Changing Fork.

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EltonFrog

Legendary Member
I have a Whyte Coniston hybrid.

7A18D622-A831-40C0-BEA1-4E7264AAD171.jpeg


A bike I like a lot, and we have had many adventures together and I hope, nay, I know we’ll have many more.

But, I think the suspension fork is unnecessary. If I wanted to change it what would I need to do? What kind of fork would work?

Thanks.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Youd need a rigid fork that replaces the amount of travel, eg 80 cm equivalent. Youd have to look through the specs.

Not a quick job.
 
Location
Loch side.
You need to take a bunch of measurements and try to find something that approximates most of the measurements.

1) Find the fork offset. This is the fork's forward position, measured from a line that bisects the axle, running parallel with the stanchions vis a view the steerer tube centre line. Draw a line down the fork's steerer tube and you'll see that it falls behind the fork legs (sliders and stanchions). Now draw another line through the centre of the stanchions. The latter line will be forward of the steerer axis by something like 50mm, with a range of say 10mm more or less.

That will tell you what fork offset to look for. Sometimes this is called "rake".

2) Now decide on the fork height. This will depend on what sag point is neutral for you. Usually you pump your fork so that it sags by 20% of its total travel, when you sit on the bike. Lets assume you are happy with 20% sag. Now measure the fork's "length" from the centre of the axle to the point where the fork transitions to headset bearing. Use that length to determine the length you want. If the fork you are looking at uses a different point for the measurement, use the same on your existing fork.

3) Look at the brake mounts. There are three types in use today: ISO, Post Mount and Flat mount. This determines what type of attachments your fork needs in order to mount the brakes. There are adapters available to bend the gender, but try and avoid that if your fork choice allows you to. Only if the right fork is not available in the perfect mount type, should you consider adapters. Note that flat-mount to either Post or ISO mount are probably not available yet. It is a newish style. I can't see what type you have from that photo.

4) Match the drop-out. QR or TA. Yours look like Quick Release (QR).

5) Make peace with the colours on offer. You will not be in a position to choose from a range. Luckily your bike is black.

6) Your fork has a non-tapered 1 1/8" steerer. Match that. Some forks have tapered steerers, and that won't work for you.

Don't expect to find a perfect match. It will be a compromise, but that doesn't matter because a suspension fork is a compromise by definition.

Your thinking is correct, since a suspension fork on anything other than a mountain bike is stupid.
 

Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
If you are willing to compromise on the mudguard then this could be worth a punt https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-1-8-Fu...c-Brake-Rigid-Forks-26-27-5-29er/263720324855
 

Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
I am not supersensitive to geometry changes, so when I changed my fork to a rigid, I did not even bother with a suspension corrected one and the axle to crown measurement (a-c), which dumbed down is roughly the length of the legs, reduced by about 7cm. I just put some extra spacers on top to get the bars roughly back where they were before. You can over think things.
 

Salar

A fish out of water
Location
Gorllewin Cymru
It's not too difficult a job. Here's a suspension corrected fork I fitted on my Kona MTB.

forks.jpg


Not pretty, but I've mudguards to fill the ugly gap. Usual things, if cutting steerer, measure twice cut once. You might also need brackets for the disc brakes to fit new fork.
 
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