Thursday, January 12, 2012

Waltworks

This post is somewhat redundant, because my initial impressions still hold true.  But I like to hear me talk so...

I like presents.
I like steel forks.
As a reward for a hard fought second place overall in the Root 66 Series Cat1 Singlespeed class I thought I'd take my winnings and buy myself a new fork.
The carbon fork it was replacing had served me well, but was starting to make the occasional ominous creak, so this was as good a time as any to upgrade.
I contacted Walt, about what I was looking for in a fork, and my riding style.  I gave him all the pertinent information such as my weight, and the geometry of my current bike and fork.
He said "No problemo".  Actually he just said "I can build you a fork like that".

I sent him a deposit...and then noticed the "fork disclaimer" on his wait list.
He was out of steerers, and wasn't sure when he'd be getting more, so the usual 6-8 week lead time might not be applicable.
At first this was crushing, but the weeks went by and I really didn't mind the wait (too much).  It actually gave me a chance to tweak the numbers a bit (I added 5mm to the a/c and 5mm more of rake).

12 weeks later my fork arrived.
It was beautiful.
After riding it for over a month, I'm happy to say it rides as good as it looks.
Flexes enough to take the edge off, but not enough to produce brake chatter.  Stiff enough to be carvolicious descending.  It's actually rides too good to be on a geared bike, so which ever bike I campaign all SS and the like will be sporting the Waltworks.

Is it worth the money?
Yes*.
It is worth every cent of the $290 I spent on it (that includes shipping).




*The purchase was based on paying for it in part with the winnings from the Root66 series overall awards.  At this point those funds are still yet to be received.  Had I known it would be all out of pocket, I'd probably not made the purchase at this time, but I'm glad I did. 

1 comment:

TrevorW�� said...

A twelve week wait just improves things when you finally get hold of that new bit of kit....
Pleased you like your new fork so much.

-Trevor