Trek 970 MTB needs a new fork....

[Alan Hoyle]

I have a '94 or '95 Trek 970 MTB. Back in '96, I had the fork
replaced with a Rock Shox Judy FSX. Several years ago the elastomers
wore out and gave me no damping and I had a friend replace them with
the ones I had left over in my kit. Just recently, I noticed that
they've worn out and disintegrated again, but I'm unencumbered by
replacements now. At some point along the line, I also replaced the
original cantilever brakes with XT V-Brakes.

I don't ride on the trails all that often (twice in the past few
years) and lately I've just used it as a commuter, but I still want
the option of doing trail riding. The local store offered me a couple
of options: rigid steel $110 installed, and an inexpensive suspension
one for $170 installed.

Back when I got my Judy, I seem to recall that the cheap ones were
****, is that still the case?

I think I have a threadless steerer, but I don't know if it's 1" or 1
1/8". How can I tell?

I was looking at Nashbar and saw a few things that might be
interesting (Carbon rigid MTB fork?), but I probably don't want to
drop too much money into it....

-alan

--
Alan Hoyle - [email protected] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
"I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

 

[Alan Hoyle]

I have a '94 or '95 Trek 970 MTB. Back in '96, I had the fork
replaced with a Rock Shox Judy FSX. Several years ago the elastomers
wore out and gave me no damping and I had a friend replace them with
the ones I had left over in my kit. Just recently, I noticed that
they've worn out and disintegrated again, but I'm unencumbered by
replacements now. At some point along the line, I also replaced the
original cantilever brakes with XT V-Brakes.

I don't ride on the trails all that often (twice in the past few
years) and lately I've just used it as a commuter, but I still want
the option of doing trail riding. The local store offered me a couple
of options: rigid steel $110 installed, and an inexpensive suspension
one for $170 installed.

Back when I got my Judy, I seem to recall that the cheap ones were
****, is that still the case?

I think I have a threadless steerer, but I don't know if it's 1" or 1
1/8". How can I tell?

I was looking at Nashbar and saw a few things that might be
interesting (Carbon rigid MTB fork?), but I probably don't want to
drop too much money into it....

-alan

--
Alan Hoyle - [email protected] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
"I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

 

[Nate Knutson]

Alan Hoyle wrote:
> I have a '94 or '95 Trek 970 MTB. Back in '96, I had the fork
> replaced with a Rock Shox Judy FSX. Several years ago the elastomers
> wore out and gave me no damping and I had a friend replace them with
> the ones I had left over in my kit. Just recently, I noticed that
> they've worn out and disintegrated again, but I'm unencumbered by
> replacements now. At some point along the line, I also replaced the
> original cantilever brakes with XT V-Brakes.
>
> I don't ride on the trails all that often (twice in the past few
> years) and lately I've just used it as a commuter, but I still want
> the option of doing trail riding. The local store offered me a couple
> of options: rigid steel $110 installed, and an inexpensive suspension
> one for $170 installed.
>
> Back when I got my Judy, I seem to recall that the cheap ones were
> ****, is that still the case?

Yes. It's much, much better to have an average rigid cromo fork than a
cheap suspension fork on a bike that sees the kind of use you describe.

> I think I have a threadless steerer, but I don't know if it's 1" or 1
> 1/8". How can I tell?

Threadless stems clamp around the steerer and have bolts that make this
pretty obvious. Threaded stems clamp inside the steerer.

1" threadless steerers have a 1" outside diameter, 1 1/8"'s have 1
1/8". Remove the top cap, the little circular plate above the stem.
Look down and you can see the stem clamping around the steerer. There
may be a shim between the 2. Hold a ruler across the stem's opening and
eyeball the steerer's outside diameter.

> I was looking at Nashbar and saw a few things that might be
> interesting (Carbon rigid MTB fork?), but I probably don't want to
> drop too much money into it....

Skip it. Note that you should get a suspension-corrected rigid fork if
your bike came with a suspension fork, and a non-suspension-corrected
one if not.

> -alan
>
> --
> Alan Hoyle - [email protected] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
> "I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
> Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

 

[Nate Knutson]

Alan Hoyle wrote:
> I have a '94 or '95 Trek 970 MTB. Back in '96, I had the fork
> replaced with a Rock Shox Judy FSX. Several years ago the elastomers
> wore out and gave me no damping and I had a friend replace them with
> the ones I had left over in my kit. Just recently, I noticed that
> they've worn out and disintegrated again, but I'm unencumbered by
> replacements now. At some point along the line, I also replaced the
> original cantilever brakes with XT V-Brakes.
>
> I don't ride on the trails all that often (twice in the past few
> years) and lately I've just used it as a commuter, but I still want
> the option of doing trail riding. The local store offered me a couple
> of options: rigid steel $110 installed, and an inexpensive suspension
> one for $170 installed.
>
> Back when I got my Judy, I seem to recall that the cheap ones were
> ****, is that still the case?

Yes. It's much, much better to have an average rigid cromo fork than a
cheap suspension fork on a bike that sees the kind of use you describe.

> I think I have a threadless steerer, but I don't know if it's 1" or 1
> 1/8". How can I tell?

Threadless stems clamp around the steerer and have bolts that make this
pretty obvious. Threaded stems clamp inside the steerer.

1" threadless steerers have a 1" outside diameter, 1 1/8"'s have 1
1/8". Remove the top cap, the little circular plate above the stem.
Look down and you can see the stem clamping around the steerer. There
may be a shim between the 2. Hold a ruler across the stem's opening and
eyeball the steerer's outside diameter.

> I was looking at Nashbar and saw a few things that might be
> interesting (Carbon rigid MTB fork?), but I probably don't want to
> drop too much money into it....

Skip it. Note that you should get a suspension-corrected rigid fork if
your bike came with a suspension fork, and a non-suspension-corrected
one if not.

> -alan
>
> --
> Alan Hoyle - [email protected] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
> "I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
> Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

 

[Alan Hoyle]

On 27 Jan 2006 13:55:44 -0800, Nate Knutson wrote:

> Alan Hoyle wrote:

> Yes. It's much, much better to have an average rigid cromo fork than a
> cheap suspension fork on a bike that sees the kind of use you describe.

>> I think I have a threadless steerer, but I don't know if it's 1" or 1
>> 1/8". How can I tell?

> Threadless stems clamp around the steerer and have bolts that make this
> pretty obvious. Threaded stems clamp inside the steerer.

The stem on my bike has the bolts internally and hides them with a
plastic cap on the side. It seems to be a 1 1/8 steerer. A friend
offered me his old suspension fork for even less money than a new
rigid fork. As I'd rather spend the money on a something else (and
still have something that would be decent off-road since my bike was
high-end for the time and has had components upgraded), I might just
go with that instead of anything new.

-alan

--
Alan Hoyle - [email protected] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
"I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.