Bent fork?

Colin Swan said:

I have a Rockhopper Disk and recently had a very minor incident on it
when a kid on a bike collided with the front wheel. I was stopped at
the time, and he was going pretty slowly, so no harm done I thought.
As I rode off, I noticed that the front tyre was rubbing on the fork
arch, as it looked like it had been tilted in the fork (in that the
rubbing was all the way around rather than in one place as would be
the case if the wheel was buckled). I tried popping the wheel out and
back in, but it appeared to make no difference.

When I got home, I had another fiddle, and it seemed to then go back
in OK.

Last night I went out for a ride (at the Aston Hill trails in the UK
if anyone knows them), and found that the front wheel was still
crooked, which was causing the brake to rub, and at times, if I was
pedalling hard, the tyre was rubbing too. I had the wheel in and out
several times, and although I managed to solve the brake dragging, the
wheel still looks like it is crooked in the fork.

Surely I can't have bent the fork? It's a Manitou Axel BTW. Anything
to look for on this fork?

Kind of spoiled my ride a bit, although my very poor fitness level and
lack of experience of anything remotely technical also helped. Still,
managed to clear some stuff on the second lap that I walked on the
first, so it's not all bad...
--
Colin Swan

Are you sure it's the fork that got wrecked and not the hub? Your
positive the wheel is true? I've taken spills in ruts at high speed
with the fork twisted in all directions, but it was always the wheel
that had the problem afterward.

Try taking the fork off the bike and looking at it that way. It can be
misleading when connected.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

Ride-A-Lot <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Colin Swan said:

Surely I can't have bent the fork? It's a Manitou Axel BTW. Anything
to look for on this fork?

Just FYI, the only time I have bent a fork is cornering at 20mph down
my drive, front washed out and i hit the wheel of our boat trailer.
Now the boat and trailer weigh 1.5 tons, and its a 4 wheel trailer,
and I shifted the wheels half an inch somehow. Taco'd my front wheel
and bent the forks only just enough to notice. They were steel forks
tho, not sus. But I shouldnt think they'd be that much weaker. I'd
check the wheel out first, then make sure the skewer is holdin it
centrally and theres no damage to the axle.

J

Colin Swan <colin AT nildram DOT net> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I have a Rockhopper Disk and recently had a very minor incident on it
when a kid on a bike collided with the front wheel. I was stopped at
the time, and he was going pretty slowly, so no harm done I thought.
As I rode off, I noticed that the front tyre was rubbing on the fork
arch, as it looked like it had been tilted in the fork (in that the
rubbing was all the way around rather than in one place as would be
the case if the wheel was buckled). I tried popping the wheel out and
back in, but it appeared to make no difference.

When I got home, I had another fiddle, and it seemed to then go back
in OK.

Last night I went out for a ride (at the Aston Hill trails in the UK
if anyone knows them), and found that the front wheel was still
crooked, which was causing the brake to rub, and at times, if I was
pedalling hard, the tyre was rubbing too. I had the wheel in and out
several times, and although I managed to solve the brake dragging, the
wheel still looks like it is crooked in the fork.

Surely I can't have bent the fork? It's a Manitou Axel BTW. Anything
to look for on this fork?

Kind of spoiled my ride a bit, although my very poor fitness level and
lack of experience of anything remotely technical also helped. Still,
managed to clear some stuff on the second lap that I walked on the
first, so it's not all bad...

My 17 year old pink Nishiki road bike has blasted every pothole in
NYC, run over two adults and one kid, flown into a ditch, been doored
twice, and once endoed when the operator let a shopping bag dangle off
the bars into the front wheel. It was also stolen for two years and
who knows what happened to it during that time. By my estimates, it
has roughly, oh, 6,000 miles on it. The fork is straight as an arrow.
And I'm still using the original front wheel.

What I'm trying to say is that I love that bike very very much, your
fork sounds like it sucks, and I can't answer your question because I
have never ridden your bike.

/s

PS: Oh yeah, I also steered the Nishiki drunkenly into a parked pickup
truck.

Quoted message said:

Surely I can't have bent the fork? It's a Manitou Axel BTW. Anything
to look for on this fork?

DON'T RIDE THE FORK ANY MORE! It's very likely that you may have the older
reverse arch lowers which have little reinforcement between the arch and the
lower legs. I cracked mine, and the wheel was doing exactly as you
described.

The problem comes in shipping, as the reverse arch is overstressed during
shipping. When they ship the bike, the arch faces the end of the box, and
the boxes are thrown around like dolls. This predisposes the lowers to
being cracked, and it's likely the one incident caused the final blow. Look
very very carefully at the joint between the arch and the lower leg. Mine
broke on the right leg. It should be warrantied by Answer/Manitou. Just go
to the LBS where you got the bike, and a new set of lowers should be sent to
the shop, and they should be able to install it with a small fee.

The Axels that come out our Specialized and Giant bicycles at the shop are
horrible. They flex beyond belief, and the springs are a joke. I can
bottom out the fork just by bouncing on them with my piddling 135 lbs.
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

On 18 Aug 2004 11:22:32 -0700, [email hidden] (supabonbon)

Quoted message said:

My 17 year old pink Nishiki road bike has blasted every pothole in
NYC, run over two adults and one kid, flown into a ditch, been doored
twice, and once endoed when the operator let a shopping bag dangle off
the bars into the front wheel. It was also stolen for two years and
who knows what happened to it during that time. By my estimates, it
has roughly, oh, 6,000 miles on it. The fork is straight as an arrow.
And I'm still using the original front wheel.

What I'm trying to say is that I love that bike very very much, your
fork sounds like it sucks, and I can't answer your question because I
have never ridden your bike.

/s

PS: Oh yeah, I also steered the Nishiki drunkenly into a parked pickup
truck.

Errrr, thanks (I think) :-)

--
Colin Swan

ZeeExSixAre said:

Quoted message said:

Surely I can't have bent the fork? It's a Manitou Axel BTW. Anything
to look for on this fork?

DON'T RIDE THE FORK ANY MORE! It's very likely that you may have the older
reverse arch lowers which have little reinforcement between the arch and the
lower legs. I cracked mine, and the wheel was doing exactly as you
described.

The problem comes in shipping, as the reverse arch is overstressed during
shipping. When they ship the bike, the arch faces the end of the box, and
the boxes are thrown around like dolls. This predisposes the lowers to
being cracked, and it's likely the one incident caused the final blow. Look
very very carefully at the joint between the arch and the lower leg. Mine
broke on the right leg. It should be warrantied by Answer/Manitou. Just go
to the LBS where you got the bike, and a new set of lowers should be sent to
the shop, and they should be able to install it with a small fee.

The Axels that come out our Specialized and Giant bicycles at the shop are
horrible. They flex beyond belief, and the springs are a joke. I can
bottom out the fork just by bouncing on them with my piddling 135 lbs.

Cheers Phil, I'll have a very careful look at it later. I was
wondering whether it was actually bent, but couldn't quite believe
that it would be. If it is a broken fork, I'll see what the LBS can do
about it, and whether they would be amenable to swapping it out for
something else (I hear Marzocchi are good :-)) for a small cash
adjustment...

--
Colin Swan

Quoted message said:

My 17 year old pink Nishiki

Likely to be made of steel with 3mm wall thinkness 🙂 lol

Quoted message said:

What I'm trying to say is

....

Quoted message said:

/s

Lol, not very much helpful :-) Except maybe that its unlikely its bent.

Does anyone have a precise method of measuring 'fork bentness'?

J

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 10:22:21 +0100, Colin Swan <colin AT nildram DOT

net said:

ZeeExSixAre said:

Quoted message said:

Surely I can't have bent the fork? It's a Manitou Axel BTW. Anything
to look for on this fork?

DON'T RIDE THE FORK ANY MORE! It's very likely that you may have the older
reverse arch lowers which have little reinforcement between the arch and the
lower legs. I cracked mine, and the wheel was doing exactly as you
described.

The Axels that come out our Specialized and Giant bicycles at the shop are
horrible. They flex beyond belief, and the springs are a joke. I can
bottom out the fork just by bouncing on them with my piddling 135 lbs.

Cheers Phil, I'll have a very careful look at it later. I was
wondering whether it was actually bent, but couldn't quite believe
that it would be. If it is a broken fork, I'll see what the LBS can do
about it, and whether they would be amenable to swapping it out for
something else (I hear Marzocchi are good :-)) for a small cash
adjustment...

Update: have had a good look at the fork, and I can't see any cracks
in it. In fact, there appears to be a good amount of metal around
where the arch joins the lowers, although the arch is surprisingly
flexy with the wheel out. I have managed to get it pretty close to
centred when putting it back in, so I'll have to see how it goes.

I'm confident that it isn't going to suddenly fail on me, but I'm not
confident that this is a particularly good fork, so I'll look into
alternatives.

Anyone want to buy a fork? :-)

--
Colin Swan

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 20:05:17 +0100, Colin Swan <colin AT nildram DOT

net said:

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 10:22:21 +0100, Colin Swan <colin AT nildram DOT

net said:

ZeeExSixAre said:

> Surely I can't have bent the fork? It's a Manitou Axel BTW. Anything
> to look for on this fork?

DON'T RIDE THE FORK ANY MORE! It's very likely that you may have the older
reverse arch lowers which have little reinforcement between the arch and the
lower legs. I cracked mine, and the wheel was doing exactly as you
described.

Update: have had a good look at the fork, and I can't see any cracks
in it. In fact, there appears to be a good amount of metal around
where the arch joins the lowers, although the arch is surprisingly
flexy with the wheel out. I have managed to get it pretty close to
centred when putting it back in, so I'll have to see how it goes.

Have dropped it off at the LBS today, and they say that the fork
doesn't look bent, but the wheel needs a true and a tension. I've left
it with them to do this (I don't have the time myself, OK) and give it
a gear service.

They do have a sale on their forks at the moment, and I noticed a
Marzocchi MX Comp for £150 (plus £20 fitting) which is kind of
tempting, although I wonder how much I could get for the current one.

--
Colin Swan