32
The single-legged fork must truly withstand heavier bending forces than conventional forks, simply due to physics and asymmetricity. But because of its different construction, the fork is actually stiffer than most 2-legged.
Pros
The top is attached like a dual crown downhill fork, which is much stiffer than a single-crown.
The wheel axle is one-piece with ...
30
Bicycle dynamics
A bicycle may only be ridden because of the peculiar steering geometry. The centre of the contact patch of the tyre is behind the point where the steering axis intersects with the ground. The distance between these points is called trail. In order to visualise it you may have a look at this figure from the bicycle dynamics article on ...
19
This fork setting exists so that the fork can be customized to your weight (major reason) and riding style (minor reason). It's simply the initial compression of the internal spring in the fork. The more it's compressed, the stiffer the fork will feel.
Bigger preload compresses the spring more, and so it's best for heavier riders and/or people who need/...
17
The purpose of such a steering damper is to stop the front wheel from turning when using a (two-leg) kickstand or while pushing the bike. Not much use otherwise.
17
Your bike (27.5 Orkan 21 spd. MB) sells for less than US$150 and is shipped flat packed. This puts it firmly in what we call BSO or bicycle shaped object territory.
At US$150, it’s hard to find a repair that isn’t going to cost half as much that the bike is worth. You might have the best success going to a bike coop and finding a used fork for $10-20 (or ...
15
Bouncyness* may not be the appropriate term for the behavior you need from your suspension.
Suspension has two main functions: Shock Absorbing and Dampening. Shock absorbing is what the fork does by compressing, allowing the wheel to travel upwards. In this process, kinetic energy from the shock is used to compress either a coil spring or an air spring. ...
15
Benefits of suspension forks (city/gravel road use):
Remove chatter from bumpy roads
Take the jar out of major bumps
Better traction
Drawbacks of suspension forks:
Entire bike is heavier, leading to a less agile bike. A bike with suspension (all else being equal) will hit more holes and hit them harder. It will also climb like a pig and accelerate ...
13
Aluminum alloy is weakened by being bent. The seat-stay is bowed in so that loads will tend to bend the stay more. The stay probably will not fail suddenly, but it will develop a crack where it's bent if you keep riding it.
It's probably OK to ride on temporarily, even if the stay does fail the other stay will support the wheel.
You say the bike is a Cube ...
13
Safe - probably yes. Good idea - no.
As Argenti Apparatus stated, the bike should not fail without some warning, but it probably will fail sooner or later. As people noted in the comments - the geometry seems to have been changed - the wheel seems to be pointing slightly to right, the drop-out seems out of plane etc. The hub axle might be bent, also the ...
12
It depends on how the fork is engineered for safety. While its plausible that the curved shape does add to some shock absorption, that is determined by the width and construction of the fork tubing. You could design a fork which was reliable and curved in aluminum or carbon or whatever, but the engineering wouldn't be the same as a steel fork. Whether the ...
11
On the surface it doesn't look good, but I wonder if there is a reinforcement wrap for the brake posts, with an unfinished edge). There are some informal ways to try and confirm whether the structural carbon has been damaged.
'Carbon usually has a very crisp sound to it [when tapped] and when it’s damaged the tone changes completely,' says John Hansell of ...
11
One obvious advantage for most lefty bikes is
You’re able to change the tire and tube without taking the wheel off the bike. So wheel adjustments and repair can be made without interfering with the disk brake rotor. This is especially useful on rear wheels as you also don’t have to take off the chain.
In the case of these rental bikes, I suspect that the ...
11
Generator hubs for small wheels will output less and produce less drag at a given speed when built to a 700, because they'll be operating at fewer RPMs than expected.
AFAIK all the non-sondelux Schmidts still have output suitable for halogen, including XS-M. You should double check when you order the hub. If so it will pair fine with LED in a larger wheel.
10
The unsprung weight thing is a myth for the most part. Cast aluminum and magnesium lowers are extremely light, for example, old marzocchi 66 ones were only 3/4 of a pound, total weight. It's not as if the stanchions, dropouts, lower-internals and anything other parts are weightless on an inverted fork, then you have to compare the weight difference with ...
10
There are an intersection of a number of reasons:
Public Perception - Carbon as that "wow" factor. Colloquial it is associated with "space age" technologies. Therefore it must be better! The truth is that the performance of carbon depends heavily on manufacturing techniques used (e.g., materials and layup). See point 3 for an example.
Weight - Carbon ...
10
I'm sorry to say that looks like a crack rather than a scratch.
Bike looks quite new (I notice the dual pivot calipers), but I believe Trek's lifetime warranty covers CF frames and forks beyond 5 years anyway.
10
DO NOT DRILL HOLES IN YOUR FORKS
That would weaken them substantially and run the risk of them breaking under stress (e.g., when you hit a pothole). A broken fork will probably put you in the emergency room, and potentially the morgue if you're unlucky with vehicles nearby.
Hopefully, other answers will address how to fix your forks; worst case is ...
9
Disclaimer: I used to design and sell after market suspension parts for proflex bikes
There are three main strategies for the "spring" in fork suspension
coil spring
elastomer stack
inert gas, e.g. air or sometimes something fancier.
Nowadays all springs are dampened somehow either by
using oil,
negative air (opposing force on the spring)
friction (...
9
On steel forks the tiny holes at the bottom end of the fork-blade are vent holes for the brazing process. The brazing produces fumes the fumes and the heat expands the air in the blade which makes that these holes are needed to evacuate both. On steel frames you may find similar holes in the seat-stays and in the chain-stays where they are usually close to ...
9
Not fixable. (Or more specifically, not for anything like the cost of just replacing it even if it is theoretically fixable, which with broken magnesium/aluminum parts like this is a black hole of a metallurgy/welding/machining/heat-treating/fatigue/etc question.)
There are two layers to this question - physical compatibility with the frame and parts and ...
8
The real issue is in the top tube length. Basically, for shorter riders you need to move the handlebars closer to the seat. But then you have to deal with the wheel possibly colliding with the pedals ("toe strike"), changing the head angle or the fork's rake, which compromises the handling, and/or having a proportionally longer top tube than would ...
8
One of the main problems with converting an old bike is the width of the headset. Old rigid mountain bikes[1] commonly have a 1" headset while modern suspension bikes have a 1 1/8" diameter headset. Suspension forks are mostly for 1 1/8" headsets so fitting suspension to an old rigid mountain bike is normally a non starter for that simple reason.
The ...
8
I would consider looking at a used later model bike.The improvements made in the last 18 years are worth the money.A decent fork can run hundreds of dollars not including installation. Check with your local bike shop for used bikes or craigs list if you keep it local so you can see before you buy.Bikepedia is a good reference to make sure you have an idea ...
8
The fork is "right" if it has the right "sag", that is, if it lowers a bit when you get on the bike. The right sag is no less than 10%, no more than 25% of total travel, for a regular bike (non-downhill, non-special-purpose);
Basically three "areas" must be addressed on maintenance:
Cleaning the inside, for removal of old oil/grease, water, mud, grime, rust,...
8
This is obviously (from the images) a suspension fork, and a very low-end one. Suspension forks are heavier than their rigid counterparts, but the trade-off is that they absorb shocks. These rust spots MUST MEAN the fork has long ago COMPLETELY LOST its ability to work properly as a suspension. As a result, you are carrying useless extra-weight, are not ...
8
Throw that thing out and get a rigid fork. You don't need suspension unless you're riding off-road, or jumping over cars, or whatever it is the kids do these days. And bad suspension is worse than no suspension.
Rigid forks are pretty durable, so you may be able to find up a used one. Make sure that the crown-to-axle distance is similar to what you have now,...
8
I'm going to recommend that you NOT do this.
There were in the past manufacturers of 1" steerer suspension forks - though I'm not certain that they're are still sold. It is important to note that bicycle frames built to accept solid steel forks have different geometry than those built for suspension forks. The frame is designed for a fork that doesn't have ...
8
I would get a fork with a steerer that fits the frame. The expense and risk of modifying your existing fork won't be worth it. There were some mountain bike forks with replacement steerer tubes but they didn't allow for changes of size or type of steerer. They were 1 1/8" threadless and so was the replacement. You also want to match the fork rake/angle that ...
8
Proviso - my advise presumes you are not looking at forking out $2K or more for a bike, and probably significantly less. At a high price point I might suggest suspension. I also presume the gravel section is well maintained with average (pea - grape) size gravel (Where I ride, we sometime use logging roads, the "gravel" is stones about 2"-3" across.), and ...
8
how does a higher fork contribute to higher stress in the frame?
By creating a longer lever, and stretching the end of that lever to a greater angle, it transmits more force to the bottom of the head tube (the part of the frame where the steer tube passes through). This can cause damage to the head tube itself or where it joins both the down tube and top ...
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