Suspension fork on a cruiser

[One-eyed Sailor]

Good morning boys,
Ever since I saw this I've been running the steps to get from cruiser to trail bike through my head.

With my limited expericence I've come up with.

1. Suspension fork with 1" steerer
2. Threaded to threadless conversion (cut shorter)
3. Star nut and bolt to fit
4. Figure out the headset....

Something like this.

Or maybe just cut and thread the steerer and use the conversion unmodified.

Looking for Obi-wan.
Thank you.

 

[Captain Awesome]

In that particular Schwinn frame you need a retro ryder headset and a 1.125 treadless fork

A whole lot of ways to skin a cat in this scenario

 

[Captain Awesome]

I would go that route. Getting the right cups in there and being able to just run a straight 1.125 fork would be ideal. I've done both using a 1-in threaded and wish I would have gone the other route as well as using a stem converter and that it was less than ideal if nothing other than aesthetic

 

[Captain Awesome]

http://www.genuinebicycleproducts.com/retroryder.html

 

[One-eyed Sailor]

Thanks Captain.

 

[Starnger]

It depends on what frame do you have. Retro ryder might work on some middleweight Schwinn or a Roadmaster, but might not on some other more modern cruisers. In general 1" threadless headset is what you need. May also run a machined alu adapter to fit a regular 1" threadless set to your potentially non 30mm head tube.
I'd also not use the threaded to threadless 1-1/8 adapter and just run a shim, it would end up being more stable. Also there are 1" threadless stems out there, for example 3g bikes and PHAT cycles used to run 1" threadless on many of their bikes.

 

[Tallbikeman]

Converted a Trek 7000 series hybrid bike from a 1" threaded to a 1 1/8" threadless steerer tube. It was fairly easy but all hinged on finding a headset that would fit into the head tube properly for the 1 1/8" steerer tube. Generally a Chicago built cantilever frame would have a 32.7mm inner diameter for the head tube. Be sure to measure this because bikes made in Taiwan or somewhere else with a Schwinn headbadge may have some other dimension. There may be a headset that is made to those dimensions that will fit a 1 1/8" steerer tube. If not I can see your issue and using either the 1 1/8" threaded work around or a shim is probably your best bet. Porkchop BMX has a bunch of headsets with cups that are 32.7mm for Schwinns but I haven't looked to see if any are available for your threadless 1 1/8" steerer tube.

 

[One-eyed Sailor]

It depends on what frame do you have. Retro ryder might work on some middleweight Schwinn or a Roadmaster, but might not on some other more modern cruisers. In general 1" threadless headset is what you need. May also run a machined alu adapter to fit a regular 1" threadless set to your potentially non 30mm head tube.
I'd also not use the threaded to threadless 1-1/8 adapter and just run a shim, it would end up being more stable. Also there are 1" threadless stems out there, for example 3g bikes and PHAT cycles used to run 1" threadless on many of their bikes.

Thanks @Starnger

 

[One-eyed Sailor]

Paid $80 for a Suntour fork with a 1" threadless and cut and threaded it. I recently added STX canti's. It's fun to ride!
More to come!

 

[twojs.bike]

There is a guy who sells the headsets on eBay. Search for “Schwinn conversion headset”. I bought one, but haven’t used it yet. Was going to use it on the ladybug build but plans have changed.

 

[One-eyed Sailor]

There is a guy who sells the headsets on eBay. Search for “Schwinn conversion headset”. I bought one, but haven’t used it yet. Was going to use it on the ladybug build but plans have changed.

Mine arrived about 20 minutes ago. Test fit imminent.

 

[One-eyed Sailor]

Oh, canti's won't work with bullmoose bars.
Boing--no brake, boing--no brake.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Oh, canti's won't work with bullmoose bars

Huh?

 

[MattiThundrrr]

If your bars don't have the cable stop, all you need is a headset mounted stop

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Nope I see it now. The suspension is the problem, not the bars. My mistake. Back to the think tank. You need a suspension bridge cable stop, but yours is one piece with the lowers

 

[MattiThundrrr]

And we're back...

https://www.instructables.com/Replace-a-mountain-bike-front-fork-for-older-MTBs/?amp_page=true
BOOM SHAKA LAKA!!

 

[twojs.bike]

I suspect from this picture that it is a cabling issue. If the forks compress, the brake cable will slacken.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Yeah, he needs to mount a cable stop on the fork bridge. There's instructions in the link I shared above

 

[twojs.bike]

Something like this.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Probably easier to replace with v brakes and get more braking power out of the deal, but the lever would need replacing too.