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I just bought the red front-fork below which has these metal caps on the V-brake mounts:

enter image description here

But my old fork looks something like the below, where the mounts are very different:

enter image description here

As you can see; those mounts are very different and the ones which my brake-assembly actually fit.

Hence I am wondering:

  1. Have I bought the wrong fork or can I remove those metal caps? If I can remove them, how do I do that? And if I do remove them will I find the same mount-type as the purple fork above? Any links/videos would be most welcome, thx.
  2. If I have bought the wrong fork, what is this brake mount-type called so that I do not repeat my mistake in the future?

Thanks for your help.

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    by the way the caps are not metal. the dead giveaway is the way the powdercoat cracked on the cap on the right. they feel hard because they are powdercoated, but they are softer than the coating which is the reason it cracked the way it did (probably when a moderate impact occurred). If you want to be extra fussy running a fine knife along the joint between the plastic cap and the metal fork will minimize chipping of the finish when the cap is removed. If you already removed the cap, you may find the level of chipping acceptable (completly hidden by other parts) or want some detail sanding.
    – hildred
    May 1, 2020 at 0:44

2 Answers 2

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These caps are indeed removable. They are protective caps on your brake mount bosses, to prevent the paint getting on the surface of the brake mount or threading, in the factory.

They've done their job so simply remove them and install your brakes as normal, they should just pull off.

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Pull the caps off, that should reveal the standard V-Brake mounts underneath.

Often forks come with some kind of plastic protector cap on the mounts to protect them in shipping. Looks like your fork was painted with the caps on to keep paint off the surface the brake mounts on.

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    So that was my initial thought as well, but these guys are made of metal.
    – Astrid
    Apr 30, 2020 at 13:47
  • Does the new fork also have disc mounts? People make them with both sometimes and might use a more 'permanent' feeling cap on the V mounts for disc users.
    – Affe
    Apr 30, 2020 at 19:27
  • @Astrid I'd guess the caps are metal to help protect the bearing surface underneath from the painting process. Plastic caps might fall off? Or perhaps allow paint to wick underneath ?
    – Criggie ♦
    Apr 30, 2020 at 20:23
  • Some paints are baked in high temperature, plastic caps might melt.
    – jpa
    May 1, 2020 at 11:12

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