Chiming in with my initial report on the application of a G2 Kogswell
fork to my Surly Long Haul Trucker.

Below is a link to my Flickr page with the photos and below that are
my test notes and resulting experience.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8130268@N04/sets/72157604039492694/

The Trucker was built up in June '07, 60cm frame, uncut fork steerer
(32cm).
Stock Front End Geometry:
http://kogswell.com/geo.php?c3.x=8&c3.y=17&h1=695&i1=72&j1=45
tire dia 696mm
head ang 72.0 deg
fork offset 45mm
-> trail: 66mm flop: 20

Last month I obtained a 700c G2 fork with 67mm of offset, which I
planned to use on the trucker to experiment with low trail front end
geometry.
http://kogswell.com/geo.php?c3.x=8&c3.y=17&h1=695&i1=72&j1=67
Modified Front End Geometry
tire dia 696mm
head ang 72.0deg
fork offset 67mm
->trail: 43mm flop: 13

Before installing the G2 fork I built a new front rack for it with
Alex's help and facilitation. Last night I installed the fork and rack
and got an initial test ride in. I cut the Kog fork down to the same
length as the uncut Surly fork, 32cm. When installing and putting the
brakes on it seemed that the canti braze ons were too high, almost
where they should be for a 27" (630) wheel. I have Shimano BR-R550
cantilevers which I have been very happy with and which placed the
pads mid-slot on the stock fork. I filed the slots down a bit but
ended up angling the pads down to make them work with the new fork.
This makes the pad and rim surface are not exactly parallel. The pads
are lightly used but had worm evenly.

With the bare essentials hooked up I rode around the block with no
load. The first difference I noticed was while pedaling when standing
I could feel the fork flex much more. I'm not sure if this was the
tubing or the increased curvature of the blades, or a combination of
both. I tried riding no handed but there was not a big increase in
stability. I never felt comfortable riding the LHT no-handed before
either. I took some fast corners while descending and pointed the bike
at manhole cover in the turn and was easily able to make the turning
radius tighter and avoid it.

I went back home and installed the new rack and placed a 10 lb round
weight in a bag and bungied it to the rack to try a relatively heavy
load on top of the rack. I though this may help the no handed riding
feeling more stable but again no magical stability that I felt. I am
an admittedly poor no hands rider though. The bike still seemed to
veer off and my body corrections quickly resulted in over steering.
Climbing with the load I did notice increased front end stability
relative to when I would load up the front of the bike with the stock
fork. I tried the descending turns again and the ability to change
radius mid turn was still there.

So my initial conclusion is, it's still a bicycle. I did notice a more
stable front end with a load but not to the point me being comfortable
riding no-handed. I'll continue to experiment with carrying my loads
on the front rack and divided between 2 low-rider panniers.

Andre Ball
Seattle, WA