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2K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  wschruba 
#1 ·
Ok someone brought me a bike with a 4" headtube and a rigid fork. They wanted to install a suspension fork they had that the headtube was 6" long, Now I could cut it but the threads stopped at 4.5 inches. Now I have no dies that big and I don't believe in spacers or washers to make up that amount of space so this is what I did. I took a spare cone nut I had and used my dremel to machine down the threads in it so it would go down the tube and fit snug against the top bearing, I then took a 1 1/8 threadless stem and cut a 1/4 inch thick rubber piece to fill the gap. Clamped it down to make sure it was snug then tightened the stem side bolts. Finally I took an old quill block stem and cut just the tube off the bottom, drilled the hole bigger in the cap to allow the quill stem bolt to pass through and countersink. When the angle nut of the quill tube tightened then the further tightening pulled the cap down tight on the stem. Works perfect, is tight and wont budge. Figured I share this to give others ideas. Thanks.
 
#3 ·
My only issue is that you are modifying some seriously critical parts there. And a failure there could lead to serious legal issues for you later.
The person you did this for might be happy now, but if it breaks and he gets hurt he won't be happy then.
If it was me I would have refused the job, wrong parts are wrong parts, no matter how creative we get installing them.
Boll
 
#4 ·
#6 ·
I would agree on the schwinn, Tons of rigid forks out there that would work, take one from another bike, look for spares at thrift stores, As far as the safety comment earlier, yes I did make some mods, And I just didn't make it work safety be damned, I'll put it against a stock threadless setup anyday, I wouldn't have let the guy take it if I didn't think it was safe and wouldn't hold up. I test rode it as well as my wife, son and niece. Even told him if you take it to someone else to work on later have them call me so I can explain how I have it setup.
 
#8 ·
Thanks guys -- there is a shop around here that sells only used bikes and seems to have a lot of old stuff lying around. They would probably have something.

I donated my Sam's club bike a bike charity them when I "upgraded" to the Schwinn. They may have something to give me. (That WAS a horrible bike for mountain biking. It was about 10 years old. It stood up to the abuse of XC trails OK -- main problem it was heavy and the granny gear was not all that granny. It was rigid fork -- shoulda swapped forks before I gave it away I guess).

I got the Schwinn at a thrift store BTW. :)
 
#9 ·
As far as the safety comment earlier, yes I did make some mods, And I just didn't make it work safety be damned, I'll put it against a stock threadless setup anyday, I wouldn't have let the guy take it if I didn't think it was safe and wouldn't hold up. I test rode it as well as my wife, son and niece. Even told him if you take it to someone else to work on later have them call me so I can explain how I have it setup.[/QUOTE]

Thumpy69, no offense. I dont know you so i dont know your level of skills. I was simply commenting about potential issues of safety that could arise. Im currently dealing with a case where a simple slip and fall has esclated to a 500,000 lawsuit against my former employer. Its amazing how small things can spiral out of control.

Bill
 
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