Question about upgrading my roadbike fork

[NaOH]

I have a 2003 Trek 1000 and found a pretty cheap carbon fork from an oclv trek bike (65 bucks!) and a bontrager race lite fork for 100. I was reading the guide from performancebike.com about upgrading the fork and it doesn't seem to be too complicated. Just have to worry about what kind of rake/offset you want. Is there anything else I should worry about when choosing a fork?

 

[NaOH]

Also, how do I determine my old bikes offset? I guess that's one of the more important questions.

 

[Dirigible]

The biggest gotcha is you need to make sure there's enough steerer tube on the fork you buy. Measure your current fork to see how much space you need for your headset, head tube, spacers, and stem.

Swapping a fork is not complicated. The crown race removal/attachment is the biggest pain, but even that can be done without special tools if you're careful.

 

[Safeway]

Choosing a used carbon fork -- lots. Check for hairline fractures, abrasions in the clear coat, ... I guess you didn't specify if they were new or used.

 

[Dirigible]

Originally posted by: NaOH
Also, how do I determine my old bikes offset? I guess that's one of the more important questions.

Call/email Trek? I dunno of a good repository of that info for road bike forks. More of a mountain bike guy, myself.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: Dirigible
The biggest gotcha is you need to make sure there's enough steerer tube on the fork you buy. Measure your current fork to see how much space you need for your headset, head tube, spacers, and stem.

Swapping a fork is not complicated. The crown race removal/attachment is the biggest pain, but even that can be done without special tools if you're careful.

Yea, I bought the all the special tools, didn't want to risk damaging anything. Expensive.

 

[Dirigible]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Choosing a used carbon fork -- lots. Check for hairline fractures, abrasions in the clear coat, ... I guess you didn't specify if they were new or used.

Good point. From the OP ("from an oclv bike"), sounds like they're likely used. So be careful, OP!

 

[NaOH]

They look used.

 

[NaOH]

Text

This one mentions nothing about the condition, probably have to e-mail the dude. Now, if there is enough length on the fork, I would possibly have to get it cut too right? If it's too long.

 

[Dirigible]

One other thing I forgot, make sure your current steerer tube diameter is the same as the fork you get. Older forks were 1" with newer mostly being 1 1/8".

And yes, you may want to have the steerer cut if it's too long. A bike shop should do it cheaply (+ reset the star nut) if you don't want to do it yourself, or you should be able to pick up the proper tools fairly inexpensively if you foresee working on bikes more in the future.

 

[NaOH]

Originally posted by: Dirigible
One other thing I forgot, make sure your current steerer tube diameter is the same as the fork you get. Older forks were 1" with newer mostly being 1 1/8".

And yes, you may want to have the steerer cut if it's too long. A bike shop should do it cheaply (+ reset the star nut) if you don't want to do it yourself, or you should be able to pick up the proper tools fairly inexpensively if you foresee working on bikes more in the future.

I'm not to worried about the diameter since my bike and the fork are pretty recent. I'll probably have a shop do it. I'm just having a bit of fun tweaking this bike, but after a few years I'm probably just going to get a whole new one.

 

[NaOH]

Alright seems like the Bontrager fork is new. Excellent. Hopefully it won't cost too much for a shop to cut it.