Forks

[johnmillie]

I have a Carrera Vulcan and have been using it to commute to work, I have changed to road tyres on it but the front forks are very bouncy, would i benefit from changing them to fixed forks and if so how do you choose which will fit the best

 

[AndyCarolan]

I have a Carrera Vulcan and have been using it to commute to work, I have changed to road tyres on it but the front forks are very bouncy, would i benefit from changing them to fixed forks and if so how do you choose which will fit the best

You could consider upgrading the forks to shocks with lockout such as something from the Rock Shox Tora range. That way, if you do intend on taking it off-road, you could still benefit from a better ride than rigid forks alone would give you

 

[battered]

I'd consider a second bike if you have the room. By the time you have bought a rigid fork and tyres you might be into the best part of £100. Somewhere is offering a *new* kona smoke hybrid at £200 (rrp330) right now, this is a vastly better bike for commuting. If yu try the great second hand adventure, you might get an even better deal. It helps to be handy with the spanners though, you can easily buy something someone else has failed to repair and have hours of fun sorting that out.

 

[johnmillie]

Thanks can you send a link to that somewhere

 

[battered]

Rutland cycles:
http://www.rutlandcycling.com/17873/Kona-Smoke-700c-Hybrid-Commuter-Bike.html

Winstanley bikes are doing £200 on the Deore geared version of the sme thing, which I think is the next model up.

Both of these look like a great deal for £200 as a commuter and for getting round town, I don't think you'd be sorry to own either one. As I said elsewhere I have a dream to buy an old steel Kona with rigid forks and build it up, and even scratching around second hand bits I couldn't build it for £200!

 

[freshcharlie]

Changing to rigid forks is possible but it will almost certainly lower the front end of your bike, changing the way it looks and rides. You would need to find forks with an axle to crown measurement the same as your suspension forks (measured with you sitting on the bike) You could try forks from a road bike but your other consideration is how they will match the look of the bike. Basically you could have a lot of hassle finding the right size and they might still look rubbish.
As others have said, forks with a lockout or a new bike designed to have a hard nose are your options.

 

[johnmillie]

You mean like a new mtb with forks that lock

 

[freshcharlie]

You can get suspension forks with a lockout that will fit your Carrera. The Toras that another poster mentioned are excellent but not the cheapest. Usually there will be a knob on the crown of the fork that varies the amount of suspension from fully soft to rigid by degrees. Some are simply on or off. The Tora's locked position still has a threshold so if you hit a really big lump there will be an amount of suspension. On some forks you have to reach down and turn the dial (can be done on the move) others have a 'remote' - an extra lever mounted on the handlebars.
These are a easy to swap for your existing fork. I think the new Carreras actually have this feature. Cheaper options would be the Rockshox Dart Lockout or the SR Suntour SF7-XCM.

 

[mickeydrippin60]

i work at winstanleys bikes the kona dew is a good solid option with good kit and relatavley cheep too