I'm keen to build up a Cube Litening Air, but would prefer a slightly deeper fork both for the look and bit of aero saving.
Would there be any problems with using the fork of the Litening Aero with the frame of the Litening Air (provided I can purchase the frame and fork separately)?
by popcockery
8 Comments
Forks on their own cost a fortune/youd have to find a way to even buy one.
Things to consider:
Stack height – the aero looks like it has a lower front end, might not be long enough for your headtube and desired stack
Rake/offset – if the fork offset is more than a couple mm off from the stock one you’ll alter the handling of the bike, probably for the worse
Crown race – could be the same between both forks, but it’s possible that the fork doesn’t fit into the lower headset bearing
Steerer tube shape – looks like they’re both fully integrated, but if one uses a round steerer tube and the other has some proprietary shape you might be screwed
Edit to add: aero fork is designed to blend seamlessly into the frame. It might impede on the downtime of the Air, or just end up not looking as slick as you want
From what I can see, yes, you would have an issue. With aero carbon bikes with contoured tube shapes etc, there’s often millimetres of clearance on the interface between the frame and fork. Assuming these have the same steerer standard and you could actually get the fork in the frame, I would bet that both components would touch and you wouldn’t be able to steer. Fork swapping is generally more popular on metal bikes for this reason as the tube shapes stay much more standard and there is generally plenty of clearance between the fork crown and the frame.
Geometry first. If the forks don’t have the same geometry then it’s going to ride weird (or at least not how it was designed to).
Second is that thicker fork looks like it’s got some aero business coming off the back by the head tube. You have no guarantee that will clear the other frame.
Oh and I almost forgot, headset/crown race is a factor. Ensure they’re all the same or compatible there.
Your aero savings would not really exist. Just a fashion change. Ok ,5 watt at 50k/hr
In this case the frame and fork geometry are designed to work together and you would have to be careful to ensure all aspects of your preferred fork would work with the frame.
When you are working with such tight clearances a tiny difference of a couple of mm or a fraction of a degree of offset etc could make a difference of even being able to get a wheel in or turning the bike into something with all the handling characteristics of an angry dog.
As someone who worked on both of these bikes, the internal cables are different, on the air model the cables come out front of the fork, and go into the bars, on the Aero model, the cables come out behind the fork, and int the bars, so your fronr brake will have a hard time getting routed correctly with the other fork
It’s very uncommon to buy fork and frame separately these days. Most aero bikes come as a frameset and you’d have all sorts of compatibility issues.
If you prefer the aero look why don’t you just get the full aero frameset?