I´ve got a Dawes 601 discovery, which has acquired damage to the front forks. Someone else has access to the bike and I strongly suspect they´ve caused the damaged. The other day, I found the front brakes were catching hard on the rims. I loosened off the handlebar adjustment to no avail, then the wire on the brake itself. This cured the catching brake but not without a lot of travel on the lever before the brake became effective. I rode the bike for a few days and certainly found more vibration being transmitted to my hands. However I didn´t look for or notice the fork damage until yesterday. Basically the left front fork near the lug is flattened on the inside for a distance of around 3 inches. with a ´crease´ in the metal at the top (again on the inside)
The bike hs had little use but does take some hammer from cobbled rough roads and rubberised sleeping policemen which some will have been riden over at 25mph.
I´ve several questions all kind of interelated, which I´d love opinions on. 1. Do the ´symptons´as described indicate the damage was done before I rode it again? 2. Is it likely that the roads/ sleeping policman caused the damage, if not any other ideas how? 3. I´ll need to replace the forks and I´m concerned that getting an identical one from Dawes that the same damage could happen again. Are there stronger alternatives, whilst still retain same rake and geometry?
I´ve got a Dawes 601 discovery, which has acquired damage to the front forks. Someone else has access to the bike and I strongly suspect they´ve caused the damaged. The other day, I found the front brakes were catching hard on the rims. I loosened off the handlebar adjustment to no avail, then the wire on the brake itself. This cured the catching brake but not without a lot of travel on the lever before the brake became effective. I rode the bike for a few days and certainly found more vibration being transmitted to my hands. However I didn´t look for or notice the fork damage until yesterday. Basically the left front fork near the lug is flattened on the inside for a distance of around 3 inches. with a ´crease´ in the metal at the top (again on the inside)
The bike hs had little use but does take some hammer from cobbled rough roads and rubberised sleeping policemen which some will have been riden over at 25mph.
I´ve several questions all kind of interelated, which I´d love opinions on. 1. Do the ´symptons´as described indicate the damage was done before I rode it again? 2. Is it likely that the roads/ sleeping policman caused the damage, if not any other ideas how?
I don't know if those causes are possibilities or not but I'd be surpised if road humps were to blame, despite 25mph being a high speed to hit one at. Head-on collisions with vehicles or brick walls are the more common cause of serious fork damage.
Quoted message said:
3. I´ll need to replace the forks and I´m concerned that getting an identical one from Dawes that the same damage could happen again. Are there stronger alternatives, whilst still retain same rake and geometry?
Carbon forks can't fail in the same way, but I don't know if there are any suitable ones for your bike.
Basically the left front fork near the lug is flattened on the inside for a distance of around 3 inches. with a ´crease´ in the metal at the top (again on the inside)
Could it of been put in the back of car with the front wheel out? To crease one side of the forks with the wheel in would be tricky.
