I get bored.
I’ve been thinking about changes I want to make to The Park Whip 
. I’m gonna rebuild it in the off season but that’s a whole different thread. Things I’ve been considering; shorter travel, less progressive, single crown, 29er (maybe) Then I remembered that the axle to crown of my 170mm 29er fork is about 6mm short of the 203mm 27.5 DVO Emerald and the wheels started turning…there’s a 1.5* angle set in that hardtail frame the 29er fork is in… 
So we go from this
To this
Angle set in backwards, 64* head tube angle, 170mm 29 coil fork.
I made a quick a (very) dirty 155mm, 13% progressive linkage
Tossed the 155lb spring back in (took out the 600) and Robert’s your father’s brother.
I took it to the park this last weekend and it’s absolutely insane. It’s so much better than the dual crown fork. Holy balls. The steeper headtube is awesome, the added BB height is also awesome. It seems to me that as soon as I let the brakes go it just accelerates like it didn’t with the 27.5" it really feels like it’s just dragging the rear along, I’m surprised by how much faster it is over all.
It still feels like it pedals up quicker than a 29 rear would, doesn’t act like it’s pushing a huge wheel. The 29er front probably helps that because it rolls over everything easier, it’s an interesting feeling.
It’s so much easier to get over jumps without 6lbs of fork fighting gravity and the added speed definitely helps. I found myself doing little bar turns and tucking the bike up under me and hanging the rear out a little because I had actual time in the air (a first for me)
The coil in the fork is just about perfect, I’ve got almost no compression dialed in, so it’s stupid supple off the top, and even sending a few things to flat for “research” I never bottomed it out. My hands and arms hurt less than they have on the dual crown at any setting.
5 stars. 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up.
I’m gonna run it like this for the rest of the season, hopefully by then I’ll have rafters to hang it in and I can start on the next one.