Cannondale Fork Upgrade

Nuve

Hi
I'm currently upgrading a 2016 cannondale Synapse Claris to a full 105 groupset. I've just found out the 105 brakes I have bought do not fit my forks so I either need some different deep drop brakes or I need to replace my forks

The current forks are stock Synapse SAVE, Carbon blades, 1-1/8"

What forks would you recommend as an upgrade as I would like to use the 105 brakes I have bought.

Many thanks

figbat

Do the 105s work on the rear wheel?

I made exactly the same mistake and decided to stick with the Tektros, which over a year later are still stopping me without significant drama.

fenix

Personally I would keep the forks you have. You won't notice any improvements with a new fork.

Sell the brakes you have and the set you have on there and it'd still be cheaper to buy brakes that fit you than buy a new fork.

Nuve

Yea the brakes work fine on the rear just catching the tyre on the front. I've been told the shimano r650 brakes are Ultrgra standered so is it work selling my original tektro's and the 105's and investing or should I just stick with the tektro's and sell the 105's?

svetty

Surely the Synapse is sold as a complete bike with Shimano series brakes??

Alternatively getting offset pad-holders might be the easiest way to resolve this: http://www.bdopcycling.com/BDop%20Offset%20Holders.asp

dinyull

Svetty wrote:

Alternatively getting offset pad-holders might be the easiest way to resolve this: http://www.bdopcycling.com/BDop%20Offset%20Holders.asp

They almost cost as much as a single caliper...

timothyw

Don't bother replacing the forks - if you did change them for ones which take shallower drop brakes, the likelihood is that you have also reduced the axle-crown distance on the forks, and so changed the geometry of the bike, making the front a bit lower (which I'm imagining you don't want to do?) along with opening up potential for odd feeling steering with the rake being different etc.

Personally I'd stick with the Tektro's and sell the 105s or put them onto another project - you might take some comfort from the fact that the tektro brakes are probably lighter than the 105 brakes, which are relatively speaking pretty darn heavy.

Plus, plenty would argue that if you replace the forks, you probably ought replace the whole frameset, at which point you might ask yourself why you didn't just get another bike....

svetty

Dinyull wrote:

Svetty wrote:

Alternatively getting offset pad-holders might be the easiest way to resolve this: http://www.bdopcycling.com/BDop%20Offset%20Holders.asp

They almost cost as much as a single caliper...

Waaaay cheaper than new forks though

I have in the past just extended the slot on the calipers to gain the extra mm or 2 needed to lower the pad so it clears the tyre. As long as you leave a good thickness of metal below the mounting bolt you are most unlikely to come to any harm

lakesluddite

Nuve wrote:

Yea the brakes work fine on the rear just catching the tyre on the front. I've been told the shimano r650 brakes are Ultrgra standered so is it work selling my original tektro's and the 105's and investing or should I just stick with the tektro's and sell the 105's?

The R650's are good - I swapped out my Tektro to this long-reach caliper on the front only (given the front brake does more of the work) and stuck on a lower grade Shimano long-reach on the back (still better than the stock Tektro) on my old winter mudguarded warhorse. If your 105 rear is fine, then just swap the front - you can get them individually in most places, then flog the tektros and the 105 caliper that isn't right.

bobones

If the pads only need lowered by a couple of mm then increasing the depth of the caliper slot with a round file or dremel will work fine and not be noticeable.

Nuve

Thanks for the help guys ! Will either get the dremel out or I'll sell the lot and buy some r650's

Bobbinogs

bobones wrote:

If the pads only need lowered by a couple of mm then increasing the depth of the caliper slot with a round file or dremel will work fine and not be noticeable.

I did this on one of my old bikes and it worked well. I bought a round bladed file for a couple of quid and then spent ~15 mins diligently and carefully filing. After I cleaned up to make sure none of the filings were left around to contaminate the pads/rims, I found it worked a treat and helped me drop the brake pads by about 3-5mm, which still left plenty of metal on the calipers to maintain structural integrity and the pads then aligned perfectly with the brake rims.