When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Cruiser fork questions

-

Denaffen

'Lil Knee Scuffer
I'm planning to pick up a tubular fork for my speedster project, similar to this one. My questions are

1. does anyone know a good source to pick up that style fork in chrome-moly for reasonable money?

2. is there any significant advantage to going treadless? As near as I can tell, I'd end up cutting to fit and replacing the Schwinn headset either way, but it feels like sticking with a quill stem will be easier.
 
Chromoly forks are priced as such for a reason, there's not one bargain supply for quality parts.

As far as finding chromoly parts cheap...the only way I've done that is by buying from someone that doesn't know what it is or salvaging them from a damaged bike listed at a deal of a price. Go to swap meets where BMX isn't popular and you'll find something less pricey.

1-1/8" headsets adapted to 1" are thinner and weaker and defeat the idea of upgrading your front end.
 
Assuming this Speedster is a 26"...... Is it a middleweight? Lightweight? Camelback?

Porkchop BMX had forks (Tange Cr-Mo 26") for a while, but I see they are out. The trouble I see with the one you linked is the specs aren't complete. What I don't see is the steerer tube length. Yes, you will have to cut it. When Porkchop had the Tange forks, they had 2 lengths so you could pick the one you needed, cut it and still have threads. Amazon, as usual, is missing important information. Worst case though, with the Amazon fork, you will have to take it to a bike shop and have it threaded and slotted. I would absolutely plan on this from what I see. Your Schwinn headset will fit, except for possibly the crown race, as there are 2 standards for crown race size on a 1" steerer. This isn't really a problem either. Many aftermarket threaded headsets, good ones anyway, like several models of Tange, use a Schwinn VSF bearing like your Schwinn headset does. You can probably get an appropriate crown race pretty easy if yours is wrong. It might need replacing anyway. They often do. EDIT: Amazon says its a 27mm crown race. I think you'll need a different one.

Measure carefully and don't cut the fork too short! Mock it up with the headset you plan to use (they vary a lot), gonna have a reflector bracket? Cable stop for centerpull or cantilever brakes? You can probably fix too long with a spacer or a Wald top nut, but too short is too short.

Your current stem probably wont fit if the bike is newer than 65 or so. Schwinn beefed up the steerer tube and that made the stem smaller. The fork maker should tell what stem size it takes, but I'll bet Amazon didn't list it. Come to think of it you might need a new nut for the top of the headset if the new fork takes a bigger stem. EDIT: A commenter says 21.1mm. The post 65 (or so) Schwinn stem is probably what fits.

Someone in the comments says the over locknut distance is "98mm", and again Amazon doesn't say. It is probably 100mm, because basically everything is today. Good if so. 100mm is standard now. It is sort of critical on this style fork. Old French hubs are about 97-98mm, are common, and Schwinn used a bunch of them. Depending on how old the Speedster is, you might already have one if it turns out you need 97mm. Or you might have 91mm and need different hub.

There are advantages to threadless, but there's no way I would convert a retro bile like this unless there was some particular stem/bars/fork/whatever I wanted to use that required it. Quill stems are mickey mouse I'll admit, but worked fine for everyone for decades, even in BMX, and the only common problem with them is getting horribly stuck in the fork when someone left the bike outside to rust.
 
Last edited:
Thanks. Other than some minor restomod cred and maybe marginally lighter weight, I’m not seeing advantage of thread less. Glad to have that confirmed.
The Amazon fork is just representative of what I’m after. Ideally I’d find a decently priced cromo version somewhere.
I’m not too concerned about cutting it either, although if I need to get into a headset swap for any reason I want to know that first.
 
Planet BMX have stock of the SE Landing gear fork that has a 1" steerer tube and is cromoly. It uses a 21.1mm stem. It will fit steerer tubes up to 5.3" in length.

I have one on my Schwinn heavy duty and it was fitted previously to my 68 Typhoon.
 
If bearing is smush face schwinn variety, see pic, than may need regular non-smush bearing for proper fit with race on new fork.

20220409_192957.jpg


20220409_192908.jpg
 
Next question: As I look about, it appears I can get a cro-moly unicrown fork (like you'd see on a non-suspension MTB) for the same money as the hi-ten BMX-style forks -- about 50 bucks or so either way.

Acknowledging that the BMX-style has the right look, which would you pick?
 
These are all unicrown forks, so what does the MTB one look like? If you just mean it has curved legs instead of straight legs and welded on brackets, then I would pick the BMX style probably. Plain steel is a bit weak, so If I were really going to pound in it, I suppose I would have to consider the Cr-Mo no matter what it looked like. A MTB fork might get you some cantilever brake bosses, but would look more modern.

@J-wagon brings up an interesting point about the bearing. Some unicrown forks have a non-replaceable crown race, and you would be stuck with whatever kind of bearing matches it. I don't like that. Crown races wear out, too. Then what? Take it to a machine shop I guess? The Schwinn setup with the smooshed (VSF) bearing and a matching crown race, as seen in @J-wagon 's pics, is a much stronger setup than a smaller bearing would be, especially if that smaller bearing is running on a cone shaped race.
 
Back
Top