Well, it finally happened...
#51
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Agreed. And...a bent fork does not have to actually fail (by breaking) to be dangerous. With insufficient rake, your front end can rather quickly develop a wicked high speed shimmy, especially if you have one hand on the bars by the stem and the other hand reaching for a water bottle, nearing bottom on a steep descent. Which is what happened to me after I collided with a big labrador.
The lab was OK but my light steel criterium fork was not. The onset of the high speed shimmy was so fast I could not regain control, and took a bad high speed tumble. OK handling at low speed does not necessarily extrapolate to high speed stability. Am now accepting Darwin Award nominations for a) riding with a bent fork and b) bad refreshment timing.
The lab was OK but my light steel criterium fork was not. The onset of the high speed shimmy was so fast I could not regain control, and took a bad high speed tumble. OK handling at low speed does not necessarily extrapolate to high speed stability. Am now accepting Darwin Award nominations for a) riding with a bent fork and b) bad refreshment timing.
#52
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Another "Dog Bites Fork" story.....
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#53
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The frame was originally ordered to fit. The shop was in Fresno, and had a "semi-custom" fitment guy who got the frame with the correct length seat tube, and a somewhat shorter reach stem, as well as a couple of other bits. I have an old (since age 14) shoulder injury, so reaching out or up is a problem unless it's not very much of a reach. I also can't stay in drops for more than a half a minute or so, so flat bars work for me. The v brakes I tried to use were Zttos. They came in a kit with the levers included. They swapped out fine, I just could never get them to work for more than about a 10 mile ride. I should have sprung for Shimanos or SRAMs, I guess, but the Zttos were rated pretty high. Maybe I'll try again, at some point. My wife's Jamis has Tektros. I don't have any problems out of them with adjustment at all.
#54
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Well, it finally happened...
Was riding in a group at a good clip, the Lab ran out onto the road to do a quick meet-and-greet, and I managed to meet this abrupt challenge "head on". My wheel hit the dog's shoulder, he and I went down. The fork was visibly bent backwards where the blades braze into the crown. I straightened it by hand as best I could, apparently not enough or evenly enough. Could not tell you if the steerer tube was also bent, it might have been, (and might that have restricted headset movement?). The bike did not previously shimmy.
Back then (late 70's) you couldn't just google Sheldon, Jobst, or John Allen to see what to do. All we had was graduation from O'Hardknocks School, then it was on to advanced study (majoring in Trial and Error) at Fork U. oh, sorry, just couldn't resist.
Afterwards the Labrador's owner called it back to its house, but you're right, I really don't know (to this day) if the poor dog was truly all right, i.e. had no internal injuries or broken bones. But at least he seemed to run OK, no shimmy.
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The v brakes I tried to use were Zttos. They came in a kit with the levers included. They swapped out fine, I just could never get them to work for more than about a 10 mile ride. I should have sprung for Shimanos or SRAMs, I guess, but the Zttos were rated pretty high. Maybe I'll try again, at some point. My wife's Jamis has Tektros. I don't have any problems out of them with adjustment at all.
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#57
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This is true. And if so, the handling will seem pretty normal, compared to other bikes with similar rake on the fork. On this bike, I'm guessing that could be the case; it would have handled like a more modern, less-slack angled mountain bike.
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● 1971 Grandis SL ● 1972 Lambert Grand Prix frankenbike ● 1972 Raleigh Super Course fixie ● 1973 Nishiki Semi-Pro ● 1979 Motobecane Grand Jubile ●1980 Apollo "Legnano" ● 1984 Peugeot Vagabond ● 1985 Shogun Prairie Breaker ● 1986 Merckx Super Corsa ● 1987 Schwinn Tempo ● 1988 Schwinn Voyageur ● 1989 Bottechia Team ADR replica ● 1990 Cannondale ST600 ● 1993 Technium RT600 ● 1996 Kona Lava Dome ●
● 1971 Grandis SL ● 1972 Lambert Grand Prix frankenbike ● 1972 Raleigh Super Course fixie ● 1973 Nishiki Semi-Pro ● 1979 Motobecane Grand Jubile ●1980 Apollo "Legnano" ● 1984 Peugeot Vagabond ● 1985 Shogun Prairie Breaker ● 1986 Merckx Super Corsa ● 1987 Schwinn Tempo ● 1988 Schwinn Voyageur ● 1989 Bottechia Team ADR replica ● 1990 Cannondale ST600 ● 1993 Technium RT600 ● 1996 Kona Lava Dome ●
Last edited by Lascauxcaveman; 07-06-19 at 12:32 AM.
#58
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You can post photos directly to BF without a host. Choose the option to upload from your 'device'.
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Needles, I think you jinxed me LOL. My V-brake swap on the BSO was a failure, the mounting posts weren't strong enough for the increased leverage and no matter what I did the brakes flexed so much I couldn't get them set where the levers didn't come back against the bars. The whole bike wasn't worth the price of one brake booster much less the 2 it would have required and I didn't have any usable cantis "unworthy" enough so I stripped the bike of anything I might use and set it out on the curb along with the carcass of my first gravel bike build. May they rust in pieces......
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