Klein Quantum Carbon Fork

stockliasteroid · Jul 25, 2013

I picked up my first road bike this spring, a '93 Klein Quantum... Great bike, I've had a ton of fun riding pavement after being a dirt junkie for most of my life...

That said, I'm considering putting a different fork on it to smooth out the ride... However, there seems to be some proprietary issues with older Kleins, and this one has a threaded headset. I've looked around quite a bit to see what would be necessary, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer...

So I'd need to put a threadless headset on it, and a 1" stem to match the 1" steerer on the new fork, correct? Is it even possible to swap out the headset? Are there other proprietary issues that I'd have to deal with here?

Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

davcruz · Jul 25, 2013

You can go with a 1" threaded carbon fork like this one and change nothing else. Nashbar Carbon Threaded Road Fork - Road Bike Forks

stockliasteroid · Jul 25, 2013

Thanks for the reply! I hadn't even seen such an option before... I do need to measure the existing fork, though, I thought I read something about Klein using a strange steerer tube diameter, i.e. not 1". It was like 1 1/16" inch or something like that...

davcruz · Jul 25, 2013

I am not familiar with the older Kleins enough to say but that sounds odd to me, it would mean that unless they kept the same internal diameter of the steer tube (i.e. thicker tubing walls) then a standard quill stem would not have fit the steer tube and a standard 1" headset would not work either. Not saying it isn't possible, but sounds unlikely. Needless to say, just measure the steer tube diameter and you will know for sure.

davcruz · Jul 26, 2013

A bit of research yesterday proves that Klein most certainly did use a 1-1/16" steer tube/headset on Quantum frames, certainly the later 1990's into the 2000's when Trek bought them. That said the ones I saw were Pro models and did not have a threaded fork/quill setup. I suppose the only true test is to measure the steer tube. Please let us know what you find out.

stockliasteroid · Jul 26, 2013

davcruz said:
A bit of research yesterday proves that Klein most certainly did use a 1-1/16" steer tube/headset on Quantum frames, certainly the later 1990's into the 2000's when Trek bought them. That said the ones I saw were Pro models and did not have a threaded fork/quill setup. I suppose the only true test is to measure the steer tube. Please let us know what you find out.

Thanks for following up! I'm going to do some maintenance tonight, so I'll pull that off and put a caliper on it to see what it is... I'll post back what I find!

WA/SScrossracer · Jul 31, 2013

I believe your bike should be a standard 1" threaded setup, some of the later Quantum pro models had the odd 1&1/16 or 1&1/4 threadless headsets, from the late 90's to early 2000's I have a 2000 or 01 quantum race, not pro and it came with a threadless 1" carbon fork, alloy steerer. Your best bet if your a standard 1" would be to go with a 1" threadless carbon fork, and headset, you can go decent and cheap, like a performance branded one, or might be able to find a nicer lighter all carbon easton if you check around on e-bay, my old roommate found one for his mid 80's quantum, then just find a standard 1&1/8 stem that fits and get a adaptor shim that takes up the space, that's what I'm running on my Klein, a decent canecreek sealed headset can usually be found for $30-$60 in 1" size. Even a cheaper carbon fork and threadless setup should save you some weight and improve the ride quality a good bit.

stockliasteroid · Aug 10, 2013

You're correct, it is a 1" threaded fork! I finally got around to taking it apart tonight... I also found that Jenson has a shim for this purpose: Problem Solvers Shim 1" To 1 1/8" Stem > Components > Handlebars and Stems > Stem Parts | Jenson USA Online Bike Shop, and I've already got a threadless stem on it via a quill->threadless converter, so all I need at this point is the fork, a 1" threadless headset, and a shim.

I'm looking at an Easton EC70, hopefully that will work out. I'm super stoked, this is going to make this bike a long term keeper... I'm not looking to race it or anything, so at this point it's just about improving ride quality and saving a little bit of weight.

Thanks again, all! I'll post with how the project goes...

Klein Quantum Carbon Fork

stockliasteroid

davcruz

stockliasteroid

davcruz

davcruz

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WA/SScrossracer

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