bafuller

My daughter, who is ten and weighs all of 75 pounds, has ridden her new Giant Sedona ST ($200.00 "comfort" bike) about 10 times and now has a bent fork. Her pedal hits the front wheel when the bike is turned. The front wheel is still perfectly true. She may have jumped a few curbs with it, but should the fork have bent so easily with such a light rider? What about the wheel still being true? Shouldn't the wheel fail before the fork during a curb jump? It has a lifetime warranty on the fork and 60-days free labor. Of course, the bike is about 62 days old!! Do you think I have a good case that the fork is defective? Anyone have any idea what a fork would cost for that bike?

Thanks.

seely

Well is the wheel centered in the dropouts? Are the brakes hitting the rim evenly on both sides? I'm having a hard time picturing this situation that causes the pedal to rub the front wheel... and yes, typically a wheel will fail before the fork, however if its like most comfort bikes its very low-end, and I could see where the steerer/crown would be a problem. The bike should still be under manufacturers warranty, in which case the fork should be a freebie as well as labor to swap the fork.

Pessi

Some bicycles have what is called "overlap". Are you certain this was not the condition when it was new? If not, has she run into any walls lately? A collision is not the same as a defect.

Rev.Chuck

Just take it to the shop you bought it from. Warranty should not be a problem.

roadfix

If the fork is bent to that degree, I would imagine the damage would be obviously visible, especially in the fork crown area? Is the fork completely out of line with the headtube, for instance?

royalflash

could you post a picture?

sch

Wheel pedal overlap is very common and rarely a problem as it occurs at angles
that you can only achieve at very slow speeds on the bike. If the fork is bent
then the line of the fork and the head tube will not be straight, but bent backward
when the bike is looked at from the side with the front wheel inline with the frame.
It is possible to bend the fork backwards from running into the curb or other larger objects. The bend occurs at the bottom of the head tube. Usually the forks will
not be obviously damaged, especially with powder coat paint, but occasionally with
less adherent paint you can see paint cracks at the top of the fork in front. Worse
case the frame itself will bend in the top tube just behind the head tube and in the
down tube on the under side behind the head tube. Steve

AndrewP

I think these forks cost about $25. Since it was bent by running into a curb, or something like that, you wont get it replaced under warranty, but you might be able to talk the shop into doing the installation for free.