At the weekend I broke the slider on my MTB’s fork (see pic). I’ve bought a new bike – I was just about to anyway – but I can’t think what to do with the old one. It’s a Cube Attention 2011 (aluminium frame, 26″ wheels, 100mm of travel) and is obviously currently unrideable. Any ideas about making something rideable – or sellable – without spending too much money?

What size is it, and what’s the rest of the bike condition?

I have a couple of 26″ forks in the shed, and have kids moving up in size…

(And how the hell did you do that? 😯 )

Duct tape.

(And how the hell did you do that?

+1

Warrantable?

Short travel 26″ forks are pretty cheap s/h £30-£50 will get you something suitable – it’s probably not the sort of bike that’s worth stripping and selling so I’d do that or sell it ‘as is’ but however buys it will want a bargain.

Good work 🙂 Maybe you could find a set of lowers and swap? It’s more common for fork uppers to die from wear and tear than for lowers to break, it’s a wee bit of a gamble putting lowers from a dead fork on as the bushings could have worn but it’s worth a go…

Lowers (sliders) might be easier to find than straight 1 1/8th/ QR/ 26″ forks these days!

Just split and sell the parts. You’ll make more than you would if you tried to sell the whole bike anyway.

rigid fork?

Why not buy a set of rigids and run it as a winter hack?

I’d send cube & rockshox a couple of pics and ask what they think… I’ve never seen a break there before! I reckon you’ll get lucky and one of them will put you right.

Failing that get on eBay and find a pair of the same forks with borked uppers, you’ll pay £30-£50 I reckon and then you can flog the bike whole, be easier that way.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I’ll start by writing to cube and rockshox and see if I can get a replacement.

In response to how I did it… Well I don’t really know. I did some easy downhill stuff at antur stiniog on Saturday, which was fine, then took it out cross country (landrover track with a rocky descent) on Sunday, which was also fine. Then I got to a road section and stopped before a give way line and it just went. I’ve had a look at some photos from the day before and there’s nothing obviously wrong at that point so I don’t really know. Curiously, a similar thing happened with the front wheel on this bike, which just randomly buckled when I was on a fire road at a trail centre a few years ago.

I’ve seen it happen to a cheap Marzocchi fork that a lad had fitted a 200 mm Hope 6 pot brake to.
Also heard of it happening to some early 2004 Specialized Enduros running a fox float and specced with a 200 mm rotor. Spesh quickly sent out a load of 160 mm rotors and we had to retro fit a few on the shop floor before they started coming through as stock.

So ‘over rotored’ for that fork? Saying that though, from the photo it looks like you’re running a regular shimano brake with a 160 rotor so I’d say it’s an unexpected failure. It’ll be interesting to hear what Cube and RS come back to you with.

Rock strike cracked and weakened the lower and it failed under braking?

Rotor was and has always been 160mm.

I’d say the lower is manufactured in 2 halves and welded together, and its gone on the weld? It seems a very straight fracture for it to have gone in the middle of the tube else.

Its split just below the bushing…make of that what you like.

Opusone – Is that a rockshox Dart?

If so, I have one that I took off my Cube Acid, when I swapped it for some Rebas. It saw about a month of use. You’re welcome to it for a few beer tokens + postage.

It’s a dart 3 apparently.

Yeah, my Acid was a 2011, and it’s a Dart 3. Totally up to you, for what it’s worth I don’t care whether I sell it or not, but if it helps you out then let me know.

That’s awesome thanks. I’ll talk to cube and rockshox first just in case I can get afreebie new one then I’ll let you know.

No probs. cbmotorsport at hotmail dot c0m if you need them.