Front fork broken this evening.

desertcircus

Was cycling home on Upper Baggot Street this evening around half five, and a taxi further ahead decided to stop dead and let out his passenger. The car behind had to stop dead to avoid running into the back of him, and I couldn't brake hard enough - ended up going into the back of the second car and snapping my front fork completely off. I managed to get away with no more serious damage to myself than a sore lip from bouncing off the boot, but I have a couple of questions:

1. Is replacing a front fork something that's easily doable, or should it be done by a bike shop? And are forks expensive?

2. Is there anything I can do in that circumstance to make it less likely something like that will happen again? I'm worried that if I cycle with too much distance between me and the car in front, I'll end up with drivers overtaking me dangerously - particularly on that road, since the left-hand side is lined with parked cars and cycling close to them risks getting doored.

kumate_champ07

replacing is easy enough, just make sure you get a fork with the same rake.

http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/trail-fork-rake-and-little-bit-of.html

Icyseanfitz

you will need some tools if your going to do it yourself, fork crown race remover, and something to install the fork crown race onto the new fork, you might also need to cut the steerer, tbh id bring it to a shop

tomasrojo

I had to replace a fork once, and I just dropped the old fork into the shop and they got me an appropriate replacement, cut the steering column to the same length and transferred the crown race.

I did this because it was easier to get the fork to the bike shop than the unrideable bike, and I already knew headset maintenance.