Fork repair

sancho

New member
The fork from my Slim is off center at the crown and I'm trying to figure out if/how I can straighten it.

It had a stem frozen into the steerer tube and the wrenches at my LBS had to use so much force to free it that they ended up twisting the crown. I'm pretty sure the drop outs are OK and when I put a wheel in it the spacing on both sides is equal, but the brake sits off to one side a bit. I suppose I could ride it sans the front brake, but I'd rather not.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
 

sancho

New member
I was afraid somebody would say that. My gut tells me the same thing. I saw some Independent forks come up on eBay and thought about going that route. The straight bladed fork legs create a different aesthetic altogether but at least the frame and fork would share a common lineage (sort of).

I'll probably just have a replacement made and hope they can match the frame color.
 

sancho

New member
I doubt it. The manager joked about sending me a chiropractor's bill to cover the injuries his overzealous mechanics incurred while trying to free the stem.
 

BobM

New member
Your original slim fork is really nice for its strength, lightness & simple design -It would be a shame to throw it out -As long as the blades aren't kinked I would have a framebuilder (with an alignment table) check it out. I think they would probably do the following...

1) Verify no cracking around the welds (unlikely since one of the strongest parts of the fork)

2) Verify steering tube & crown race alignment are still ok.(easy to check w/ a race cutter)

3) Correct the alignment between crown area and blade tips. Probably all of the "twist" in your fork is probably just a small amount of coldsetting in the fork blade rake which can be undone (add a smidge of rake to one fork blade & subtract from the other).

4) Centered & make parallel the tips with an H tool

All the above could be done for alot less $$ than a new fork & one of the biggest advantages of steel (vs Al or carbon fiber) is that a small amount of corrective bending won't really hurt the integrity of your fork.

Good luck!
 

sancho

New member
Your original slim fork is really nice for its strength, lightness & simple design -It would be a shame to throw it out -As long as the blades aren't kinked I would have a framebuilder (with an alignment table) check it out. I think they would probably do the following...

1) Verify no cracking around the welds (unlikely since one of the strongest parts of the fork)

2) Verify steering tube & crown race alignment are still ok.(easy to check w/ a race cutter)

3) Correct the alignment between crown area and blade tips. Probably all of the "twist" in your fork is probably just a small amount of coldsetting in the fork blade rake which can be undone (add a smidge of rake to one fork blade & subtract from the other).

4) Centered & make parallel the tips with an H tool

All the above could be done for alot less $$ than a new fork & one of the biggest advantages of steel (vs Al or carbon fiber) is that a small amount of corrective bending won't really hurt the integrity of your fork.

Good luck!

Thanks for the detailed response. I'm definitely not giving up on the fork just yet. Hopefully I can find a frame builder in the area who can straighten it or let me know for sure whether or not it can be saved. Otherwise I'll have to hope one pops up on eBay, which seems highly unlikely and even less likely that it would be the right color.
 
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