Thursday 10 December 2015

New Offset Pugsley fork...




Had to drop the forks off of the Surly Pugsley on Sunday evening after giving it a once over i saw this crack appearing...


Jings!...


I guess 8 years and over 12,000 miles is starting to catch up with the old Pugsley...maybe it`s time to assign the old Pug to light duties these days...


I will be ordering a brand new complete Fatbike at the end of next January, I`m not sure yet exactly what i am going to buy, I have a budget set and it may be a new Surly Pugsley, or Surly Wednesday, or it may be an alloy framed fatbike by one of the many other manufacturers... there really is so much to choose from now...

In the meantime i needed a new fork asap as away riding this weekend at Tentsmuir in Fife, and i did not expect to find an offset Pug fork in stock these days in any UK shops.
A quick Google search revealed a fork for sale at Westbrook Cycles, ace! so ordered it Monday evening, and it arrived Wednesday afternoon...

When i pulled the fork out the box i thought `Oh no`, they have sent a symmetrical fork!...
Then i looked at it and it looked a wee bit, well not quite symmetrical, and i realised it was one of the new symmetrical ltd run of offset forks, neat!...



The headset is also shot on the old Pugsley, but it has lasted 7 years of beach riding with one swap of bearings!...


Rather than spend more money on the bike i may as well use the 1 degree offset headset i originally bought for a Surly Karate Monkey which using the same lenght head tube it would be ideal...


One of these tools soon removes headset cups...



I aligned and tapped tight the offset headset top cup...


Then Pressed it home tight...


Same with the bottom cup then i fitted the spacers and stem and tightened i marked the top with the hacksaw...


Another mark around 6-7mm to mark where the steerer will be cut...



It measured 45mm and inserted in the steerer tube cutter tool i measured that to get the correct distance to cut...


And cut!...


Job done and a quick sand with some fine wet and dry sand paper removed the burr...


And then insert the Star nut...


Refitted and were getting there...



Just the brake calliper to fit...





And the new fork uses a standard front calliper mount instead of a rear mount of the previous offset forks...


And with the calliper centred the new fork is on...


And now a degree slacker head angle... doubt i will notice it that much, but it`s making use of a spare headset...


Ready for the weekend,    More soon...

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