Originally Posted by
Cave
Hi all, I'm a cheapskate and don't want to shell out for a MTB, but toe overlap on my tourer is killing me when I go off road. I'm thinking of moving a 26"-wheel fork onto it to decrease overlap and thought this might be the place to ask advice.
Head angle 71 deg on tourer
Fork is a low-level Suntour, looks like about 75mm travel, could be a little less.
Head tube looks a similar level on both bikes, maybe 1-2 cm lower on the tourer.
Both 1 1/4" threadless so fork should drop out fine.
Any comments?
If rim brakes are used, the brake shoes won't line up on the rim, so you'll be without front brakes, but the road wheel should seat in the MTB fork.
Most of the toe overlap reduction could come from changing the tire, so if both are disc brake fronts, just change the wheel instead-although you probably need a fairly skinny 26 tire (1.5 or less) to fit in the road fork unless you have one of the wider forks.
The change in head tube angle will adversly effect the bike's high speed stability, but will make it more responsive at low speed. A half inch change in fork length isn't going make it unrideable at any rate.