Advice, please. Oh, Great and Wise Knowledge Pool

[SpokeValley]

About 4 weeks ago I posted about my wife's crash when a deer hit her. She's fine but her bike is a different story that I'll try to keep short.

She has a 2014 Spesh Ruby and for some reason, the fork was tweaked in the wreck and determined unsafe. Frame is good, according to LBS.

Spesh has NO replacement forks available, NO frame/forks available, but of course, they're happy to offer the 20% crash discount on a complete. (BTW, I'm done with Spesh :butt:) Maybe it's common for bike manufacturers to not stock replacement parts. :confused:

LBS is really trying to get this resolved and since it rolls downhill, wife-to-me-to-LBS, they would like get it fixed and me out of their hair.

So, I'm looking at an aftermarket fork, likely a Ritchey Comp Carbon Road.

LBS is concerned with how handling will be affected with the different rake/trail.

Spech fork is 49mm rake, 59mm trail.
Ritchey is 45mm rake, trail isn't listed.

Then there's the headset compatibility issue.

I welcome your comments, and suggestions.

And many thanks, gang.

[nooneline]

Trail is a product of your bike's head tube angle, and the fork dimensions. It will probably be a challenge to find an aftermarket fork with 49mm of rake, but you can go with something that's 45mm. You'll change the handling ever so slightly - less rake means more trail, and that means that it will be just sliiiightly more stable.

The Ruby has 1 1/8" headset bearings. no tapered nonsense. so standard forks with 1 1/8" steerers will work.

[SpokeValley]

Thanks! I'm beginning to feel a lot better.

[Mark McM]

Trail is a product of your bike's head tube angle, and the fork dimensions. It will probably be a challenge to find an aftermarket fork with 49mm of rake, but you can go with something that's 45mm. You'll change the handling ever so slightly - less rake means more trail, and that means that it will be just sliiiightly more stable.

Another factor may be how the OP's wife feels about toe overlap. One reason the Specialized Ruby uses fork with a longer offset is to reduce/eliminate toe overlap. A shorter offset will increase (or increase the chances of) toe overlap.

Experienced riders know that a little toe overlap is no big deal, since you can't turn the front wheel far enough at normal riding speeds to actually ever hit your shoe with your front wheel. But it can come into play when riding at very slow speeds. Some riders just don't like the idea of any toe overlap at all. (As a side note, all my road bikes have some degree of toe overlap, and it has never been a serious problem for me, even though I do occasionally hit my shoe with my wheel when turning sharply at very slow speeds.)

Rather than going with a 45mm offset, there are some forks which are available in a 50mm offset, such as the Enve 1.0 and 2.0 forks. An extra 1mm of offset will make the handling every so slightly quicker (probably not enough for most people to notice).

[sandyrs]

It'll look weird, but Wound Up makes their fork with 48mm rake. And my Wound Up is my favorite fork, based on how it rides not how it looks :)

[Mark McM]

Okay, after a quick search, I found one: The 3T Funda fork is available with a 49mm offset:

https://www.3tcycling.com/forks/funda

You'll probably also want to check that the replacement fork has a similar length as the original fork.

[vqdriver]

i'd just buy a 50mm offset fork and call it day. no one's going to notice the 1mm of additional rake unless she was just baaaarely touching with the toe of her shoe. in which case, it would actually be an improvement.

[donevwil]

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but you should also strive to maintain similar axle-to-crown distances. Being a road fork it's unlikely you'll be dealing with more than a 2-3mm difference. That's usually be no big deal, but could exacerbate the effect of a different rake.

[echelon_john]

http://enve.com/products/components/road-2-0-forkrd2/

Just have the LBS measure the stock fork axle to crown. (Didn't see it on the inter web)

Odds are it will be within 3mm of 367mm, and Robert's your mother's brother.

[teleguy57]

... and Robert's your mother's brother.

took me a few seconds of "huh?" and then I got it. Nicely done sir!

[Ken Robb]

took me a few seconds of "huh?" and then I got it. Nicely done sir!

That is true but we called him Rob. :)

[velotrack]

Surprising they don't have replacement forks. Not even from this year's model? But yeah, that seriously sucks. Personally, I'd go for the enve 50mm and call it a day, if Specialized really, really can't bother to help. :confused:

[eddief]

when I wanted a longer steerer for the one that had been cut on my used Roubaix, my bike shop was able to quote me a price on a perfect matched replacement. Specialized might not be everybody's idea of a great company, but a little hard to believe they don't have forks for replacement, crashes, and warranty situations.

[SpokeValley]

http://enve.com/products/components/road-2-0-forkrd2/

Just have the LBS measure the stock fork axle to crown. (Didn't see it on the inter web)

Odds are it will be within 3mm of 367mm, and Robert's your mother's brother.

:)

[eddief]

Seems Specialized is stuck on 49 rake all over the place, including all sizes of the Roubaix - small to large:

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/road/roubaix/roubaix-sl4-pro-race#geometry

Another factor may be how the OP's wife feels about toe overlap. One reason the Specialized Ruby uses fork with a longer offset is to reduce/eliminate toe overlap. A shorter offset will increase (or increase the chances of) toe overlap.

Experienced riders know that a little toe overlap is no big deal, since you can't turn the front wheel far enough at normal riding speeds to actually ever hit your shoe with your front wheel. But it can come into play when riding at very slow speeds. Some riders just don't like the idea of any toe overlap at all. (As a side note, all my road bikes have some degree of toe overlap, and it has never been a serious problem for me, even though I do occasionally hit my shoe with my wheel when turning sharply at very slow speeds.)

Rather than going with a 45mm offset, there are some forks which are available in a 50mm offset, such as the Enve 1.0 and 2.0 forks. An extra 1mm of offset will make the handling every so slightly quicker (probably not enough for most people to notice).

[dogdriver]

This is the same flavor of trouble that turned a buddy of mine off to Spec-- Broke the chain stay on the rear triangle on a full suspension mtb frame. Spec said that the rear triangle is not part of the "frame" and thus it was not included in the "lifetime frame warranty". Given that this guy is a local celeb (he was in the freakin' Olympics, though not cycling), they did themselves a serious disservice turning him off. He even gave away water bottles and seats-- anything with the Spec "S" logo.

These guys have apparently never heard the customer service maxim that when you do someone right, they tell 10 people, but when you do them wrong, they tell 100...

PS-- Go with the 50mm and tell her its a 49.

[bikinchris]

Surprising they don't have replacement forks. Not even from this year's model? But yeah, that seriously sucks. Personally, I'd go for the enve 50mm and call it a day, if Specialized really, really can't bother to help. :confused:

You guys need to understand, Spec does not make anything. They design it and have a contractor build it. They don't even have warehouses. Product goes from manufacturer to contracted shipper. Doesn't touch anything owned by Spec. Ever. They don't "stock" a single nut or bolt.

[velotrack]

You guys need to understand, Spec does not make anything. They design it and have a contractor build it. They don't even have warehouses. Product goes from manufacturer to contracted shipper. Doesn't touch anything owned by Spec. Ever. They don't "stock" a single nut or bolt.

This is simply not true. They have warehouses with products and warranty replacements.

[SpokeValley]

Thanks, everyone for the great advice! I knew I could count on you all.

Problem solved and Mrs. Valley should be back on the road this weekend.

I've already begun looking for a better ride for her...without all of the proprietary crap...

I'm thinking she'd like a Ti frame...:)

[bikingshearer]

They don't "stock" a single nut or bolt.

I dunno, it seems to me they have at least a couple of wingnuts in their legal department . . . .