i have a giant butte mountain bike than i'm converting to a road bike. one of the things i want to do is get a newer fork so that i can free up some weight and run 700c tires. most of the forks i've seen are made for 1" or 1 1/8" steer tubes. is it ok to just measure the diameter of my steer tube or is there a way of looking up the specs for my bike. i tried some google searches but didn't come up with anything. thanks.

The key measurements on a fork is the diameter and length of the steerer. These both can be easily measured with a ruler. Also, if you change you fork length you will change you steering geometry.

Now for the obligatory BF two cents. If you change your fork to run 700c tires you will need to make sure you get a cyclocross fork so your brakes and brake levers will work. Also you will still have to run a 26 inch tire on the back. Since you already have a rigid fork you probably be best served by getting some very narrow 26 inch tires. You will not see much improvement by upgrading.

so moving to 700c tires from mountain bike tires (26 x 1.5) will not give me much improvement if i want to make this a road bike? that doesn't make any sense to me.

so moving from a 26 X 1.5 mountain bike wheel to a 700c isn't going to benefit me in terms of road biking. that doesn't make sense to me.

Would going to a 26x1.00" tire make some sense?

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/pritm...ck_tire/pp.htm

Sorry for the DP.

Then go on a diet! Get some exercise! Sorry, just reliving my 1992 crank calls to the other branch of the bike shop I worked at.

That bike was only available in 1992 IIRC, and it was a low end machine at the time. Don't do anything more than put 26X1.25 street tires on it. Plenty of $50 road bikes out there.

Not really. You'd get access to a wider variety of rims and tires, you'll get a tad smoother ride over small obstacles and you'll get a little higher gearing. The price for this is plenty of brake hassle, unless you're building the wheels up with disc brakes, the cost of another wheel set, and a slightly higher ride height.

Narrow slicks that can take a decent pressure are already available in 26", so there's not much gain there.
Starting with a MTB you're already so far behind the purebred road bikes that going to deep section aero rims isn't much point. The higher gearing isn't much of an issue either unless you can honestly say that you're currently limited by spinning out in your top gear.

At best you will be building a hybrid. The geometry of your bike will never allow you to make it a "road bike". A lot of the hybrid use 35mm tires for comfort and 35mm is ~ 1.4 inches. So in reality your benefit will be taller tires. The expense in the conversion will far out way any gains.

Now, since I hate it when someone asks a question and doesn't get an answer and just a why would you do that. It can be done. You will need to measure the steerer tube diameter and length to match them up with your new fork. You need to have canti studs on the fork to be sure your brakes will mount correctly. In the rear it won't be so easy. First you will need to see if the 700c tire will even fit. If it does then you will have problems with the brakes lining up on the rims. You could always leave the 26" tire on the rear like a 96er but then you will lose most of what you are trying to gain.

I would go look at the builds in the commuter forum. You will see many skinny tired 26" bikes and get some ideas. Also if you look at the websites of manufacturers under their "Urban" catagory you will see them there as well.

Good luck!

well that sounds like a lot of trouble for not a whole lot of fun. i guess i will just deem this the commuter bike and start building a road bike around a frame actually designed for such. thanks.