Originally Posted by
gugie
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.
OK, I guess I was concerned more about getting enough flex. The Toei Special blades are sold on their ability to flex, and are very lightweight indicating a thin wall, but they say they're "best for centerpulls" which I don't know if that translates into "won't work with aggressive braking using cantilevers". Although there are documented cases of these forkblades used with cantilevers. I want the bottom of the fork to be flexible, like my Vitus fork is, to dull the road buzz and because my riding buddy Kevin and I both believe (after testing with and without stiff front racks) that fork flex helps you go faster, but I don't want the top to be so flexible that I get brake judder. I sure know the Trek fork was flexible, and I did like that. Can you see those pre-raked blades flexing much when you ride the bike/brake aggressively?
Edit: I re-read your thread and you say it's noticeably flexier than the original unicrown fork. That's good!
As for fitting the Pacenti fork crown, I think I can massage them into the right oval. From what I've read, all fork blades start out the same diameter, and then they get smushed into some type of oval. And I've read things saying these can be smushed into the other oval shape - at your own risk, of course.