Can I put mountain bike forks on a road bike frame?

The reason for the question comes from a meeting with a friend of a friend. He has a road bike with crushed front wheel and forks, everything else is okay (it was reversed over in the garage). I have various bits of Giant Uplander, the forks and front wheel are all in good condition. Neither of us are mechanical minded. If it is very technical then it is not really worth it but if we can slide out the crushed fork and slide in the mtb forks it may make a simple commuter? Thanks.

Depends on a couple of things. First, the steer tube( the part that attaches the fork to the handlebar) has to be long enough. Often the head tube on a road bike is longer than the one on a mountain bike. If this is your case, it won’t work. To find out, you have to remove the fork from the road bike frame and compare the length of the two steer tubes. If the mountain bike steer tube is more than a couple of mm shorter, the transplant will not work. Next you have to check the diameter of the steer tubes. Older bikes use a smaller diameter steer tube, so if they are not the same diameter, it won’t work. The headsets may be threaded or unthreaded. If the mountain bike fork uses a different type, you will also have to transplant the headset from the mountain bike to the road bike. Best case: an easy job that would take an experienced mechanic 1/2 hour. If you have to exchange some parts, it could take an hour. Worst case with incompatible forks, not possible

Reverse Commuter AKA [a]pendics.shuffle in Miami, FL