mmhorning

I bought a Haro Extreme in 1993 and it has served me well. I haven't been biking in a long time and the industry has passed me by. I would like to upgrade my forks to something with shocks, but I don't know what to look for or even what to ask. I don't want to spend much money as I would rather have a new bike if that is the case. I have been told that the diamter of shocks stems have changed since I bought the bike, so I could use some advice, technical information, etc.

Thanks in advance!

PeterG1185

its probably a 1" steerer, and if thats the case then marazoochi still makes some 1" steerer tube forks. if its 1.25" you're screwed, and if its 1.125 you've got every option in the world. My guess is its a 1", so you should be good

Raiyn

Don't bother. A modern fork will throw the geometry of your bike off and totally screw the handling. Besides rigid forks have come back into style

mmhorning

Ok, now I am a little confused....Raiyn can you explain?

So, if I were to buy some shocks, does anyone know the diameter of my forks?

mwilding

I am going through the same thing with an old Diamondback Sorrento I just eBay'd. Diamondback thought it was probably 1" and that I would have to replace the headset as well to accomodate a suspension fork (non-threaded).

I might just put slicks on it and call it a town bike...

Raiyn

Your bike wasn't designed to work with suspension forks. A suspension fork will raise the front of your bike which will slow the steering (due to the angle) and cause the bike to feel "heavy". Leave the bike as is.

Mechoption

If you look at your bike, you should notice that the top of the front wheel is quite close to the headset - in comparison all modern suspension forks have the wheel a lot further from the headset, this is acheived through a new frame design.

So you could possibly get your hands on some Wal-Mart suspension forks (they're using 1993 technology on their bikes still), but no suspension is far far superiror to ****ty suspension !

In other words, if you want susp, you have to buy a new bike That's what I did !

dpdsurf

Back then most bikes came with rigid forks and when you upgraded to a 2" or 3" travel fork it made the head angle slacker. So I think you would be fine if you found an 80mm (3") travel fork. It will slow down the turning and put you in a more upright position. Traits that I personally prefer. I say look for a used fork on ebay. I've seen Manitous and Rock Shox from that era with threaded steer tubes go for around $50. Along with headset size, you also need to know if your current fork is threaded or threadless. My guess is that it's threaded. Your LBS should be able to help you out if you are uncertain how to determine these things.

jyossarian

I have an older '90 or '91 Haro V2C and I upgraded to a Manitou SXR suspension fork a few years ago. The steerer tube is 1" on my bike and there weren't too many 1" forks on the market back then and probably fewer now.

The susp fork might make the steering slower, but I didn't notice although it's harder to ride with no hands. However, if you're going with a front suspension, I'd suggest 4" or more of travel. Anything less won't do much for you.

Raiyn

Two months later..........