Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
If this fork was brought in by a customer I would suggest they don't continue to ride it any longer. This is a bonded together AL crown (and blades) to a steel steerer. The crown race "shoulder" has cracked and broken off partially around the steerer. When AL starts to crack wise ones take note
Sure one could make a claim that the broken off portion is only supporting the crown race. As in a non structural failure. Still I'd hate to have to say under oath that I knew the fork had cracked yet I felt it was going to be safe after "repairing" using rather unconventional methods.
I do wonder what was the cause of the broken "shoulder". Was it riding with a loose headset? Was it from some impact long before? Was it from poor initial fitting/bonding? Without this backround I don't see how I can suggest using this fork to keep one's face off the pavement.
Your opinion may differ. Andy
Thanks for your thoughtful comments @
Andrew R Stewart. The cause of this issue is unknown as I got this second hand. It was converted to single speed and had non-stock headset which I removed. I thought to it may be fun to rebuild this as (close to) the original spec (so time is no concern here - @
Iride01). I have a donor bike with 105 components. The bike was somewhat rough, and there was another damage to the frame: seatpost bolt was tightened from non-driverside.
As far as I can tell, there is no damage to fork crown. The steer tube does go all the way to the bottom of fork crown - @
CliffordK. The "shoulder" or seat for crown race is aluminum and appear to be a separate piece inserted into the fork crown but not sure how far it goes down. - like a shim between steel tube and aluminum fork crown.
I cleaned it up for close up images:
