How To Measure Bike Fork Diameter?

Many of you may be bicycle riders and have often heard the word bicycle fork, but don’t easily understand or know what it actually is. Bicycle fork is the part of a bike which mounts the front wheel and to which handle bars are connected to, so that you can steer. Fork is an important part of bikes; thus before buying measure the fork diameter of your bike. This review article contains complete guidelines on how to measure bike fork diameter.

Things You Need

A caliper gauge

Steps on How to Measure Bike Fork Diameter

Step 1:Know What a Vernier Caliper Is

You will need a caliper gauge to measure fork diameter of your bike. A vernier caliper or a caliper gauge is a device which can be used to measure two opposing sides of an object.
There are many types of forks present in a bicycle. Suspension forks, road bike forks, BMX forks etc. to measure the diameters of all these different kinds of fork you will need a device which will fit into all of them easily. A vernier caliper is an ideal tool for such purpose.
Firstly take your gauge caliper and try to understand it. (In case you have not used one before to take a reading).

Step 2: How to Start Measuring?

You will find two scales, the main scale is the fixed scale and the scale which can slide past and across is the vernier scale. The vernier scale opens and closes the jaws.
Clean your bicycle fork before measuring, wipe it off with a cloth so that there is no grease on it. Fork should be clean and there shouldn’t be any interference while taking accurate measurements.
Unlock the caliper gauge screw, loosen it, so that the jaws of the caliper can be opened.
Place the caliper into the fork of the bike. Put it in such a way that the fork is positions in the middle of the jaws. You can adjust the position and width gap by sliding the vernier caliper in place (the smaller scale reading).
Tighten the locking screw so that the scales are placed correctly.
Take reading from the main scale (big scale) and the vernier caliper scale gives reading in milli meters. This allows accurate readings of the fork diameter to be recorded.
Add the main scale and vernier scale readings to get the final fork diameter of your bicycle

Final Verdict

Now that you have learnt how to measure bike fork diameter of a bicycle, you can easily measure one before purchasing a new fork before modification of your bike. Fork helps to balance the bike and is an integral part. Different types of fork have different function. Choose your fork design and type based on your preference but make sure you measure your fork diameter properly, because your wheel’s balance and the angle at which you steer your bicycle depends on it.