I picked up a Ridgeback MX24 for daughter #1 (9) for £35. The plan is that we'll have it for a while - daughter #2 (6) is a pip-squeak so it should last her sometime when its handed on. Perhaps unsurprisingly the fork is shot - perished boots and oil pissing from one leg and dried oil smears on the other. Its a quill stem - OD for the quill is just over 22mm and OD for the frame steerer tube is 37mm. What are the options - am I stuck with the 1" threaded and 1" quill, or can I change the headset to take a 1" threadless or a 1 1/8" threadless and open up some options for better forks?
You definitely be able to switch to 1" ahead if you can find a suitable fork. 1" aheadsets are pretty common (standard road size for a good while), then you'll just need a suitable stem.
Pretty sure you wouldn't be able to go 1 1/8".