Standard Road Bike Fork Length

This tool holds the fork square to the saw blade.

Standard road bike fork length.

Most road bikes come with a 700c wheel but road bikes for much smaller riders can use a smaller size like a 26 wheel. A bicycle frame and fork should match the wheels that are to be used in it. Most cyclocross forks will be designed for wheels with a diameter of 700c and typically have greater clearance than standard road forks to allow mud caked tyres spin freely or to enable the use of wider touring tyres 28mm and up. Use of a good quality and sharp hack blade is needed for a properly cut column.

The spacing of a frame fork is measured from the inside surfaces of the forkends dropouts where they come into contact with the locknuts of the wheel s axle. Classic cx forks differ from standard road bike forks in having mounts for cantilever brakes. For example frames that take one inch 25 4 mm steerer columns can have three different inside diameters for threaded and threadless headsets not. Wheelbase comparison of 57cm bikes.

Mountain bikes mostly use a 15x100mm front thru axle and you might still find a few road bikes that adopted that standard early on but 12 100 is more future proof for road. 6 cutting steering column threaded. Chainstay length comparison of 57cm bikes. Depending on the kind of bike you ride or want to ride will determine your size along with your riding style.

The length of the fork is usually measured parallel to the steerer tube from the bottom of the lower bearing race to the center of the front wheel axle. Touring bike 445 470mm road bikes 405 415mm cx 420 435mm. Older bicycles used narrower spacing but older frames can often be spread out to match more modern wheels. For example mountain biking is a lot more aggressive than road biking and may require a smaller sized bike to make it more maneuverable through different terrains and obstacles whereas a cross country racing bike may be sized slightly larger to allow more speed to be generated.

Touring bikes have a long wheelbase due to a combination of a slack head angle long fork rake and long chainstay length. A longer wheelbase provides a more stable and comfortable ride. Some wheels and forks have swappable end caps or dropout inserts allowing for the use of either 12 or 15mm front thru axles. The head tube of a bicycle is sometimes designated by the fork steerer column it accepts.

The shortest the tange 7b crmo is brazed with a traditional semi sloping crown and represents what for many years was the standard brazed steel fork. This critical characteristic of fork length needs to be accounted for since a fork that is too large for your bike s wheel size will negatively impact the handling of the bike. The longest the tange crmo tig unicrown fork can be found on many production road bikes made in the mid 1990 s.