So youre thinking of installing a new set of forks on your mountain bike. This is typically left to professionals though you can do it yourself if you are used to doing a bit of maintenance on your bike yourself. You know you are looking for suspension forks that have a good amount of travel and you want to save money but youre not sure what else you need to know. One thing is for sure if you want to save money on your mountain bike forks they need to be cheap only in price.
I know that with the economy today it is not easy and everyone is trying to save a buck but if I hear your question correctly first off you need to make sure you are comfortable tackling this project. After that there are some things you need to know so lets take a look at it.
Some of this will depend a bit on the age of your bike and who made it. Older forks were usually a treaded style while newer bikes are often outfitted with a threadless style fork. A threadless headset as you might expect is needed for threadless forks and stem while a threaded headset is utilized for threaded forks and stem.
The bicycle stem joins the handle bars of your bike and the front forks together. They come in different sizes and designs for different riding styles and sizes of riders. So they have different diameters for the handlebars to go through and rises as well as clamp sizes and lengths of reach. You need to know what style and size of stem is right for your riding needs and body size.
The headset is the bearings that make it possible for the forks to turn smoothly. It is located where the forks go through the frame. These all need to match properly in order for things to go together right and work properly.
If you have threadless forks on your bike presently all you need to worry about is the diameter of the steerer tube. This could be 1, 1 1/8, 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 diameters. You can measure it by simply loosening your stem and removing it from the fork and measuring its outer diameter.
The treaded forks are the kind you will find on almost any bike over 10 years old. This type would have a vertical bolt that would go through the stem tube and would tighten the stem to the frameset. This kind of stem is a lot easier to adjust and spacers can be added or removed from in order to raise or lower the stem and the handlebars.
So as you can see there is a little more to changing the forks than it might seem at first. As to where you can buy your new forks and save money that is without question the internet. Most local shops wont stock any though they could order them in and usually have them within a week but this way you will probably have to pay full price. On this one I think the best place to look in on eBay. Though here again you will have to wait for it to ship to you but you could save significant dollars if you know how to buy on eBay.
There are a lot of mountain bike forks that you can buy that will restore an old beauty to its former glory or just get a tried bike back on the road. The process is very similar no matter what youre trying to buy. Learn what you have, learn what you truly want and need and find a great place to buy.
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