Changing forks - out of my depth?

[Deltacharlie26]

Where do I start?
I have a vintage steel heavyweight Raleigh MTB that I converted to electric front hub some years ago and now I want to swap the equipment onto a Carrera MTB that is considerably lighter for my ageing muscles to lift onto the bike rack on our motorhome.
Everything looks straight forward apart from the front forks. The Carrera has disk brakes which I intend to ditch to accommodate the existing front wheel with electric hub which had



vee brakes. So, my thinking is to get a secondhand set of forks with vee brake mountings to house the existing wheel/hub. So far so good. The Carrera has 1 1/8 steerer tube about 230mm long, integrated cassette type bearings. I see for sale front forks that are constant 1 1/8 diameter across the whole length of the steerer tube for sale, whereas the Carrera has a bottom dimension of 30mm tapering to 1 1/8.

So can I get a different headset to make the constant diameter forks fit the Carrera? Hope that makes sense. I am out of my depth when it comes to components and what fits what these days- seems so many "standards" Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Pictures show the Carrera headstock and forks.

 

[Nealh]

Most 1 1/8 forks have a slight taper at the base/crown to allow a tight fit for the crown race to press fit on, 1 1/8 is 28.575mm so sounds about right to me, the Carrera will use a pretty standard 1 1/8 steerer tube.
Which Carrera model ?
At the base/crown of the Carrera forks steerer tube there should be a crown race (this is to allow the lower bearing to rotate on), if it is a press fit one and if you look carefully you may see a small slot where you can lever it up with narrow blade screw driver (it may have another slot opposite).
What ever fork you buy you will need to fit the crown race as it matches the forks lower bearing race .

 

[Deltacharlie26]

Thanks Nealh. It is a Subway model, cheap and chearful spec, much lighter than my old Raleigh. The crown race is pressed onto the forks as you describe. So, does this make it a standard 1 1/8 set of forks that I could easily replace and use a standard new integrated cassette if I manage to destroy the crown race when trying to remove it? Like I say, I am out of my depth here!

 

[Nealh]

1 1/8 is normal on older bikes if it isn't threaded, most tapered tend to be 1.5" - 1.1/8".

Crown races are hardened lever up from both sides, to refit use a decent flat blade drift to tap it in place in several places.
Crown races can be bought as stand alone items, your one will be a generic common one.

Look any good.

Carrera Subway steel forks for V-brake. Front low-rider pannier rack bosses. | eBay

Steerer length approx. And axle-to-crown approx. These are unused forks, however there are scratches and scrapes here and there from clumsy storage.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Deltacharlie26]

They look perfect. Thank you. I like "generic common".
I did look on Ebay, must have missed them!