Mountain Biking - Old Mongoose Rockadile.. looking to add Front suspension

So I have this old Mongoose Rockadile.. thing must be 10-12 years old but I love it and it's treated me well. I've been dabbling with the idea as of late to replace the fork with front suspension. Obvious problems are that its threaded and has cantilever brakes. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with a similar mtb makeover. I'm looking at coil based f.suspension with about 80-100mm of give. I do mostly XC type biking as well as some road with it. I've been looking at replacing it with threaded, or swapping out more parts and going unthreaded. Looking for some insight or opinions in the matter. I'm not interested in purchasing a new bike at this time, so keeping to said topic would be appreciated. Thanks!

-Dan

You're out of luck. Even if you went threadless your bikes geometry will NOT support the type of travel you want. Your handling will turn to absolute rubbish due to the new angle the increased Axle to Crown height will force on your frame. It's not worth the cash

do to the new angle the increased Axle to Crown height

ahem... that's due to the new angle.

Thanks alot Raiyn. I suspected something like that, but there's always room for hope when it comes to my mongoose! Oh well, I'll just tweak some other things and keep it runnin'.

As a side note, it's a good thing we have someone so proper in his grammer corrections, otherwise I might not have understood......

Mongoose was a respected company before wasn't it? Sort of went down under in the past few years like some Raleigh's and hyper's.

Mongoose was a respected company before wasn't it?

Damn Skippy. They didn't make a bad bmx back when people used to say damn skippy

Yeah, Mongoose was awesome once. I've read here that some of their models are still good. I'd expect that those "good" ones aren't marketed through X-mart locations.

As a side note, it's a good thing we have someone so proper in his grammer corrections, otherwise I might not have understood......

Sorry, Raiyn always does that, and I found it kind of funny to catch him in a grammatical error.
Doesn't happen often :)

Sorry, Raiyn always does that, and I found it kind of funny to catch him in a grammatical error.
Doesn't happen often :)
Actually it was a spelling error. :p

Ya mongoose used to make a solid bike... i mean mine is still kicking after 12 years of beating on it, basically entirely intact... as for their reputation now, i don't really pay attention. The only thing that ever really broke on mine was my shifter when i smacked into it with my knee... the rest of that trail was a bit sporting with only 3 gears to choose from.

Who needs shocks, that's why I've got arms.

I think it can be done. An extra inch of travel (or length, 25.4mm= 1") in a front fork only changes the head tube angle by approximately 1 degree. If you put an 80mm travel fork on it, you would most likely be OK, it would not change your head angle by all that much. The one problem you may have, is your current steerer 1" or 1-1/8"-you probably won't find a 1" headset and fork. You'd have to replace the headset with a 1-1/8" threadless headset, buy a new stem (with spacers), and get a fork-watch for old models or OEM "take offs"-I got a Manitou Axel for $79 from Jenson, to put on an older bike. They were OEM and the steerer had been cut, but was OK for the bike I was putting it on. You'd probably want V-brakes (if you don't already have some). For the bike I was fixing up, I had the brakes, so all I needed was a fork, stem, and spacers. Did the installation myself-and without a fancy headset press. If you really like the bike, and it can use a 1-1/8" headset, I'd go for it-watch the web stores for closeouts-you can find bargains.

Sorry, thought one thing might be unclear- if you have a 1"steerer now, you will not be able to change it to use a 1-1/8" steerer and headset.

Actually it was a spelling error. :p

Well technically, it is a grammar error, as no spelling mistake was actually made. You spelled the word "do" correctly. You actually used the incorrect word altogether, thus making it a grammatical error. :p

Axel to Crown height only effects two things.

1)Wheel Base: A longer fork will slow down the steering, making the bike's handling worse if going too far. The longer wheel base creates issue number two.
2)Slack front end: The bigger the fork the more slack the front will be. On bikes designed around a rigid fork will be drastically effected with a 3" fork itself. With and 80mm, the most I would upgrade would be to a fork with 4 or 5" of travel. Having a really slack front end will put an insane amount of stress on a bike not designed for suspension and will cause the frame to break quicker.

The new forks won't work at all with the frame since the Rockadile is more than likely a 1" threaded headtube, the new forks have 1_1/8 or 1.5 steerer tubes. If you are bent on getting front suspension I would search ebay or craigs list for an old Rock Shox Mag or Quadra which only have one or two inches of travel and would be compatible with the frame.