How to Change a Bicycle Suspension Front End

The suspension fork on the front of your mountain or commuting bicycle does several things to increase the quality of your ride. By dampening the vibrations that your tires create on hard surfaces, and allowing the wheel to move up and down telescopically, a suspension fork makes your bike ride a much smoother endeavor. If the fork breaks, it will not do its job properly, leading to both discomfort and danger of physical harm. Get your suspension bicycle back up and riding smoothly by replacing the front end on your own.

Things You'll Need

• New fork
• Crown race remover/setter
• Basic wrench set
• Hex wrench set
• Pipe cutter
• Star-nut setter
• New star-nut

Instructions

1. Set the bicycle in a work stand, or mount it somewhere that it will not fall over, with the front wheel suspended from the ground.

2. Use a 15 mm wrench or the quick-release lever to remove the wheel from the fork. Set it aside. Using a hex wrench, remove the brake from the fork by loosening and removing the brake mounting bolt. Allow the brake to hang from the handlebars. This will not damage it in any way.

3. Use a hex wrench to loosen the stem bolts and steer tube cap bolt. Remove the steer tube cap bolt completely and set the cap and hardware aside. Pull the fork out of the steer tube and catch any bearings that try to fall out.

4. Measure the steer tube of the fork you removed from the bicycle. Use pipe-cutters to cut the steer tube of the new bike to the exact same size. This is to ensure that it fits the head tube of your bike properly.

5. Using a crown race remover, take the crown race off of the old fork. Use a crown race setter to install it onto the new fork, so that it will work correctly with the bearings in your headset. Use a star nut setter to hammer a star nut into the top of the new fork. Some forks will come with the star nut pre-installed.

6. Set the bottom bearing on the fork and push the steer tube into the head set. Set the top bearing in place around the steer tube, put the spacers and stem on the steer tube and tighten the stem bolts. Install and tighten the stem top cap.

7. Hold the brake in place on the new fork. Tighten the brake bolt with an Allen wrench while making sure that the brake does not move out of position. Squeeze the brake lever a few times before tightening completely.

8. Using the bolts or quick-release skewer removed previously, re-attach the wheel to the fork and take the bike for a test ride. When you return, set the spring tension of the fork to your preference by turning the knob on the right fork leg.

References

• The Big Blue Book Of Bicycle Repair