Proper size fork for my road bike frame?

[trekky]

Hello everyone,
I have a Trek, go figure that one haha, road bike frame. I consider myself new to the road biking scene; been riding mountain bikes for years but this is new to me. I have a Trek road frame, with a steering head, at 4.875 in. long., and a threaded headset for it. So, I know I need a threaded fork, 1" diameter. Given the steering head length; What fork do I need? Lengths, and threaded length would be a great help.
Thanks,
B

 

[531Aussie]

i take it you need a new fork.

If you want an excuse for a sexy upgrade, you can get threadless 1", which means you can buy a cool full-carbon fork, or carbon with an aluminium steerer. This would also mean a new head-set and stem........EVEN MORE SEXY!!!

other than that, to answer your question, if your head-tube is ~124mm, depending on your headset, the steerer needs to at least (approx) 38-40mm longer, but preferably longer, with an absolute bare minium of ~36mm for threaded Shimano head-sets.

 

[BikeyGuy]

You really need to know what "rake" the fork should be.
The rake depends on the frame geometry. Specifically the head tube angle.
Different head tube angle, different fork rake. I would call trek in Waterloo WI and give them the model frame you have. They'll tell you the proper rake for that frame. The have great customer service. I've called them more than once myself.
Good Luck !

Web site.......http://www2.trekbikes.com/
Phoine.........920-478-2191

 

[ChangMan]

You really need to know what "rake" the fork should be.
The rake depends on the frame geometry. Specifically the head tube angle.
Different head tube angle, different fork rake.

Werd. If you buy a fork that doesn't have the correct rake angle it could affect the handling of your bike in turns.