Wilde Bicycle Co is understood for constructing lovely metallic bikes. From highway and gravel, to journey and touring, all the best way to playful and succesful hardtails. Wilde has one thing for everybody. However its frames had been paired with the fork choices from different producers. Not stoked on what was in the marketplace, s on the market, Wilde got down to create their very own carbon fork that had the experience qualities and options to finest help its bikes. Introducing: the all-new Wilde Wayfinder fork, made with both a tapered steerer and one particular for 1 ⅛” straight steerers.
Specs
(Picture credit score: Charlie Kohlmeier)
MSRP $499
Three Pack Mounts (6lbs per aspect)
Inner Brake Routing
Inner Dynamo Routing
Fender Mounts
Totally Threaded Middle Mount (entrance & rear!)
470g with uncut steerer
Matches 700c X 2.1″ or 27.5″ X 2.3″
398mm Axle to Crown
350mm size steerer tube for all of the stack heights
12x100mm (additionally matches a 15×100 with a sleeve)
Flat mount a 140mm or 160mm rotor
Building
(Picture credit score: Charlie Kohlmeier)
The Waypoint is a full carbon fork constructed to face up to the rigours of recent journey using and likewise provide a full suite of options, together with three pack mounts, inner dynamo routing, inner brake cable routing, fender mounts and 700 x 2.1″ tyre clearance.
Setup
(Picture credit score: Charlie Kohlmeier)
The waypoint is just like most different fork installs. Wilde provides you a beneficiant 350mms of steerer, which ought to work for even the tallest of stack heights — Wilde recommends not exceeding 40mm of spacers above the higher bearing.
There’s inner routing on every leg of the fork, brake and dynamo. The brake routing is tight round a typical shimano GRX hose, with no rattles obvious. The flat mounts are properly aligned and able to rock out of the field.
The fork has a carbon base in your crown race. The included compression plug is high notch, and simple to put in. Keep in mind to incorporate the additional couple millimetres the plug provides to the steerer earlier than reducing.
The Trip
Extraordinarily beneficiant tyre cleance
(Picture credit score: Charlie Kohlmeier)
The fork coming off my bike was an older Whisky Carbon Cyclocross fork. It was an excellent fork, however I don’t suppose compliance was the aim. I often ran it with 650b x 48-2.2” tires. As such, all the compliance got here from the rubber. Evaluating the Waypoint to the Whisky, you possibly can instantly inform the load and building had been fully totally different. The Waypoint is considerably smaller and lighter. Wanting extra like the present crop of race forks — just like the teeny tiny fork on the Specialised Crux. I experience my bikes laborious, and visually, the dimensions and (lack of) weight gave me some hesitations.
Instantly after hopping on the Wayfinder, you possibly can inform how a lot effort went into tuning the experience high quality. It is considerably smoother than my earlier carbon fork. It actually takes the sting off the upper frequency vibrations, and makes chatter nearly forgettable. I experience loads of suspension forks and massive tires, and I used to be very impressed with how a lot this fork dampens the floor. I didn’t really feel like I misplaced any of the responsiveness of my earlier fork, both. No compromises, all efficiency.
The options of the fork are properly thought-out. The inner routing places the cables in all the fitting locations. There’s correct fender mounts (important for a Pacific Northwest bike) and cargo mounts. The cargo mounts are properly positioned towards the underside of the fork.
Tyre clearance is extraordinarily beneficiant. The fork made my 650 x 2.1’s look tiny. On paper clearance is 650 x 2.3, however seems like you can in all probability squeeze some 2.4s in there when you’re not heading into the mud. For many who desire 700c, the clearance is simply as beneficiant as a listed 700 x 2.1″. Such clearance makes for a ton of tire & fender choices which is at all times welcome.
The Waypoint is a extremely nice piece of equipment. It ticks all of the containers that I’d search for in a gravel or journey fork. The one factor that takes some getting used to is sliding the wheel into the dropouts. The legs of the fork have loads of flex, and that makes for a barely awkward mounting expertise. When you get the dangle of it, it’s actually not a problem, simply one thing to notice. Additionally to notice, I’ve a pair of 650 rims with a 15×100 hub, and the hub matches nice within the Waypoint with a sleeve.
Worth & Verdict
(Picture credit score: Charlie Kohlmeier)
The Wayfinder is a well-designed carbon fork appropriate for contemporary gravel and journey bikes. It affords pleasant experience traits and a load of considerate options. For $499, the Wayfinder can also be significantly cheaper than comparable choices from Whisky ($565) or ENVE ($625). I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest the Wilde Waypoint to anybody in search of a brand new carbon fork.
