Bike Head Tube Sizes

Head tube angle fork rake or offset fork trail.

Bike head tube sizes.

But let s start with the head tube angle. Mountain bike tyre sizes are usually stated in inches. Finding the right inner tube depends on the size of the tires on your bike. 7 8 obsolete british size for steel handlebars common on older 3 speeds.

Stem clamp size grip area size application. While you can find a variety of bikes with wheel sizes ranging from 16 to 27 5 inches the most common sizes include 26 inches 27 5 inches 29 inches and 700c. This can lead to confusion since head tube inside diameters are dependent on the headset standard. Mainly bmx older mountain bike bars.

Some bikes like the niner air 9 carbon which has a 100mm tall headtube were simply incompatible with rockshox. Traditionally these have been held in pressed cups but modern bikes also see bearings fitted directly into the frame. So a 29 inch mtb tube will have the same diameter as a 700c road wheel while a 27 5 inch tube will be the same diameter as a 650b road wheel. There s much more to understanding road bike frame sizing than effective top tube length stack and reach and choosing the right size is key to proper fit and handling.

This can seem confusing because the head cups do not measure the named standard. Head tubes can use one of several size standards bicycles. This size was also used for older british steel drop bars. The headset is the set of components on a bicycle that provides a rotatable interface between the bicycle fork and the head tube of a bicycle frame the tube through which the steerer of the fork passes is called the head tube a typical headset consists of two cups that are pressed into the top and bottom of the headtube.

This was especially challenging on 29ers where riders demanded shorter head tubes. The various standards are generally not interchangeable. The threaded standards are 1 inch 1 1 8 inch and 1 1 4 inch headsets. For example frames that take one inch 25 4 mm steerer columns can have.

Out of the three fork trail arguably tells us the most about how a bicycle will steer. A bike with a steeper head angle has faster steering. Threaded headset sizes are designated by the outer diameter of the steering column.