nycwtorres

I have a trek 1100 circa 1991. It's a great touring bike and I will keep it for touring. But I desperately need a new fork. The current one is a super heavy and rusty old steal fork.

How do I know choose a new one?
Sizing? Shape?

I have looked at some online catalogs but it's not very clear what I need, or how to figure that out.

Any help would be great.

DMF 

You need to determine what sort of headset you've got. Also what needs to bolt to the new fork and where. Do you want to keep the current stem? bars?

nycwtorres

Yeah,, I'd like to keep the current headset and bars.. I'll take some pictures and post them tonight. How do I know if it's threaded or not?

DMF 

By looking at the pics.

Check Sheldon Brown's site on this stuff.

Ex Pres 

You almost certainly have a 1" threaded setup.

nycwtorres

ok here it is.. the pictures.. I'm still not sure how to tell if the fork is threaded or not, (that is without disassembling it) hopefully someone out there can.

yeah, yeah, I painted the bike 16 years ago.. and it's dirty .. but I still try to put about 1,000 miles a year on it. So any help with suggestions on how to pick the right new fork for my bike would help.. oh and the tires are 700X25c

Ex Pres 

It's threaded.

You'll need to measure the length of the steer tube and buy one with the same length. Also measure the crown race and match that, too. It's probably a 26.4mm ISO

nycwtorres

ok so if I do have a 1" threaded fork.. would this fork work? LINK
How do I determine the steerer length?

Ex Pres 

It'll work, but to determine the length you need you'll have to disassemble it.

Although you can make a quick educated guess by measuring the headtube between the upper and lower cups and add ~40mm

nycwtorres

sounds like fun to me.. so I measure the total length from the threaded end to the wheel brackets?

BCRider

The other option would be to spring for a 1 inch threadless fork and new 1 inch threadless headset. You'd need a new stem as well along with a few spacers.

It's an option to consider if you're not having much luck finding a threaded fork that is the right length.

Oh, and if you find one that is up to around 1 cm too long you can cut it down provided you can tell for sure that there's a long enough threaded section. So that'll give you a bit of leeway in your shopping.

Ex Pres 

No, No
Just the length of the steerer - the single tube hiding inside the headtube. Measure from the bottom of the crown race to the top of the threads/tube. the crown race will be that curved silver disc at the bottom of the steerer.

BikingGrad80

Don't forget you will need to transfer the crown race from the old fork to the new one. A bike shop should charge ~ $8. Otherwise you could try prying it off with a screw driver and driving it on with pvc pipe and a hammer & wood.

also make sure the new fork is properly drilled for your caliper.

nycwtorres

if it's not.. I would still be able to purchase a new caliper to that would be compatible? The calipers are one of the next upgrades I would like to do.

Ok so far I've determined that I need a 1 inch threaded fork. But what if I also want to replace the headset and the stem too? could I go threadless for headset and fork? Will I still need to stay at 1inch?

According to the picture below what do you think the best set up is?



Also about wheels.. in the specs I see "Compatibility:Shimano 8/9/10-speed"
How do I know if my cassette is "shimano" compatible

Thanks for the help.

Al1943

It would be really easy to spend too much money on a new fork.
I'd suggest that you clean and grease the headset bearings an keep on riding.
You're not going to take much weight off of the bike unless you go with a full carbon fork, new threadless headset, new stem, and new handlebars. It would make more sense to put the money in a later model lighter framed bike.

Al

nycwtorres

I got that covered I am going for a carbon fork. LINK HERE and it's quite affordable.

I suppose my biggest concern is to NOT back myself into a corner and have to buy even another fork if I want to swap out the stem and headset.. but I don't know much about the stem headset setup that will work for my bike.

As far as a new bike.. oh that will happen but probably not for a year or so. In addition this bike has had me passing much nicer bikes for the past 17 years, I expect to be using this bike for many more years so the upgrades are worth it.

LarDasse74

I dig the paint job!

Tell us again why you are replacing the fork? Is it damaged?

You will be able to get threaded headsets and quill stems for the forseeable future, but you might not have a very wide selection...

You can change the headset and stem to threadless when you change the fork, might cost an extra $50 - $60 for something decent...

but then again, 1" headsets - threadless or threaded like yours - have been out of vogue for about seven years or so.

Al1943

The fork shown on the link is hardly a carbon fork. Only a short section of the legs is all carbon. The steer tube, crown, and dropouts are aluminum. The crown will have aluminum internal lugs extending down into the legs. The dropouts have internal aluminum lugs extending up into the legs- not much of a weight improvement. It will require a new 1" headset and a 1" compatible stem.
It all adds up to a lot of money for little improvement.
I'm not surprised that you and your bike can pass much nicer bikes. Keep on doing that and save your money for a completely new bike. Upgrades are relatively expensive. New bikes cost less than the sum of their parts.

Al

nycwtorres

Well for one I have had the bike for 17 years, and the fork is getting a bit rusty, it's steal and very heavy. Even the cheap one I have selected has got to be lighter than the one I have on there now.

Haha. Not sure if you mean that they are out of style in terms of looks or availability, I would have to guess both work in this case.

Here is the beginning of the set up I'm thinking of going with, but I'm still not sure if all this will work with my bike.

headset = LINK
Fork = LINK
Stem = ???next step

so far cost of upgrade = $120 plus stem... is it worth it. I'm clearly not being convinced that it is.. but I do put about 600 miles a summer on this bike.

spinerguy

I'm in the middle of a process restoring a couple of older road bikes, one of them will have front fork replaced.
I've decided to go with newer stuff so I ordered a 1" NOS Kinesis carbon fork ($80), and 1" cane creek threadless headset ($25). I already have some stems and handlebars laying around but usually can be had on the cheap (craigslist) for $20-30 ea.
Adding small misc items such as bar tape, maybe cables/casings comes to a grand total of less than $150 for upgrading front end. A small price to pay for someone who is going to put it to a good use.

LarDasse74

Unless the rust is severe it is unlikely it is ever going to be a problem... bikes can get very very rusty and still ride safely for years...

sandpaper and some more of that fancy paint would have it looking like new again.

But if you really like the bike and think it's gonna be worth ~$200 to drop 4 oz off the weight then go for it! It is not a complicated change.

(If there is any indication that the fork is structurally comprimised at all then discontinue use immediately! A broken fork is almost certain to cause injury. Clean the fork and look for wrinkles in the steel indicating physical damage, cracks - especially around the crown where the legs attach, rust deeper than just surface rust, anything else that looks unusual, get a reputable shop to examine it if you are not absolutely sure).