hayden52

I need some advice. I have a nice steel frame bike with a Look carbon fork (1"), which is about 25 years old, that I recently inspected and it looks like it has the beginnings of a horizontal crack in the steerer right where the stem meets the headset. The dilemma is that I the only replacement 1" carbon forks available are 1) Used 20 year old ones, 2) new cheap Chinese ones. I bought cheap Chinese one, but I'm having second thoughts about installing it. What would you recommend?

Thanks.

13ollocks

Ritchey make a CF fork with a 1" alloy steerer, but they cost ~$250. That would be my first choice if you were prepared to eat the cost of the Chinese fork.
A few years ago I was looking for a specific long-out-of-production fork (Reynolds Ouzo Pro 1 1/8", 43mm rake). I found a NOS uncut fork on eBay, being sold off as surplus by Independent Fabrication (IIRC, back in the "rim brake era", IF spec'd their frame sets with Ouzo Pros - not much call for rim-brake frame sets these days). My point being, don't discount eBay as long as the source is trustworthy.

Kontact

I imagine hey is looking for a threaded one, which won't work with alloy.

I would buy a used

Kontact

I imagine hey is looking for a threaded one, which won't work with alloy.

I would buy a used Kestrel EMS. They are bombproof and stiff.

hayden52

I need threadless. My issue with buying on Ebay, unless it is new old stock, is that the used ones may have the same cracking issue my Look fork has if not now, then soon because of age and wear. I may look at the carbon/alloy ones just for peace of mind.

Andrew R Stewart 

I would second the alloy steerer path. I have run the Profile BRC forks in 1" for years and except for one having a loose bit of epoxy in one blade that can be heard when the fork is in hand they have been fine. I ride the Finger lakes area of NYS frequently and see 45+mph often. The issue I have with many more current carbon forks is the huge "fork crown" and how they don't visually flow into a traditional diameter heat tube and lower headset stack. I bought two 1.125" alloy steerer Ritchey forks a bunch of years ago that I just couldn't get over this look and thus never even cut one down. Too bad your frame isn't a 1.125" steerer one. I'd sell them for way less than I bought them for. Andy

rosefarts

The prettiest and most expensive option is the Wound Up. Steel steerer, it’s not the lightest.

I’d get a Ritchey.

roadcrankr

I personally do not recall threadless existing twenty-five years ago. Perhaps you replaced the fork along the way?

nathand

I've been happy with the Columbus Minimal carbon fork (1" threadless) that I put on my mid-90's Dean... but looks like they're expensive these days, probably twice what I paid for one new 4 years ago.

hayden52

I purchased the Look HSC-1 fork in 2001, so not 25, but 22 years ago.

Leisesturm

You must be a Boomer. Like me. We've seen so much innovation in our lifetimes it all gets to be a blur sometimes. 25 years ago ~2000 ... I wouldn't bet against some threadless stuff being on the market.

13ollocks

Threadless was patented in 1992. Can't speak for all manufacturers, but Litespeed MTBs were threadless by MY 1996 and most of their upper range road bikes were threadless by MY 2000

roadcrankr

I guess we know by now that the OP "went threadless" in '01.
Both Kontact and I held the belief that nearly all steel framesets utilized threaded back then.
It sure helps when an OP clearly describes things from the get-go, lest us responders make erroneous assumptions.

13ollocks

the OP stated “it has the beginnings of a horizontal crack in the steerer right where the stem meets the headset.” Seems clear he was talking about a threadless setup. I mean, where on a threaded steerer does the stem meet the headset?
so you jumped to the wrong conclusion, but somehow it’s the OP’s fault? Well played….🤔

roadcrankr

Well, he did say "...steel frame..." and later admitted to installing a threadless fork in '01. So, thank you, I did play that well.
And very adorable of you rushing to the OP's defense.



Last I checked, too, the top cap comprises part of the headset.

veganbikes

Columbus makes one, Ritchey makes one and then Wound Up makes the nicest ones that is what I would recommend if I wanted to stick with carbon if not I would get a threadless 1" steel fork and be done with it.

rosefarts

You had to shop around to find a quill stem any time after 1996.

Kontact

You sure about that?


1999 Trek catalog image.

rosefarts

That bike wreaks of old men desperately trying not to change. So many people upgraded their whole cockpit from stock for threadless.

Campy and Shimano were mysteriously not on board with threadless. Thus, a lot of new bikes that were equipped with a full grouppo were basically forced into the quill. I’m not sure when they were finally converted, I had a Campy threadless headset in maybe 2003. That absolutely doesn’t mean that threaded was a standard for anyone. I had a Campy lower cup and an A-head top cup to avoid this issue. I knew others that filed the threads off their headset to utilize a threadless fork.

The adoption of threadless was extremely fast and almost everyone was on board. It was one of those things that actually was a massive improvement.

Kontact

I like threadless. It didn't happen for road bikes in 1996. Trek bought the Icon brand of quill stems and seat posts in 1999, so it just isn't true that road bike threadless occurred commonly in the '90s.

What is interesting is that this 2000 Litespeed catalog shows a mix of threaded and threadless, but they skipped 1" threadless entirely and went to 1 1/8".
https://mombatbicycles.com/MOMBAT/Bi...speed-2000.pdf

While '99 didn't have any:
https://mombatbicycles.com/MOMBAT/Bi...speed-1999.pdf

Which is why I responded as I did to the OP - I've never actually bumped into a threadless 1" Look steel fork. The whole 1" threadless period for production bikes was extremely short. Companies like Calfee stuck with 1" longer (2003?), but it seems like the majority of 1" threadless forks were aftermarket conversions done in the decade after 2000 when the forks were easy to find.


And Shimano and Campy didn't make threadless headsets because there was a patent in force.

Hondo6

Yep. US Patent 5095770, which didn't expire until 2010. Per Wikipedia, Cane Creek was the owner of the patent.

Russ Roth

While it turns out he did replace it along the way there were threadless options 25 years ago, just amazing how long ago things end up being when we think it was only yesterday. I've got a nice lugged steel carrera frameset in the basement I've debated building up, came with a lugged fork crown and 1" threadless steerer, at the time there were options for threaded and threadless carbon as well but I wasn't trusting enough of carbon at the time to pay the extra but knew from enough stems coming lose on old road bikes that threadless was the way to go. Kontact shows a 99 trek 5500 with threaded but in 2000 they came threadless and those started being released in sept of 99, roughly 25 years ago.

tFUnK

When I went through this exercise about 12 years ago, the choices were Ritchey, Wound Up, BRC, and Hylix. I went with a Wound Up because a riding acquaintance was selling one for cheap, otherwise I was trying to save up for a Ritchey. A part of me is still curious about the Hylix (perhaps the one you got?) but not curious enough to go through the hassle of switching. The Wound Up looks nice but is on the heavier side.

Kontact

If I recall correctly, the Hylix takes the wrong size crown race - 27.0. But isn't the Hylix a carbon steerer fork, only?

The OP does not want used stuff, but for those that do, and have smaller sized frames, you can turn a threaded fork with a very long steerer into a threadless by simply cutting it to length. I've done that before. I think old Kestrel forks, in particular, have a spectacular track record. But I would consider using a nice condition Time or Look fork the same way.

Harold74

I've got a Ritchey Comp. Mine definitely wouldn't take a 28 mm tire and is pretty tight even on a 25 mm. Probably not an issue for most older road bikes that take smaller tires but I thought that I'd add this anyhow. It's information that I could have used last summer.