Hard to Find Bike Forks

Mark West wants a pair of 1 ¼” mountain bike forks, these were popular a few years ago, now as Mark has found out, they are difficult to find. We give him some suggestions as to what he can do.

Question: Do you where I can get 1 1/4″ mountain bike forks, either rigid or suspension as I am having difficulty finding any ? Very many thanks in anticipation.
Mark West.

Hi Mark,
To start with I guess you have a frame that takes 1 ¼” forks and headset, as I’m sure you have noticed there are not many of them around these days. Have you checked al your local shops, especially the older ones they might have an old pair kicking around they want to get rid of. Answer/Manitou suspension forks used to make forks that the steering column could be changed for different sizes, i.e. inch, inch 1/8 and, what you need, inch ¼, I think some other manufacturers used to also do this, try Control Tech and Rockshox’s Judy forks, these all make interchangeable steering columns. Have you tried looking on E-Bay? It might be worth it.

The other option is to look for a head set adapter, this allows you to fit a 1 1/8” fork to an 1 ¼” frame, this could be the answer to your problem, except this could start another hunt for you looking for one of these. I don’t like to say this, but maybe its time to buy a new bike, it would probably be a lot easier and better riding.