1.125 inch vs tapered steerer

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.

sound like it would be perfect with the new canecreek angleset http://www.canecreek.com/AngleSet

Go with the 1 1/8 and get yourself a good head set.

There may be a small difference in the fore/aft flex with the smaller steerer, but with a solid headset I do not think it is anything you would really notice.

Yeah unless your hucking huge, I would keep it and go for quality low profile headset. Can I ask what sort of taxes, shipping, tariffs you payed if you are in Canada?

how much more is the 2011?

a tapered 66 will have a little more flex than your Totem, and 1.125 will have a little more flex than tapered. So it depends whether you really appreciated the stiffness of the Totem or thought it was overkill

Thanks for the replies! I cannot say if the 1.5 Totem is overkill for me or not, as I do not really have anything to compare it to. The bike I had before this one four years ago had a dual crown fork and I do not recall noticing any positive or negative difference specifically in fork flexiness, but the ride in general was much improved. I do really enjoy the steep Cypress kinds of trails, and I suspect if I were to notice a difference it would be on those sorts of trails; for example picking my way down the steps on fifth horseman.

Cost: US$488, free shipping to Blaine WA, minus US$50 HnR coupon applied retroactively; so, US$438 to Blaine.
I drove across the border and picked it up in Blaine. Coming back across the border, I had to pay CDN$59 HST.
The total cost to me is about CDN$520, accounting for the exchange rate.

I have not done much checking around but the 2011 66 RC3 Ti tapered is currently listed at CDN$1326 on chainreactioncycles.com. HucknRoll does not have it listed.

Posted via Mobile Device 1 1/8 is going to be heavier than either tapered or straight 1.5. I would estimate 150 grams. And yes, it will deflect more. if you were to ride the 1 1/8 back to back with either the tapered or straight 1.5 you would prolly notice a difference. How much u weigh and how big you go factor as well. Keeping the skinny steer allows angled headset which is cool if you wanna tweak angles. unless you really care about the weight I'd just keep it.

unless you really care about the weight

as opposed to convenience, price, ease of resale, versatility…

from the fox site 2011 36 float 160

WEIGHT (1 1/8" steerer)
4.49 lb / 2.04 kg

WEIGHT (1.5" taper steerer)
4.47 lb / 2.03 kg

the difference is only 10 Grams for the fork. If you add the bigger bearings looks like 1 1/8 is the lighter of the two.

I still think that for carbon frames, tapper is the way to go and the future but the weight thing is kinda bogus.

Hey Pizza, glad you got in on that deal. The 1 1/8 should be fine. They raised the price a couple of days ago to $700. I ordered a 1.5 for my uzzi. Hopefully it comes 1.5. Mine was delivered 3 days ago to the receiver in Blaine, and they still haven't entered it in there system. After many, many attempts I finally got a hold of them on the phone to find out that they didnt have my contact info entered in there system, which I sent them when I bought the fork 6 days ago. So she took my contact info on the phone, and I am still waiting. I will not use this company again.

from the fox site 2011 36 float 160

WEIGHT (1 1/8" steerer)
4.49 lb / 2.04 kg

WEIGHT (1.5" taper steerer)
4.47 lb / 2.03 kg

the difference is only 10 Grams for the fork

I'm surprised to read that. The whole 1.5 vs 1.125 is an interesting engineering comparison. We assume that the 'strength' of both is the same. Is it? Did the fox engineer who designed the 1.5 or taper steer set out to roughly match the weight of the 1.125" - so the advantage would be increased stiffness?
Or did he/she keep the same strength of the 1.125" - so the benefit would be reduced weight? What would you do?

Or is there a factory in taiwan pumping out taper and 1.5 steers that fork manufactures spec because they know it wont fail and its cheap?

I'm really only talking about on the crown/steer interface as that's where the high stresses are… which is why the taper is the best design IMO. Comparing 1.5 tube to 1.125 tube, larger dia and thinner wall is better (strength to weight), but I wonder how much more material is needed in the crown to wrap around the tube? Thats where 'alot' of weight could be added when going to 1.5.