The wrong forks

One thing about coming back to bikes after a long layoff is the joy of discovering how much has changed. Forks, for example. They used to be steel (or some kind of metal), controlled first by what I used to call a steering stem and then by a quill that slotted into it and expanded when you did a nut up, thus holding the assembly together. The handlebars threaded through a built-in carrier at the top.

I knew that materials had changed and carbon fibre was increasingly popular and a quick bit of Internet research showed me that the means of connecting handlebar to front wheel had changed slightly – there was now a “steerer” that ran all the way through the frame’s steering head and had a thingy bolted to the top that the bars went in.

What could be simpler than to look on eBay and find a nice set of carbon forks? Nothing could be easier, that’s what, so I did. I knew what length the steerer had to be because the frame seller had put it on his advert. Pretty soon I came across what seemed to be a stash of Specialised FACT carbon forks. Another quick check let me know they were quite the business and there was one the right length, so I bid. And won, very cheaply. So cheaply, in fact, that I began to wonder if I had overlooked something basic in the description … like “broken”.

When the forks came they were perfect and, I assume, New Old Stock.

Let’s put them on … Errr …

Can you see what it is yet?

In the olden days all fork stems were 1in diameter. Now it seems they are 1+1/8in. The headset wouldn’t fit and the forks wouldn’t go through the head properly, because the frame had a classic 1in diameter steering head.

Never mind, it all worked out OK in the end. My son claimed these forks for the bike he demanded I build him after finishing mine and I went in search of some carbon forks in the right size.

The Specialised FACT forks turned out to be literally good as new … but with the wrong size steerer for my frame