Changing Forks

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manxcat

New Member
Hi, I currently have a hybrid with suspension forks which I want to get rid of, my tyres say 28 X 1.50 700 X 38c, the ebay seller said I need 29inch forks but I thought it would be 27.5. Any advice please?
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
Random thoughts....
The mtb frame is designed to bounce up and down by the amount of suspension travel. So the fork length must be 3 or 4 inches longer than the wheel radius to allow this to happen.

To switch to a rigid fork, the fork needs to be the same length as the suspension fork when not compressed, to keep the same fork rake. If you use a fork which just caters for the wheel size, the head will drop by the amount of suspension travel and the bike handling will be different.

Other thoughts - rim or disc brakes? For rim brakes, the mountings need to be in the correct place, relative to the rim.

Might be better to get a replacement suspension fork, that works.

Good luck
 

T4tomo

Legendary Member
suspension corrected or suspension adjusted rigid fork is the term for them.

The ebay seller is correct I reckon as he is distinguishing between such forks for 26" or 29" MTB wheels and 29" MTB wheels are basically a 700c with a wider stronger rim than road bike standard wheels, which is probably what your hybrid has, given its 38mm width tyres, although it isn't clear how much suspension the fork is correcting for. 60mm 80mm 10mm120mm travel ?? You need to know what travel your current forks are as ask the seller if theirs are compatible.

I will reemphasise the disk vs caliper vs V brake mount points point made by @Sharky
 
Last edited:

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
27.5" and 29er are marketing-speak for 650B and 700C respectively. If your wheels are 700C you need a 29" fork.
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
suspension corrected or suspension adjusted rigid fork is the term for them.

The ebay seller is correct I reckon as he is distinguishing between such forks for 26" or 29" MTB wheels and 29" MTB wheels are basically a 700c with a wider stronger rim than road bike standard wheels, which is probably what your hybrid has, given its 38mm width tyres, although it isn't clear how much suspension the fork is correcting for. 60mm 80mm 10mm120mm travel ?? You need to know what travel your current forks are as ask the seller if there's are compatible.

I will reemphasise the disk vs caliper vs V brake mount points point made by @Sharky

Thanks for all that info. As an old dog who was past his best before mtb's even appeared on the planet, all very enlightening.

Cheers
 
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