Help me repair/replace front fork after accident

[EdwardNY]

I ran into a 2" to 3" stick which threw the rear tire out dropping my bike on its side and I slid into a tree. I broke my front fork off my bike, bent the front rim, and the headset is badly damaged. I didn't get hurt as it was over grass.

I was wondering if that plastic piece that sits on top of the fork can be replaced? It was enlongated as that plastic piece attaches to the headset. My fork is a RST omega SL from 2005-2006.

If I need a new fork, will any fork work on my bike? I noticed some forks have a rod that sticks up at the top, from my research it seems to be called a "steering tube". Mine doesn't have this steering tube and only a hole there?

If my fork needs replacement, can anyone recommend something similar and reasonably priced? The exposed metal on my fork measured 100mm and it is a coil fork.

The closest replacement I found is an RST Omega TnL 26" Fork Black No steerer.
http://www.amazon.com/RST-Omega-TnL-100mm-Steerer/dp/B002P8CBHK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367123367&sr=8-1&keywords=omega+bike+fork

Should I consider getting this with no steerer and buying a new headset? Or should I look into something stronger and better then this, possibly with a steerer? I may also consider going disc brakes in the front as I need to purchase a new front rim.

I planed on buying a downhill bike to upgrade to so I do not really want to spend a lot of money on my current bike. However, I do drive the bike hard off-road and drive 40-45MPH onroad so I do not want a fork breaking from hitting a small bump in the road. Will a more expensive fork make the fork less likely to break off or snap off, or will it just make the ride smoother? I do not really care for a smoother ride as my old fork was fine and it was a cheap coil shock.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated as I would like to get my bike back on the road as quickly as possible. Thanks for anyone who can help me out here.

 

[Ykick]

I ran into a 2" to 3" stick which threw the rear tire out dropping my bike on its side and I slid into a tree. I broke my front fork off my bike, bent the front rim, and the headset is badly damaged. I didn't get hurt as it was over grass.

I was wondering if that plastic piece that sits on top of the fork can be replaced? It was enlongated as that plastic piece attaches to the headset. My fork is a RST omega SL from 2005-2006.

If I need a new fork, will any fork work on my bike? I noticed some forks have a rod that sticks up at the top, from my research it seems to be called a "steering tube". Mine doesn't have this steering tube and only a hole there?

If my fork needs replacement, can anyone recommend something similar and reasonably priced? The exposed metal on my fork measured 100mm and it is a coil fork.

The closest replacement I found is an RST Omega TnL 26" Fork Black No steerer.
http://www.amazon.com/RST-Omega-TnL-100mm-Steerer/dp/B002P8CBHK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367123367&sr=8-1&keywords=omega+bike+fork

Should I consider getting this with no steerer and buying a new headset? Or should I look into something stronger and better then this, possibly with a steerer? I may also consider going disc brakes in the front as I need to purchase a new front rim.

I planed on buying a downhill bike to upgrade to so I do not really want to spend a lot of money on my current bike. However, I do drive the bike hard off-road and drive 40-45MPH onroad so I do not want a fork breaking from hitting a small bump in the road. Will a more expensive fork make the fork less likely to break off or snap off, or will it just make the ride smoother? I do not really care for a smoother ride as my old fork was fine and it was a cheap coil shock.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated as I would like to get my bike back on the road as quickly as possible. Thanks for anyone who can help me out here.

FUBAR my friend. Your steerer tube was ripped outta the fork - is what it looks like to me. You need to rework the headset bearings and spacers that attach a new fork via it's steerer tube. Buying a fork without a steerer tube would only work if you had a large press to install and the steerer parts were not badly deformed.

Hopefully, others with more bicycle experience will chime in but I've been working with some single crown forks lately and that's what appears to be going on here.

 

[d8veh]

You can fit any fork with the same size steerer tube. You'll have to get your present steerer out of your frame to check its size - probably 1 1/8".

The only other thing to look out for is that the steerer tube is long enough to go through your frame and still have enough length to fit the stem. For new forks, it's always long enough, but on used ones people cut them down to fit their frame. Measure the length of your old one, and that will be the minimum length. Any longer will be OK.

You don't need to match your old forks: Why not use the opportunity to upgrade to a disk brake? You can get really nice forks on Ebay quite cheaply, and the disk brake set.

 

[dogman dan]

Yes those are now unfixable.

It's a fairly low end fork, typically found on medium low priced bikes. You might find a replacement on ebay. As said, just make sure you don't get a 1" steer tube fork if you have a 1 1/8" size. Chances are pretty good you have the 1 1/8".

But on ebay or whatever, you might have some difficulty finding one. Many of the offerings are too cheap, the really cheap all steel pogo sticks. The rest are like $500 and up, and have too much fork travel to work with your frame. I'd say you could go 120mm travel ok, but much more will jack up the bike too much in front.

Pm me if you get really stuck, I have a few similar forks laying about the shed. But they have fairly short steer tubes, so they might not fit your bike.

That one on amazon is ok, but you NEED it to come with the steer tube. You don't have the equipment to fit one, and most likely neither does your lbs. Have you looked at bikes nashbar, or in Europe , chain reaction cycles?

 

[dogman dan]

Nashbar has nothing affordable.

CRC has this, either similar or a slight upgrade. http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=85071

 

[EdwardNY]

Looks like I'll need a new headset. The bearings got pressed into the steel sleeve that they ride in on both sides at the bottom, only at one side from the impact forces of the hit. When turning the bearings in the sleeve I can feel it grinding on those marks.

I assume any headset should work even the FSA hammer $15 dollar amazon ones?

 

[d8veh]

There's two common sizes: 1" and ! 1/8". Measure the hole that the steerer tube goes (the bit that broke off your forks). It should be one of those two sizes. There's special tools for extracting your old outers from the frame, but you can normally tap them out with a hammer and long screwdriver from the opposite end. When you get your new ones, it's often difficult to get the outers started when you bang them in. Use a block of wood and hit it hard whilst keeping the outer level. You can get a better whack if you can get a friend to hold the frame with the other end of the steerer frame tube flat on the ground/bench. Use a heavy mallet. This only applies if you don't have a large vice or other press to press them in.

 

[chisixer6]

Niagra cycle has a lot of RST forks, including omega.. They also sell just the steerer tube too.

http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/rst-omega-tnl-26-100mm-fork-black-no-steerer

http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/rst-alloy-steerer-265mm-1-1-8-threadless

I think RST forks can use either 1" or 1 1/8" steerer tube, not totally sure.

 

[EdwardNY]

Finally got everything back up and running. Took 10 days to get all the parts. Was delayed a bit because I ordered the wrong headset. I have a zero stack and didn't know that so ordered a standard headset by mistake.

The frame wasn't bent and the head tube was round. Cups got pressed into head tube without any issues. I was worried about de rounding the head tube in the crash.

Went with the rock shox XC28 coil shock. $110
DH-39 rim. $35

I must say that my bike rides amazing now compared to the old fork. I noticed right when I got on my bike the front fork felt softer and I actually had sag on it.
Not sure if the new wider rim makes a difference, but the ride is so much softer. Hitting small curbs isn't a big blow to my bike and it just rides over them nice and soft. Hitting anything really is nice and soft now. With many of my rides I used to hate going from grass to concrete and hitting the elevated concrete, now it just seems to glide right over it.

I do know that wesnewell said that the DH-39 rim made a big difference in the smoothness of the ride because of the wide rim that offered more air in the tire. Maybe both the new rim and the new shock together is what is making such a huge difference.

I wonder if my old fork was shot or if I had too stiff springs or if technology is that much better from 2006. I never serviced or maintained my old coil forks.

Either way I am not so mad now about breaking my fork because I would have changed it to this if I would have known it would be so much better. In a way I am lucky I broke it because I would have never known my old shocks were such crap.

 

[dogman dan]

Better IS better. I seriously questioned how much better a more expensive shock could be, till I rode one. Even worn out good shocks with issues can still be better than old pogo sticks that lost or never had any damping.

 

[EdwardNY]

Better IS better. I seriously questioned how much better a more expensive shock could be, till I rode one. Even worn out good shocks with issues can still be better than old pogo sticks that lost or never had any damping.

dogman, it is hard to believe that a more expensive shock can be that much better. This shock seems perfect. The best way to describe it is hitting anything is like driving on flat ground. For example, if I hit a 2" curb I almost feel nothing.

I guess if I had a 7" travel bike I could drive over 4" curbs like it was nothing? That would be amazing because curbs always seem to slow me down.

 

[d8veh]

You've figured how to change your forks and you've seen the difference between pogo sticks and entry-level real forks. There's another step-change when you go up to decent air forks like Rockshox Reba or Fox Float. You can often find good used ones on Ebay for not too much money. Once you've tried some, you won't want anything less.