If we had our way, every single person who buys the Dark Star frame (or any hardtail) would also buy a rigid fork to go with it. Nothing bums us out more than spending energy and resources on making things that don't have lasting value. MTB technology has evolved rapidly over the last decade. A bike that you bought six years ago may be considered obsolete by today's geometry and standards. The hardtail you buy today, might not be your trail rig a few years from now. However, if you have a rigid fork for it, it can still provide considerable value as a transportation or bikepacking bike. That was the inspiration to create the Future Proof.
Paired with a rigid fork, your MTB will forever be a useful tool. Just look at all the 30 year old 26” wheeled hardtails that have been resurrected for daily riding duties the past few years. The Dark Star with the rigid fork is like that, but way more fun and playful as modern MTB geo and technology is a real marvel.
Also, the Future Proof has an axle to crown measurement of 501. If you take a 120mm suspension fork (531 ATC) and subtract 25% (30mm) of the travel for sag, you get 501. So to us, 501mm makes sense as the baseline for optimizing the handling characteristics of the bike and for the ideal length of a rigid fork companion. For some reason that eludes us, most rigid fork makers continue to use axle to crown lengths in the 483-490mm range. Our best guess is that it’s a holdover from wanting their forks to be able to be used on bikes that were 100mm or 80mm suspension corrected. To us this is an outdated standard as most of the hardtails our friends ride are at least 120mm travel if not greater. So we feel that 501mm is a much more useful length and pairs better with modern frames.
Features
- Suspension corrected for 120/130mm frames
- Segmented Construction
- 29 x 2.8” tires
- Three Pack Mounts
- Mid Blade Mount
- Fender and Rack Mounts
Specs
- 501mm Axle To Crown|
- 44mm Rake
- Straight 1 ⅛” Steerer
- Steerer Length
- Boost Spacing
- Weight: 3lbs