Greetings nsmb gear gurus. Short story/question: Would there be any noticeable ride difference, on the same bike with a straight 1.5 inch headtube, between the following two setups:
marzocchi 66 1.125 inch steerer, reducer headset;
marzocchi 66 tapered steerer, and appropriate headset, assuming the forks are otherwise identical.
Longer story: I have Knolly DT, 1.5 inch headtube, with an 07 totem with 1.5 inch steerer. My totem has caused several bike-use outages over the past 3.5 years, but SRAM/Norco/Different Bikes has each time been fantastic about getting me going again. However, the last outage disrupted a road trip this summer, and I feel it is time to find something more reliable. I was thinking I would do something about it next spring and I had pretty much already decided it would be a 66. In anticipation I started looking at the 2011 forks a few weeks ago, and realized the 2011 66 is not going to be available with a 1.5 inch steerer.
Then this weekend I saw the thread mentioning the HucknRoll sale, and I saw I could get the 2010 66 RC3 Ti with 1.5 inch steerer for $488 (minus another $50 for the coupon they sent after the order, thanks burke ryder!). I went for it. It arrived yesterday, but HucknRoll shipped the 1.125 inch steerer version, and it turns out they do not have the 1.5 inch version any more. So I was getting ready to ship it back this morning, but then I thought why? If I ship it back and get a 2011 with tapered steerer I am going to have to get a new headset anyway, and will it really make a difference to the ride? My gut feeling is no, but I am interested to hear what the gear gurus here have to say on this topic.