultra better than the MAG-21 and Manitou/2 that were it's contemporaries. Lighter, too, but the air-oil forks are a bit of a maintenance headache, being all packed up inside the headtube.

Troul 

Interesting Ironfish653. Thanks for the link.

My gripe with the one I have now is that it is too spongy unlocked, & the road conditions here will make a ride very slow if avoiding the hard hit or very harsh if trying to lift off over the crumbling pavement.


If I could, I'd like to find a suspension fork that is lighter with a firmer unlocked rebound while still being able to lock it out if desired while maintaining the axle spacing & brake configuration.

Ironfish653

Going to an Air/Oil fork will get you the spring tuning you want. Going to a more expensive fork will get you the weight savings you're looking for.

Using compressed air instead of a coil spring allows you to increase (or decrease) the spring rate by changing the air pressure in the shock. I run an air-oil fork on my commuter, with the pressure dialed up pretty high, so it doesn't react too much on the little stuff.

If you ride locked out, find a fork with a remote lever (handlebar or stem) Air-Oil forks really get unhappy if they take hits while they're locked out. The remote means you can unlock it on-the-fly before you actually take the obstacle.

If you only ride hard surfaces (paved / packed gravel) then you might want to consider a rigid fork and a high-volume (40-50mm), minimal tread gravel tire like the G-One or Gravel King

cpach

Googling it, the fork you have has a relatively long axle to crown of 480mm. For reference a 100mm 27.5 Rockshox Recon RL has an ATC of 487, but will probably sit at a similar height since it should run more sag with the greater travel. A 27.5 2.1 MTB tire is approximately the same diameter as a 35mm 700c tire. The fork doesn't care what size wheel it has, just the diameter of the tire (for clearance reasons).

Every suspension fork that's decent is going to be for the MTB market--there really isn't much market for good hybrid forks. An air fork will let you set the fork appropriately to your weight. Some forks have a firmer lockout than others--for actual MTB purposes the value of a true lockout is often very overestimated. Some very nice forks can be set up with seperate low speed compression controls and an additional lockout on top, but there's little overlap with QR wheels.

Elvo

Fox Ax

Troul 

I run 32 tires & sometimes 28 tires. Less travel with same ride height might be simpler to find, yes?

Ironfish653

No.

Light weight, high end 'short-travel' XC style forks are pretty much going to be 100mm+ travel. Not what you want on your hybrid.

Short-travel forks (80mm or less,) are pretty much the domain of comfort hybrids, and therefore cheap and heavy.


My reccomendation: Rigid 29'er fork. Steel (Soma/Surly) for $100-150, Carbon for ~$300.
50mm slick / gravel tread tire.

Troul 

Not going rigid. Not changing wheels. Not buying another bicycle.
If the 1 1/8" Dia. Threadless 255mm Steerer Tube Length, 63 mm travel, weight @ 1950g one I have now is that oddball, I'll likely figure something out on my own.
rigid

jeffreythree

It is not oddball, just about standard for the hybrid market. SR Suntour, and others I am sure, also make a bit better 63mm fork with compression adjustment in air or coil spring.

Geekage

I'm sure I didn't follow the whole thread (short attention span on my part), but if you're looking for a better suspension fork, might I point out the Manitou Markhor?

It's nominally 100-120mm travel, but it should come with a spacer to make it 80mm too. Axle to crown is pretty similar to whatever was quoted above, also remember to take into account the 20% sag.

People also recommend upgrading the damper, but it'll still be much better than your original fork.

I'm also pondering this as a replacement for my rigid fork on my 80mm suspension-corrected frame, but I'm doing fine right now with 50mm tires.

Edit to add: I think the previous recommendation for a 27.5 fork wasn't suggesting you replace your wheel. A 700x28 or 32 should fit fine (but you should double check for yourself). Just don't try using a 700x50 like me.

subgrade

Suntour SwingShock might fit your desires. https://www.bike24.com/p261755.html

But if we're talking regular telescopic design, I don't think you'll find a lighter coil sprung hybrid fork than 1950g (is the NEX really that light? It is usually in the 2600g range, I think).
SR Suntour NCX and NRX both have air spring options and have the same geometry as the NEX, so you might look into those.
Rock Shox Paragon and RST Vogue are two other air sprung hybrid fork options. However, I don't think there actually is a considerably lighter than 1800g purpose built hybrid fork at all (at least I haven't heard of any), apart from the single shock designs.

I second the notion of looking into 27.5" MTB forks, there might be more options to look at, although there probably aren't that many with straight steerers though.