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Help swapping out a fork

Hey Guys! So I am in the process of swapping out the for on my bike, and I am slightly confused about something. Here is the situation:

I have a 2005 cannondale R700 (CAAD7), with an integrated headset, and I am swapping out the stock Slice ultra fork for a Ritchey WCS Carbon fork. The fork came bare, with nothing besides the actual fork. I don't know anything about doing this, but I figure it should be fairly simple. Is there something called a crown race I need to worry about/switch over? What about a star nut, do I need a special one, since the steer tube is carbon?

Thanks in advance!

-Steve

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjmayclin

You would need to move the crown race from the original fork to the new one. However I VERY strongly advise against making this change!

Generally speaking, with road bikes at least, the original fork that was made for the frame will be the best possible fork. Replacing it with a generic fork is liable to lead to handling issues, as it is unlikely that the replacement fork will match the geometry of the original.

Personally, I find plastic steerers scary, and I would definitely consider the stock Ultra Slice fork superior to the Ritchey for that reason. Also, you should NEVER use a star nut with a plastic steerer. If you insist on downgrading your bike this way, you need to use a special expansion plug in the Ritchey steerer.

Generally, the only good reason to replace the fork on a road bike is because the old one was wrecked in a crash. If your original fork is not damaged, my very strong advice is:

"It it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it!"

Sheldon "Leave Well Enough Alone!" Brown

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|  What's not worth doing is not worth doing well. |

|                                      --Don Hebb  |

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WOW! The Sheldon Brown replied to my post!?!?

Shock aside, I should have explained the reason in the original post. I am swapping it out because I did go down and the original for got several deep scratches on one side, through the finish into the carbon. I am extremely hesitant to ride it in this condition, because of all the horror stories about failure after trauma.

The fork I have to replace it with is one that a friend was going to use on a build that got aborted a couple years ago. He let me have it for a really good price, but he couldn't find the parts that originally came with it. So thats my situation.

Can I get some help on how to move the crown race?

Thanks,

-Steve