Headset, threadless or threaded?

G

Greengabbard

New Member
I'm not that knowledgable about bicycles (engines and other type mechanics are my strong suit). I want to put a springer fork on my MB to make my 4 stroke friction drive a sweeter ride. But I don't know anything about headsets. I have a Micargi Rover and I am not sure how to figure out if I have a threaded or threadless headset. I'm also curious to know where to measure the diameter of headset. Is it ID or OD?

Thanks for reading,
CGGB
cvlt1
 
If you look at the handlebar stem, you can pretty easily figure out whether it's threaded or threadless. Most threadless stems use 2 pinch bolts securing to the outside of the fork steerer, whereas threaded are secured inside the steerer using a bolt with a wedge nut. If you can loosen the center bolt on your stem and remove the stem and handlebars, it's a threaded setup.

To find out the size of your steerer, measure the fork's OD.

More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headset_(bicycle_part)
And here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ha-i.html#headset
 
The steerer tubes are normally 1", 1.125" or 1.25". The 1.125" has become the popular standard size nowadays..........it used to be 1".

EDIT: correction made in decimals
 
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Thanks Aleman & Scotto for the great information. I'm trying to understand all the different nomenclature. From Aleman's info I believe that mine is threaded. It is held in place by a bolt that goes to a wedge type nut setup. How does that affect going from my stock fork to a monark fork?

Thanks for reading,
CGGB
 
I've never tinkered with a Monark fork, but I do believe they are made for 1" threaded setups.

As long as the head tube on your frame and the steerer on the fork are of compatible lengths, it should be a bolt-on.
 
What Aleman said......and most monark type forks have a 1" threaded steerer tube and from what I can tell, so does your Micargi. As long as the steerer tube on the monark is long enough you'll be fine. You can always cut it shorter if it is too long (and more than likely will be).
 
Once again I need to thank the two of you. According to Monark their tubes are 1". So let's hope it'll fit my bike (I'll get my dial calipers out tomorrow and measure). Is it as simple as cutting the new forks steerer tube down to match my bike? I need to just take mine apart and learn by reverse engineering. Anything I should know before I tear into it?

Thanks for reading,
CGGB
 
Crazy though it may sound, I measured it and it was 7/8". So I'm not sure if I'm sunk with my current thought of putting a nice Monark Fork on it. I really don't know enough about bicycles yet to know how to go about making it work if it's not easily compatible.

Can I change the whole front end out to get it all to work?

Thanks for reading,
CGGB
 
7/8"??! Sounds like you measured the ID of the steerer or the OD of the handlebars lol

I have some threaded 1" forks here and according to my dial caliper they are 1.0005" OD across the threads, 0.875" ID.
 
Sounds like you need to get a LBS involved since you might end up with a costly mistake.

Good Luck,

Chris
AKA: BigBlue
 
Greengabbard said:
Crazy though it may sound, I measured it and it was 7/8". So I'm not sure if I'm sunk with my current thought of putting a nice Monark Fork on it. I really don't know enough about bicycles yet to know how to go about making it work if it's not easily compatible.

Can I change the whole front end out to get it all to work?

Thanks for reading,
Click to expand...
You are measuring the 7/8" OD stem that goes into the 1" OD steering tube.

Your Micargi is 1"
 
I very well may have measured the wrong thing. I know very little about that end of the bike. I have been reading more and trying to get the hang of it. Do I have to take the front end apart to measure it?
 
I'm 99.9% sure you have a 1" fork. 1 1/8" threaded forks are not very common because stems that fit threaded forks are typically 7/8" OD.

If you want to be 100% sure, just loosen the big nut on the forks so you can get your dial caliper in there to measure it. You don't need to disassemble it.
 
I bought the monarch fork from Venice Motor Bikes before doing much research on compatibility with my Felt Twin. Norm said they will definitely work, so I trusted him since he works on bikes all the time.

Turns out he was completely wrong and would not accept a refund! What a joke, he's such a scammer. I will never buy anything from him again, terrible business ethics!
 
SD moto man said:
I bought the monarch fork from Venice Motor Bikes before doing much research on compatibility with my Felt Twin.
Click to expand...

Felt Twin has a 1 1/8" fork tube. The Monark is a 1". You'd have to replace the fork steerer or use an adapter. It could have worked with a bit of ingenuity.

Should have used a Felt Abraham fork tho. It's 1 1/8", and if you would have asked about putting a disc brake on one, I could have helped.
 
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