Crash-damaged steel frame / bent steerer / dinged tube / dead forks

good point, ive not been vey helpfull here, first time ive posted a thread on here and clearly didnt do a very good job, i bought the bike second hand cheap and didnt notice it untill i started checking it over properly.
lets forget about this thread then as obviously its a bit pointless without photos now i come to think of it !

Forks do a fairly tough job, and front end failures can get you into trouble very fast. Faster than you can react, let alone scrub off speed or anything.

Say your forks give up in such a way that your front wheel locks up while you are travelling in traffic at a decent speed. You get flipped forwards onto your head much harder than the design spec of your helmet and you die before you know anything about it.

Or maybe they suddenly snap off at the crown and you just collapse into sprawling heap on the road. Then get run over.

Steel is tough stuff and it's entirely possible that your re-bent forks are fine, but metal fatigue is a complicated subject and if you don't know the steel and it's history you can't say for sure.

Value judgement - value of forks vs. value of your health/good looks. You will never be able to ride on the fork with confidence.

The forks bend at the crown because that is the most highly stressed point of the steerer tube. The bending is plastic deformation, so when you bend it back, the fork may look the same as new but structurally it is far weaker and more susceptible to fatigue fracture. The bigger the original bend, the more risky.

great answers , thanks for that , have decideded its the bin for them then after those wise words, but its got me paranoid about the likelyhood of any frame damage, i cant see any at all though.
wondering if bent forks = a good chance of the frame being weakened and unsafe also?

Is there any crack or dent. If not should be ok. Graeme obree does a lot of stuff to his steel stuff that involves bending.

So i had a crash into the back of a BMW the other day and my trusty Croix de Fer had her forks bent. Genesis cannot supply just the fork.

It bent a little out of shape so spreads when the quick release is undone and doesn't track properly when riding.

Does anyone know if Steel forks can be reset by a frame builder??? There is slight paint cracking at the crown so it is definitely out of alignment but can it be fixed with a bit of heat and a trusty jig???

Alternatively If anyone knows of any other great value CX or touring forks with disc mounts please let me know also.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Steel is pretty forgiving and if there are no visible of feel-able faults you are probably ok.
Is the paint cracking on/near the weld? Do not heat them to bend them, it will soften the metal. Get them to a good frame repair shop, who should be able to re-cold set them, and advise you if there is any lasting damage.
Otherwise just get some of these:
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FOOOP12/on_one_pompetamine_2012_fork

They are only £50, and the last thing you want is to be riding on damaged forks.

where is the best place to get new forks for a vintage raleigh silhouette, I decided to do a front-flip on my girlfriends bicycle in front of a granny. They are poked. Also how do I know what size to look for etc. If you could offer some advice...

Hijacking old thread. How bad are they?

](http://s1089.photobucket.com/user/Tat2sbigears/media/DSCI1397_zpse767725b.jpg.html)[/IMG]

Posting this in mechanics now as it's no longer really appropriate for the "Wanted" section.

Original thread:
http://www.lfgss.com/thread121147.html

Ok so Mario has advised that fixing this could be risky, due to possible hidden hairline fractures caused by cold setting the fork blades straight again - he warns that the fork may fail when riding. That said he is also quite keen to sell me a new fork, sprayed in any colour for £50.

I've emailed the same photo to the guys at bikefix.co.uk and they say they can probably fix it, and that Mario is probably being over cautious, but of course I'm the one who needs to make the decision on what to do. He reckons fixing it will cost in the region of £40.

New chrome forks can be had on Planet X for £25, although I'd like to save the original fork if poss.

Here's a pic of the bike built up (yes I rode it with a bent fork, by not centering the axle in the dropout fully and tightening it right down, also tilting the brake calliper to the side a bit). I'm not sure whether a generic looking chrome fork is gonna look that good. That said, maybe a white one from Mario might be ok, but that's double the cost:

So, aesthetically, safety, and performance-wise, what would you do? Bear in mind this bike is not actually for me, it is a gift for my GF.

• it is a gift for my GF.*
  
  
  

new fork or expensive dental work and getting dumped

no brainer

If you like your GF, new fork!

seconded, all for £50, get it fixed!

Ha! Had a feeling this might be the response :)

What do you reckon then, inexpensive Planet x chrome forks (£25) or £50 for a set of white forks with a lugged crown?

Can't decide which would look better, and budget is an issue

Girls like shiny things and you can always spray them later.

It's 531, take Mario advice and match the bike.

Had it been those Carbonite one, I wouldn't even bothered.

Mario's forks:

He say's these are Columbus Gara which sounds good to me. How do these compare to 531?

http://www.equusbicycle.com/bike/columbus/columbuschart.htm

Averagly average I think

Bern

Ah well, should be adequate

Looks bent to me, yet their advert states 'Pre-loved second hand F5 Pista Custom up for grabs here! Size 52cm, has been stripped / cleaned / rebuilt and is ready to roll. Tight set of riser bars with a front brake, this bike handles great and is a steal at 3,500CNY'

Rebuilt, and yet not noticed the bendy fork? Especially considering its their own frame/fork that they are selling on again used.

Visited China twice on work, both times dropped by their shop, they are like BLB but worse attitude + price wise, most expensive 'fixie' parts I've ever seen, mostly about 15-20% over Euro RRP, though thats poss just a China thing.

Shit shops piss me right off. Yesterday saved a new mate from death; she'd bought a town bike from a well known bike recycling charity (who get all the good stuff donated to them), to find, yes, its had new brake pads + cables, but all fitted terribly, front brake jams on thanks to shitty cable work, gears do not work thanks to cable bands all being barely finger tight, rear brake so far out of adjustment it doesn't even contact the rim, both brake levers + gear lever slide around the bars.
Then the more serious, front wheel just over finger tight, rear wheel bearings about to implode, BB bearings about to implode, and stem bolt not even finger tight. Bike in that condition is a death trap, and yet its come from a 'highly reputable mechanics shop' that charged top buck and then about a 50% tax for it being 'restored' by said highly reputable mechanic.
Reminds me why I don't want anything to do with the bike industry again, so many useless, over hyped, assholes!

/internet rant over.
China shop emailed poss bent fork.
Highly reputable mechanic phoned, RE shonky work, want some money back to friend, returned full refund or work undertaken by another shop and bill paid by them = result = mouthful of abuse, pretty standard!

sorted by Mr Vice

1 Attachment

now fixed

You couldn't pay me enough to ride that. Metal fatigue means those forks will snap at some point, taking your teeth with them.

£40,000?