OK - bit of a strange one this...

I have a Cannondale Hoolingan 1. The front forks are for 26" wheels, but house a 20" wheel. I wish to mount a front mudguard.

The forks currently have disc brake mounts and a central mounting hole for a front reflector or caliper brakes. This is ok as I can suspend the mudguard from this mounting point.

However, I am considering retro-fitting a set of headshok forks. The problem is this, I will want disc mount forks - for definate. Some forks are both disc and v-brake friendly, but none of them have this central hole (that I can see anyway). Is there anything that I can run across the V brake bosses to support the front fender?

I seem to remember some horseshoe shaped item, but all my current searches show that for fitting v-brakes to caliper, not the other way round.

Are you sure that hole would fit a caliper brake, calipers haven't been fitted to MTB's other than BSO's since the 80's or before.

I think your are going to strugle to get mudguards to fit that bike, it isn't really designed for them, you don't mention any mounts on the fork.

For retro fitting a headshok, if the head tube can take one, it could be done, but from searching for images of the bike, it looks too small & long, also would be a very expesnive option is possible.

Think you need to look at the type of bike you have, and what you need from it, as they don't seem to be meshing at the moment

Well I can fit mudguards to it in its current state - as it has already been done - see here https://www.flickr.com/photos/annyia/3800853889/

This person has also swapped out the front forks for standard suspension forks - I have a desire for headshok, I have emailed Cannondale to check compatibility and will then keep my eye on eBay, if it is possible, until the right "deal" passes by. there is no hurry.

My query was with a set of headshok forks that are both V and disc compatible,

for example



I will be using the disc brake mount for the brake without question, I was just wondering if there was something I could mount to the V-Brake bosses that would give me the mounting hole I want, because, as you can see from the picture, there is no hole to mount a front reflector at the fork crown.

I don't want to mount caliper brakes, i was just using them as an example for the mounting hole (if that makes sense).

Just a way to fit a mudguard ?, on those fattys I note there is a bolt
into the end of the fork steerer..

you can use the V brake mounts as a small front above the wheel, rack mount
and , perhaps, that bolt would be a 3rd mounting for that rack

a plug, perhaps another star nut in the bottom of an open fork steerer.. would do similar.


I fitted a small rack to my otherwise lowrider , fork , though
it was not the fork you show.

a decent shop can fabricate one .

Mine was a fabrication at M Steel/Joe Waugh , in the north, Newcastle..
i was on my way to the Ferry Port , to Norway , Mid Bike Tour,
so they did a quick , but solid job.

once the rack is there it can also mount your mudguard..

I don't believe that head shox will take a plug up the end of the steer tube. The suspension is in the head tube after all.

The canti studs on the fork on the left look like they unscrew. If so you can make up a plate adapter that looks similar to an old style brake booster. Or for that matter if you can find an old brake booster you could use it as your arch over the tire to mount your fender onto. I believe that once the studs come out the thread on the studs and in the holes is something like 8-1.25. Just find a couple of short bolts and cut them to the length you need to mount the brake booster or booster like arch you make up from some plate aluminium.

The good news is that 1/8 or 3/16 aluminium cuts just fine with a wood cutting jigsaw. Then file or sand down the rough edges and you've got a fender mount arch.

I may be remembering wrongly but weren't the Headshox setups 1.25 inch? Does your Hooligan have that big a head tube?

Not too sure why you asked about the mudguards, as you have answered this question yourself; you really have answered the Q about the headshok as well.

For the headshok you haven't said what model year bike you have, but if it's the white one as in the link, that sure looks like a 1 1/8th headtube, no sign of suspension there like you mention tho, so unless you want the frame cut and re-welded with a new headtube, a headshok is never going to happen.

If you really want a Headshok, you need to be looking for a bike with it factory installed, they never really were aftermarket forks, have you looked at the Badboy range bikes, some of the MY2011 had this as standard.

I think that "bolt" is actually a schrader valve to pup up the air suspension (not 100% sure though)

Cheers - the Brake Booster was what I was trying to remember - as for the head tube diameter, I currently do not know if it is 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 - I have emailed Cannondale to ask.

I may have to go the route of "normal" suspension, which will make these questions irrelevant, if the tube is too narrow.

Maybe I worded the original question wrong, but I wasn't asking about the mudguards in relation to the current bike (which is the 2009 model BTW)
My question was concerning finding something to adapt the v-brake bosses to aid putting a mudguard on a headshok fork - the brake booster mentioned above was what I was trying to remember.

All this is dependent on a Headshok fork being able to fit in the first place, for which I am awaiting an answer from Cannondale

Re: the Bad Boy - I had considered these, I really wanted a 2009 Trekking Prestige but they are no longer available ANYWHERE. - Strangely they have somehow managed to mount mudguard and front dynamo light to the fork crown but they are also 28" forks, not 26".

But I have the Hooligan, and I am very happy with it. Just looking at what I can do with it.

If you have a 20" wheel in a supposedly 26" fork there should be loads of space for you to cobble something together, maybe you can run p-clamps around the fork legs, and bolt your very own mudguard bridge to that?

Or a length of those galvanized perforated steel strips used to hang acoustic ceilings and all kinds of pipes and ducts from perhaps. Some shrink-wrap tubing as a sleeve to protect the paint of the fork and then you're good to go.

I have still yet to here back from CD, so I thought I would take some measurements myself.

First off, the steer tube is loooooooong, ~265mm from fork crown to top of tube (measured out of frame). The head tube of the frame is ~170mm and then the headset, spacers and stem are about ~95mm.

The diameter of the steerer does indeed seem to be 1 1/8" - BUT I can't tell if reducer cups have been used as I have no previous knowledge of them, what I can say is that the inside of the head tube is ~1 1/2". Do you think this will take a 1 1/4" Headshok???

Click the pictures to enlarge...

References from a quick google seem to be spotty but two sources I found suggest that the steerer diameter is 1.5 or a specialty 1.52 steerer diameter. If so that means you can't convert your present frame to a Headshok. And that makes sense since I remember the head tube of the Headshok bikes as being HUGE and your frame is obviously using a 1 1/8 style head tube. So that idea is definetly dead in the water before you start.

So you're stuck with using regular telescopic leg forks.

Fairy snuff

Woodman makes a headset to convert Headshok frames to 1 1/8" steerer standard. They list the cup OD as 49.5mm. So, the headtube ID either needs to be this size or have enough meat to ream to this size to use a Headshock fork.

Most integrated headsets fit a bore in the 41 to 45MM range (depending on specs). Yours appears to be roughly 42mm. Ain't gonna work.

Thank you for the extra info, I must admit I had come to the same conclusion.

but I have found that I do not have to have the standard telescoping leg assembly that is common.

It is a pity that the SR Suntour Swing only comes in 700C, my next option is the RST Single Shock which comes in 20", 24", 26" and 700C.

Now I took a few more measurements today, from fork crown (gap where fork and head-tube meet) to axle centre is approx 40cm, and the rake is approx 3.5-4cm (not very accurate I know). The thing here is the fork length, depending on the measurements it might actually pay to try and obtain the 24" SS instead of the 26". I need to do some more research (and re-find the official cannodale measurements for the Hooligan frame)