There’s a good Reason for the Rodriguez Rainier Fork:
People sometimes think that we had our own fork made in order to save money. This isn’t true. The reason that we developed the Rainier fork was because of the fork manufacturers didn’t offer the fork that our customers wanted.
Ahhh the good old days
Remember the days when you could buy a sweet racing bike and install wide tires, and maybe a set of fenders for your daily commute? The best of both worlds right? The lightweight speed and performance of a race bike, with the comfort and durability you needed for your commute. Well, those days vanished a long time ago. As many people have been disappointed to discover, a modern race bike will not accept full fenders, and in a lot of cases won’t even accept wider tires 🙁
We struggled for years just like our customers did, to try and install fenders and wider tires onto their new race bikes. Cutting and zip tying were common methods of installation. Eventually the industry produced a scaled down version of fenders that installed to the frame by the use of ‘rubber bands’. We called them ‘race fenders’ but we all knew that they were a ‘pretend fender’ to try and keep some of the crud from hitting your riding buddies. Unfortunately, the rise of the carbon fork meant that we were in the hands of the fork designers to limit our tire widths, fender clearance, and even our trail numbers (a little frame building lingo for you). While most manufacturers ceded to the pressure and gave in, we here at Rodriguez said “Enough already!” We designed and had our own custom carbon fiber fork made specifically for us. It’s the fork that the public was demanding. The Rainier Fork.
So, what’s the problem?
The problem starts with the brakes.
A wider tire and/or fenders require the use of brakes that are a little bit longer reach than standard racing brakes. They look just the same, and they work just as well, but they allow for a little more clearance than the short reach racing brakes. To use these brakes, the manufacturer must position the brake bridge (where the brake mounts to the frame) a little higher. They also have to use a fork that is designed with a little more clearance at the point where the tire and fender have to go through it.
At Rodriguez, we’ve always had control over the frame, so we could place the brakes at any height we wanted too. Most companies don’t make their own bicycles, so it’s not possible for them, but for us….no problem.
Forks on the other hand were something completely different. We, like everyone else, relied on the industry to provide the products that we needed. Well, the industry failed. Although our customers want a lightweight carbon fork, they also want wider tires, and sometimes fenders. That seemed to be something that Alpha Q, Easton, Reynolds, Wound-up and the like didn’t even have on their radar (not to mention options for smaller bikes with 650 wheels). The carbon forks got to a point where they wouldn’t accept a fender under any circumstance, and even a 28mm tire was an issue if it was kind of a wide 28mm.
Rodriguez Bicycles to the resuce!
We kept running into customers who wanted a race bike, but also wanted to run 28mm or wider tires. Out here in Seattle, fenders are required on many group rides, so the ability to install them is quite convenient too. This is why we spent the time and money to design and have our own carbon fork manufactured. Very few (if any) small frame builders go to this trouble for their customers.
Originally it was more expensive for us to make the Rainier fork than to just order the Alpha Q or Profile carbon forks. Once we had the mold though, and went through several orders of the forks, our cost began to drop, and now it’s actually an option that’s less expensive than the other options. It’s the only carbon fork on the market that offers the rider the opportunity to run up to 32c tires on both 700c or 650c bikes. It even comes with threaded eyelets on the dropout so you don’t have to put clamps on your carbon fork when you install fenders.
We spec’d the Rainier fork a little heavier so that we could offer a real warranty on it like we do everything else we make. We’ve used an aluminum steering tube instead of carbon for durability. You’ll notice that most carbon/carbon forks are warranted for only a few years. We built the Rainier fork as a fork that someone could ride with confidence forever.
The Rainier fork is available in both 700c and 650c wheel sizes.
This looks like a nice fork made for a world where you occasionally want to ride wider tires and/or fenders 🙂
However what would be the advantages of a carbon (well, aluminum/carbon) fork over a conventional light steel fork ? Apart to have a really nice fork to offer for people especially requesting carbon forks. It seems to me that the fork would be the part of the bike where you want the most springiness ?
The main advantages to this carbon fork is cost and expectations. People kind of expect a carbon fork these days, and it is less expensive in the fork world to have carbon forks made than to custom build really light steel forks. Both the carbon and the steel forks ride well. We do make an inexpensive, crowned version of the Rainier fork, and it comes standard on many of the models. It has a bit more clearance than the carbon fork, weighs a bit more, but costs a bit less.
Thanks for your answer. I would not have think a nice carbon fork would have been cheaper than a light steel fork. This is great to have such a choice 🙂
It would actually be a lot less expensive to have carbon frames made for us in Taiwan than to build our own bikes here in Seattle. With frames though, customers recognize the value of having something custom made by hand….not so much with forks. We do build light weight custom steel forks for every ultra-light tandem that we make now.