Big-wheel specialist Niner has launched its own carbon fibre rigid fork to go with its extensive range of 29in-wheeled frames. Unlike many of the carbon rigids on the market, there’s no badge-engineering here. Rather than take the relatively easy path of a pair of carbon tubes bonded in to an alloy crown and dropouts, Niner has gone the extra mile and produced a highly-distinctive all-carbon fork.

While it looks bladed from some angles, the legs are actually triangular in section, with a 160mm post-mount for the brake caliper on the flat back edge of the left-hand one. Dropouts are angled forward. Riders keen on geometry calculations (which seems to include pretty much every 29er enthusiast…) will want to know that the crown-to-axle length is 470mm and the rake is 45mm. Unlike much of the 29er world, Niner doesn’t subscribe to the currently fashionable extra-rake thinking, relying on steep head angles for low-speed agility and the inertia of the big wheels for high-speed stability, although the carbon fork’s rake is a bit more than Niner’s steel fork.

Claimed weight for the Niner fork is a startling 550g. To put that into perspective, most alloy crown/carbon leg forks are around the 700g mark. Not cheap, though – £339 in the UK. Importers Jungle will have them in stock late June…