daver

Good Afternoon, and Happy July 4th for you folks south of the 49th!!!

I recently purchased a Raleigh Serengeti that came stock with a pretty umm.., junky front suspension fork. I'm looking to upgrade to a better (threadless) fork, but I'm told that because the bike came stock with threaded steerer I'll need an "adapter." The local bike shop has been a little bit tight lipped about it by telling me that I should just bring the bike in and they'll "rig something up," which doesn't inspire me to ride my bike any further than the corner store, for which I could've bought a road bike or hybrid. Could someone please tell me what is involved in swapping my threaded fork for a threadless one.

Thanks in advance;
David

trin2du

Probably a new fork, new stem and new headset. Just hope it's 1 1/8, if it's a 1" steerer good luck finding any of that.

AlucardZero

https://www.bikeforums.net/recumbent/207039-threaded-stem-stem-adapter.html

It's the recumbetn forum but it should be the same answer... Also I googled this.

daver

Thanks for your help guys! Everything helps. Question about the headsets. The bearing races that have been pressed into the frame at the factory obviously have to come out, do new headsets come with new ones based upon the i.d. of the headtube of frame or am I in for nothing by hastle, heartache and a p.o.s. front fork that I can't mount my calipers to?

AlucardZero

WHy do you want calipers on a full suspension bike? More likes V's or Discs.

daver

Calipers are one of the components of my discs.

trin2du

New headset will come complete with bearing cups to be pressed in, crown race (the part that rests on the fork) bearings and all the other parts.

You're going to need some special equipment to install a headset so a visit to a LBS to get it measured and make sure you get the right parts may be in order.

McGuillicuddy

You must be thinking of 'cantilevers'. Calipers are the active part of your disc brakes that squeeze the pads to the disc. Very important.

daver

Fan-f'in-tastic!!!! Thank you Trin2du, you totally just provided the missing piece of my headset puzzle. They're no longer just a pile of parts I have no clue what to do with, Buh-Bye crappy HPS front shock, Hello Manitou!!

daver

As it happens now that I'm shopping around for a new headset, I have one more question. Headsets are sized to the steerer tube of the fork. Does that mean that they are kind of a one size fits all for the headtube of the bike? Which don't make to much sense to me as I have 3 bike frames at home (albeit dept./toy store bikes) and they all have different sized headtubes. My Raleigh appears to have a headtube O.D. of around 2" so I put the I.D. around 1-3/4" to 1-7/8", mind you I haven't peeled it apart yet and mic'ed it to get a presice measurement (the weather has been too nice). I guess, long story short: without getting out the ol' tig welder, what does a fellow do about headsets not fitting into headtubes....Or just buying the right one in first place....or hell, I'll even take a link to a headset/bike make&model compatability chart (harder to find than I ever suspected.)

Thanks again for any and all help, Enjoy your weekend!!!

Oleanshoebox

Your headtube is probably 1 1/8". Some frames have a 1" but this is not common on an all-terrain bike. Some frames have a 1 1/2" headtube but if your bike is intended for cross country and is not a cannondale this is also not likely. As an earlier poster said-you will need some special tools to disassemble your headset-so get them, take it apart, and then measure. The park tools website is a great resource for this kind of query.

But like I said, probably 1 1/8".