Moving forks from one bike to another

dubcat

Hi -

I have bought new forks for my bike. I am about to get them fitted. However, I know that this involves cutting the forks and I was wondering whether this means that i can only use the fork on that particular bike as I assume it will be cut to fit that bike.

The reason I ask is that I MAY be getting another frame soon from a colleague who does not want it any more. I was wondering if it would be possible to move the forks from my current bike to the new one - they are totally different bikes being different brand and size.

Dub

nicklouse

just use more headset spacers as needed.

dubcat

So just get the shop to fit the forks to my current bike and if i decide to move them to my new bike I should be able to make them fit by using spacers? Cool. But if they are too short surely spacers won't help?

itchieritchie

Not sure if this is ALWAYS true, but it seems like they make forks long enough to fit the majority of headsets, with the only real problem being an excess of height, and this is what spacers are for.

So you should be alright.

jd13m

measure the headtubes on both frames - then make sure they cut the steerer long enough to fit the longer of the two headtubes

supersonic

headtube is only one part of the equation - headset stack height is important, as is stem height.

dubcat

Based on the above I am still unsure as to whether if i get my fork fitted to my current bike i will definitely be able to get it moved to a new frame i might be getting in the future. This will determine whether I get the fork fitted now or whether I keep it boxed until I decided whether I a getting that other frame. Problem is that could be a couple of months of waiting.

konadawg

You may have misunderstood - and I don't blame you

The simple answer is - make sure that your fork is left long enough to fit in the new frame.

You should be able to obtain geometry specs for the new frame including head tube length and compare to your current frame.

The ref to spacers is to leave the fork "too long" on your CURRENT frame and use spacers to stack both below as is normal but mostly also ABOVE the stem (you get a little tower) so you have extra length of steerer tube just in case you need it. This won't affect the riding or geometry one bit - it just won't look too pretty but I guess you can live with that as a temporary measure.

dubcat

ahh thanks very much I asked them to leave an extra half an inch or so when they fit my fork. I hope that is enough. If it is not is not the end of the world. After sleeping on it I figured I would probably spend most of my time riding my lovely new bike which I paid full price for rather than a bike from 2004 built with parts from my colleagues shed.

Thanks again for the advice - i totally get it now.

Dub