Originally Posted by
scarlson
I have made a fairly ghetto re-raking jig made of plywood. Do you not think I should go full-rando and try out these Jan Heine flexy fork blades? Kaisei Toei Special? I guess they are a different oval and only work with his crowns, but you can smush them down in a vise to make them fit ordinary continental oval crowns if you want a different option. Do you think that's silly? Or maybe the cantilevers will give me brake judder with the flexy blades, all over again?
Also, what do you recommend for a steerer? Columbus splined, or some Jan Heiney Toei stuff (surprisingly cheaper)?
Well, the Framebuilder Supply pre-rakeds have more than enough offset to make a low trail fork. The Toei Specials don't seem to be a whole lot different - longer "narrow" part, perhaps? I don't know, and Jan's website doesn't have full specs, but I think they may not work with the Pacenti MTB fork crown, check into that. If you want to bend your own, have at it!
I don't have an opinion on steerers. I'm not sure they make a difference anybody could feel riding. With bits hard to come by due to supply chain issues, get one that's in stock ;-) I do know that the folks at Norther (when they were around) said the Nova Cycles CrMo steerer was rounder than others they've tried, and they're about $10.
Last fork I made was just about what we're discussing, but with a different fork crown.