You are reading a single comment by @dooks and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@dooks
update! i have discovered the source of the leftism. and not fucking second too soon it seems.
having eliminated everything else i'd decided it had to be a slight alignment issue with the forks. been hapily hooning about town with only the occasional quizical glance down at the forks trying to discern any visible misalignment or bend. couldn't see anything though and was sort of resigned to living with it.
today before heading out for a ride i decided to sort out a niggling rattle on the front mudguard. turned the bike upside down to remove the front wheel, went to loosen the nut, spanner on, twist and with not much force the whole drop-out seemed to move round by about 45 degrees. "that's weird" i thought "the nut still seems tight", had a closer look and the entire fork is sheared off just above the drop-out. it's almost completely cut though and hanging on by a thread. the cut is rusted on the inside so it must have been at least cracked for quite some time.
i nearly had a fucking heart attack right there. i've been riding this thing around down, cutting in front of busses, bombing down hills and slamming the brakes on for lights for two months with a fork held together by the thinnest sliver of rotton steel and paint. if i hadn't decided to take the wheel off today i might never have known the truth. doesn't bear thinking about really. gave me quite a fright i can tell you.
i'll upload a pic tomorrow. am now debating whether to just replace the fork or call time on the entire frame (which has a couple of other dents on the top and seat tube).
close call.