M.Lou.B

Hi there!

This is a bit of a niche question. I've got a 23yo Trek Multitrack 7300 with an aluminum frame and a heavy CroMoly fork. The bike is great, fits me well and along the many upgrades it's gotten, I've learnt a lot.
The heavy fork is causing some issues however:
- it's heavy
- it's not ahead but quill-stem, so we installed an adapter which adds more weight
- it's got one screw on each side, intended for a front rack (heavy). I'd prefer two screws so I could mount a bottle cage or bike packing bags. Yes, zipties are a thing, but the fork is getting scratched up and it's not as resourceful and easy as screws would be.
- it is starting to rust.

For those reasons I would love to upgrade to a carbon fork. However, the only 1" ahead carbon forks I am able to find are for road bikes. While being a great option for retro and vintage bikes, it does not quite fit what I'm looking for. For bike packing, I am looking for more tyre clearance, v-brake/canti mounts, and 2 or 3 screw holes on either side, so pretty much a gravel-fork, but those usually come with disc brake mounts. I'd prefer to keep my mini v-brakes as I don't like the thought of mismatched brifters and mismatched brakes (frame does not allow for disc brakes).

I do understand this is probably not feasible or at least it's not a common problem, so there may not be a solution that caters to all the things I'm looking for.
Perhaps though someone here has an idea, a suggestion, or knows how/where to get a suitable fork?

Thank you so much in advance and for taking the time to read this.



Picture of said bike. The v-brakes have since been swapped for mini v-brakes with a nice bite!

Schweinhund

Whatever you do decide to do, don't let the old stock fork go. Someone will want it in the future.

HelpSingularity 

I like your rig, setup, very nice.

M.Lou.B

Thank you, that's good advice! If I do end up finding a suitable carbon fork, I'll be sure to hold on to the original one!

Thank you! I'm a bit insecure about my bike, so your feedback helps. I really appreciate it!

BTinNYC 

1" quill stem carbon forks that will fit wider tires are rare IME, like non-existent. 😞
A comment on the adapter weight; put a standard stem on the scale, then weigh the adapter plus a decent quality threadless stem and the two weights will be very close.

Eusam

There are a lot of bikepacking type forks out there that would have wider clearance and/or more mounts. There are even a handful with v/cantilever brake studs. But almost all of them use a 1 1/8 inch steerer. All the carbon bikepacking forks I've seen had tapered steerer tubes, which definitely won't work on that bike.

Your trek might have a 1 1/8 inch threaded fork, have you actually measured the stem or steerer tube? If that was the case, you could replace your headset and put on a 1 1/8 inch threadless fork. You would be able to find a nice steel bikepacking fork, there are some pretty nice Surly forks with v-brake studs available used. You'll want to try to keep the axle to crown length and offset close to your current fork, if it is much taller the bike will feel less responsive. If you kept your mini-vs on the front, they would become the limiting factor for tire clearance on the front. If you got a disc brake fork, you could get a cable actuated brake with the same pull ratio as your current brakes, so you wouldn't need to change out your levers.

masi61

This would be great if there were actually headsets that had cups fitting frames that were mated to 1” forks. I would love to know what headset specifically you would use to make this conversion possible. So to be able to put a carbon 1-1/8” fork on there with either cantilever mounts or disc mounts, yes… this would make the quest for a white unicorn 1” carbon cantilever fork unnecessary…

Eusam

I don't think they need a special headset. According to the 2000 Trek catalog, the Trek Multitrak 7300 came with an "oversized" headset, which means it is 1 1/8 inch threaded. If that's true, they just need an external cup 1 1/8 inch threadless (specifically EC34) headset. If the bike does in fact have a 1 inch fork, they're pretty much out of luck, but I'm about 90% sure that it's 1 1/8.

It turns out I was wrong about carbon bikepacking forks for straight steerers, there are at least three available new. The Fyxation Sparta All Road fork, Crust Carbon, and Wilde Wayfinder Carbon Fork all have straight steerers, and triple mounts on the sides. I think ENVE makes the Crust forks, but I didn't see any straight steerer forks on their site. These forks are disk brake only, and use through axles. All of them have about a 400mm axle to crown distance, which should be about right for a 700c hybrid bike.

It's mostly a matter of whether it's worth it to spend the money for a new fork, brake, and wheel. A carbon fork will be a spendy swap. I personally would probably get a steel fork, which would make the bike more versatile if not lighter.