Hillborne fork on a Heron?

[Chris Dedinsky]

This week I was commuting home from work on my Heron. I got a flat on my Challenge Strada Bianca 36 tires and on a whim—certainly inspired by the recent 'Rondini' episode of Ron's bikes YouTube episode—decided to stuff in a pair of much too large 700x42 Hurricane Ridge tires to enjoy until the snow falls. Which should be pretty quick here in British Columbia's southern interior.

The fork clearance is decidedly too tight and perhaps irresponsible, if not dangerous. I'm gonna keep my fenders on as I'm not sure how long this experiment will last. So far a couple of sporting trips back and forth to work. 

It has got me thinking though, has anyone out there modified their Heron to have more modern Riv tire clearances? In the vein of a Sam Hillborne. I was daydreaming about putting a more tolerable fork and crimping the chainstays, so I could run up in the +45 range. Although the rear wheel has much more than a few sheets of paper in clearance and the irrevesability of crimping makes me nervous. 

Would love to hear any thoughts on the pro's/con's. And if there are any extra hillborne forks out there for a ~57 frame, I may be interested. If so, I can give specs. I know I should leave a perfectly wonderful frameset alone, but I can't help but wonder about it. 

Here are some pics that make the fit seem even more dramatic on that front fork. 

[CJ]

I didn't care for the original fork on my Heron Touring, so I contacted Todd Kuzma somewhere around 2001 and he had Waterford make me a new fork using their "Adventure Bike" fork crown. Attached is the only pic I have handy at the moment. Tire clearance isn't huge, but it's somewhat better than stock. My bike is limited to an ~38mm tire at the chainstays, so I never tried going wider than that.

CJ

[Chris Dedinsky]

That's very nice - I like the sloping fork crown on there and was a good idea to have Waterford put one together for you when you did. 

[Johnny Alien]

That fork crown became the standard fork crown during that period. It is indeed nice looking.

[Ted Durant]

On Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 2:22:21 PM UTC-6 h...@chrisdedinsky.com wrote:

This week I was commuting home from work on my Heron. I got a flat on my Challenge Strada Bianca 36 tires and on a whim—certainly inspired by the recent 'Rondini' episode of Ron's bikes YouTube episode—decided to stuff in a pair of much too large 700x42 Hurricane Ridge tires to enjoy until the snow falls. 

Yeah, the 40mm internal width of the original Heron fork crown puts an unfortunate limit on tire size. For my ST-22 I requested that fork crown because I wanted the round blades, as I was essentially trying to make a Heron Road with a bit more clearance and fork rake. I have 45mm fenders and 32mm tires on that bike, and the clearances are pretty tight. On the Touring frame we added more vertical clearance, and that gets you only so much additional horizontal clearance.   

When looking at swapping forks, pay close attention to the distance from the axle to the top of the bearing seat. If that is significantly different from the original, you'll change the head tube angle and therefore the steering geometry. Also, of course, the amount of fork rake will affect steering. I have the all the original Heron shop drawings, but they're in storage. Let me know if you want any specific dimensions.

Ted Durant

[Wesley]

Just FYI, you have more choices than you might think with the fork. If you find a fork you like but the steerer is too long, you can still use it!

If the upper race can't thread all the way down to the cup, you can swap your headset for a 1" threadless headset, and screw the top nut not the fork threads to provide preload to the headset without having to use the typical internal nut of a treadless headset. This means you can still use a quill stem with a threadless headset! I did this recently with a threaded fork having a veeeery long steerer in order to get my handlebars higher. Happy to provide ics later if that would be helpful.

-Wes

[Chris Dedinsky]

Wow - that's really generous Ted, thank you kindly. I'll let you know how things proceed. Smart advice about paying attention to the axle/bearing seat distance and to the rake. I should take stock and note that a new fork won't necessarily be plug-and-play. No matter how much I would like that to be the case. 

[Chris Dedinsky]

Appreciate the threadless insight too Wes. I wouldn't have considered that as an option. Bit I'll keep it in mind as I do a bit more research. Thank you!

[Brian Turner]

I just want to chime in to say, that’s the sexiest Heron I’ve ever seen. So well done! 🤘🏼

On Nov 9, 2023, at 7:10 PM, Chris Dedinsky <h...@chrisdedinsky.com> wrote:

Appreciate the threadless insight too Wes. I wouldn't have considered that as an option. Bit I'll keep it in mind as I do a bit more research. Thank you!

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[Chris Dedinsky]

Thank you for the kind words! It's really a delightful unit.  

[Jason Fuller]

For what it's worth, one of my riding pals runs the 700x38 Rene Herse knobbies and they're delightful as well, so if you choose to size down to address the issue I don't think you'll be missing out a whole lot.  Plus, that keeps the BB height, etc closer to the design values. 

[Chris Dedinsky]

Jason - I know in my heart that's the smart decision, especially with regard to the design considerations. It's probably fortuitous that nobody has gotten in touch with a possible fork as of yet. With any luck, I'll be distracted with other bike notions sooner than later. 

[Chris Dedinsky]

I haven't given up on this updated tire clearance dream. But for the time being have gone and put more appropriate shoes back onto my Heron. I was able to score some RH 700C x 38 Barlow Pass extra lights off FB market this week. Where I am in south central BC the weather has settled down after that big cold snap and some rain even melted the snow on our local rail trail out to the airport. I fendered up and tried out the new tires. Super plushy! 

[John Bokman]

Great looking bike! Love those Herons...the Barlow Xlights are so nice. Transformative.

John