A. No. As stated on our home page, this is a completely updated design.   The new-age USD forks are much larger, stiffer and provide less fork flex than the old school conventional forks of the 80's.  As a result of this added stress, larger, stronger components are needed, including but not limited to, the steering stem.  With the larger steering stem comes the need for a larger steering tube in the frame.  As a result of all of these stronger components, the frame itself needs to be of stronger design.