May 03, 2018
4 min read
EVERYTHING YOU NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT SCOOTER FORKS (BEFORE YOU BUY)Purchasing scooter parts can be extremely complicated, as most scooter parts are only compatible with certain combinations of other scooter parts. Pro scooter forks are no exception. Picking the right scooter fork means that it will be compatible with your headset, compression system, and wheels. We will look at each thing that you need to consider when purchasing your scooter forks.SCOOTER FORKS - COMPRESSION COMPATIBILITYIf you are new to the world of scooters, you will quickly learn that the scooter compression system drives almost every part that you will purchase for your scooter. There are many different types of compression systems on the market today, including SCS, HIC, IHC, mini HIC, ICS, Pytel, and more. The first thing that you should determine when either building a new scooter or attempting to upgrade parts for your current scooter is to identify that type of compression that you are currently riding or want to ride. If you are building a scooter around an SCS compression system, the forks, bars, and headset will need to be compatible with SCS. If you currently have IHC compression and want to convert to SCS/HIC forks, you will have to swap out several scooter parts, not just your forks. At Smokin Scooters, we identify the type of compression that each scooter fork is compatible with. Before you choose your fork, select the compression that you want to ride, and then select a fork that is compatible with that compression system.SCOOTER FORKS - WHEEL COMPATIBILITY There are many sizes of scooter wheel on the market today, ranging from an outer diameter of 100mm to 125mm. Scooter forks from different manufacturers are built to accommodate different sizes of wheels. Tilt Nimbus 120 forks, for instance, are compatible with wheels up to 120mm in size so they will work with 100mm, 110mm, and 120mm wheels. Wise Forkast forks are compatible with up to 125mm wheels. While many manufactures are designing their scooter forks to be compatible with wheels up to 120mm wheels today, many scooter forks are still only compatible with wheels up to 110mm. Before you purchase scooter forks, know the wheel size that you want to ride and make sure that BOTH your scooter forks (front wheel) and scooter deck (rear wheel) can accommodate the size wheel that you want to rider.SCOOTER FORKS - HEADSET COMPATIBILITYIn the past, scooter forks came in two flavors: threaded scooter forks and threadless scooter forks. The type of fork that you chose drove which type of headset you needed. While a handful of manufacturers to still put threaded headset/fork combinations on their freestyle kick scooters, Smokin Scooters only sells threadless headsets and threadless scooter forks. If you are purchasing scooter forks from us, you do not have to worry about headset compatibility. All scooter forks and headsets that we sell are threadless and are compatible with each other.SCOOTER FORKS - STEERER TUBE LENGTHThe steerer tube is the tube above the forks that slides up through your headtube on your scooter deck. There are various lengths of fork steerer tubes, as well as scooter deck headtubes. While most fork/deck combinations work together, you may want to research whether the particular combination of scooter fork and deck headtube that you select work well together. The worst combination to buy is a fork with a short steerer tube in combination with a scooter deck with a long headtube. This combination should not be ridden together, as the compression system will not have enough of the fork steerer tube to compress around.Similarly, if you purchase a scooter fork with a long steerer tube and a short deck head headtube, you may have too much of the steerer tube exposed above the headtube, requiring you to purchase headset spacers to close the gap created between your headset and compression system.SCOOTER FORKS – MATERIAL - ALUMINUM VS STEEL At one time, aluminum scooter forks were being manufactured in either one of two pieces. We cannot think of any manufacturer that builds two piece scooter forks any more. The two piece forks were weak and tended to snap. All of the aluminum and steel forks that we sell are one piece forks, which are much stronger than the two piece forks of old. Steel forks are pretty heavy and typically only used on entry level scooters to cut costs. If you are an intermediate to pro scooter rider, pick up a set of aluminum scooter forks. They are much lighter than steel and, because they are a single solid piece of aluminum, the aluminum forks tend to be nearly as strong as steel.SCOOTER FORKS - OFFSETOffset is the amount of space that the scooter wheel is offset forward from the fork. Most manufacturers create forks with an offset of 10mm, placing the wheel 10mm forward from the center of the fork. We do not sell very many zero offset forks, which makes a handful of tricks easier to do than on a 10mm offset fork. We recommend a 10mm offset fork, as it stabilizes the scooter by increasing the wheel base and makes the scooter easier to ride. Take if from the pro scooter riders – almost all of them ride 10mm offset forks.WHERE CAN I PURCHASE SCOOTER FORKSIf you want to purchase scooter forks, or any other scooter part, look no further than Smokin Scooters. We make the buying experience simple, whether you are new to the scooter industry or have been riding for years. CLICK HERE to review the scooter forks that we sell. Then look to the left side of the page, where you can filter your scooter forks by compression compatibility, wheel size compatibility, color, manufacturer, or price.
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