I am shopping around for an aftermarket carbon fork to replace the stock fork on my road bike, which was damaged when I had my bike shipped abroad ahead of me.


The damaged stock fork is 365mm long, axle to crown. Most of the aftermarket forks I’ve seen online – Columbus, Lynskey Deda, etc -- are two to three millimeters longer. (I have been told Enve manufactures a fork almost exactly along the same specs as the stock fork on my bike, but I’m afraid my budget simply won’t permit me to buy a pricey Enve fork at the moment.)


Will I see too much of a difference in the bike’s handling using a fork that is two to three millimeters longer, same rake? And, also, even more pressing, will installing a longer fork somehow put pressure on the headtube where there shouldn’t be any? I won’t crack my headtube by using a longer fork, will I?


Thanks in advance and I do apologize for what I am sure is a forehead-slapping, annoying noob question.

Should not be a problem as long as rake is same.

3mm isn't going to make any difference. It less than the difference in lower assembly stack heights of various headsets.

You've never seen an instruction to use a headset with a lower stack of XXmm, have you?

Buy the fork you like at the price you're comfortable with and put the 3mm out of your mind. If necessary, see a hypnotist to help you forget about it.

Thank you, gentlemen. You have put my mind at ease.

I am confident hypnosis won’t be necessary at this point. In fact, I can’t even picture myself visiting a hypnotist. I’d be as bored and skeptical as a New Yorker in a Mets game. (No offense to Mets fans out there, if any.)

Again, thanks.

BTW I was shopping for an aftermarket fork for my bike and chose a Ritchey. You may wish to put that on your list.

Yes, a Ritchey carbon road fork would have been right up there on my shortlist, for sure, as I have been using Ritchey components for a while now and they have all proven solid and reliable. But I have been unable to find any tapered forks under that tried-and-tested brand, unfortunately. If they do sell tapered forks with 1 1/2" - 1 1/8" steerer tubes and I have somehow missed them online, please do PM me with a link. The more options I have within my budget, the better.

Thank you. I appreciate the input.

I don't think they have a 1 1/2 - 1 1/4 tapered steerer. Bummer. One other consideration is contact the manufacturer of your frame, they may have replacement forks.

Your suggestion is so forthright and logical I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of it in the first place. Thank you for pointing out the obvious, which I had of course completely neglected to consider.

Anyways, I fired off an e-mail to Cube after reading your post, inquiring. I do hope they get back to me. Otherwise, my fallback would probably be a Columbus FEL 3K.


Again, thanks.