Can a fork from a ross fit a schwinn caliente?,I know,East Hill pics ,yes ,Tomorrow will be picture time I hope to slap together a Le Tour and post the pics quick for your perusal. I will adjust and straighten later but some Idea of value would be a help .Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode of ACME BIKE ADVENTURES

You are in the best position to tell. This is one of those situations where size does matter. Measure the length of the steer tube of the frame, don't forget to include the adjustable cone, washers & jamb nut as well. This will tell you how long of a steerer you will need on your replacement fork. You could possibly use a longer fork and trim it, provided the threads are deep enough to allow you to properly adjust the head set.

That brings up another can of worms... head set size. Schwinns were weired animals they used some funky head set pieces. you might have to mix & match pieces to make things work. This is one of thise situations where a wide and deep "Small Bits Box" is most beneficial.

Good luck with it.

You need to compare stem diameters too.

True.

good advice could trim top,sounds like about my speed.here are pics of the tuned Le Tour.I know it's more Huffy than Campy but what the heck.I also saw a guy who staightened his fork on here.Is that possible if there are ripples in the fork? I think not.Can the fork on the Caliente in the pic be straightened?Please tell me it is my imagination and the fork is not really bent at all.

Bent, yes. Straightenable, yes.

-Kurt

I agree, the Caliente fork is definitely bent, not your imagination.

I don't know what year the Caliente is, but it looks like maybe late '80's. If so, it probably uses a standard sized 1" fork/stem/headset. Whether that's what the Ross has on it, I don't know, because Ross is one of two brands I've heard of, other than Schwinn, that used an oddball 21.15mm(.833") stem/steerer on some of their bikes. Nishiki is the other. Much more common on Schwinns than the other two, though. The le tour, for example, being an older Schwinn, almost certainly has the odd sized Schwinn stem/steerer, which is 21.15mm (.833") inside diameter of the steerer tube and also the quill portion of the stem that goes into the steerer tube is 21.15mm. The headsets on these bikes with the oddball 21.15mm stem/steerers are actually the same as on bikes with standard 1" stems/steerers, except for the locknut on the headset which has an inside diameter that's smaller so that it fits snugly around the 21.15mm stem.

I guess I'll put the steerer tube into a larger pipe and put a vouple two by fours together for leverage on the fork or maybe Sheldon's page has the scoop.Time to help my wife paint...Argh!

No I could put an old axle into the fork and with about a six foot long board point the end so it hits against the steerer tube