herbarium

I have a slightly bent fork steerer near the threads. It looks like it bent when the frame was shipped it me. The fork crown also has some pitting on it where the steel bearings used to be.

Its a nice all chrome straight blade fork with no rust. Would hate to just through it away if I could bend the steerer straight.

Do you think this is salvageable? Could I bend it back in place?

Andrew R Stewart 

Was the box damaged? Did a note on any box damage made when the box was received? Who boxed the bike?

Steerers are about the worst tube to bend and try straightening. The concerns are that, after rebending, a crack will form and since it's hidden within the frame's headtube not be noticed until complete separation happens. The fork is the one structure that has only one end connected to the rest of the structure (all other tubes are attached at both ends). So when the steerer fails (if you call an impact then cold setting a failure, which is debatable) there's no structure left to keep the steering wheel (the front wheel) doing it's job. The wheel will flop about and steering loss usually results (and most of our helmets don't have a face guard).

Add to this concern that the fork imaged looks to have it's bend pretty close to or at the base of the threaded section. The thread are the weak spot of the fork as well as are the points that stresses concentrate to more rapidly form cracks. Then there's that the impact bend will have somewhat hardened the steerer. Unless careful efforts are made to locate the rebending moment (point of rebending happening) the rebending will tend to happen at the nearest weaker point, like the threads.

Were the bend to be located further down the steerer, away from the threads, the chance of a successful rebending (and end up with far less chance of future cracks) would be better. There are no industry supplied tools for this stuff, the precise locating of the point of bending. Yes, there are various fork alignment gages and levers out there (and some are in my basement) but they don't do the job of supporting the steerer just so and applying a force just so as to l;imit the rebending to a specific portion of the steerer. The person doing the job relies on their skills/experiences and their makeshift tools to try to do the right bending at the right place.

Generally when someone asks about whether this or that repair can be done they are not that skilled/experienced person.

So given all this I say don't try to straighten the fork yourself (especially if you have children and no insurance) Finding a shop that would do so will also be a challenge as most shops don't have this kind of skill set and wish to avoid being in the liability loop. They will likely offer to replace the fork with a near as possible/available fork. This is what I suggest.

Back to my opening- Is there a shipping damage claim that can be made? Andy

herbarium

Thanks for the precise info Andrew, this is what I was looking for. I will replace the fork, that's easy enough, but I thought I would ask first. Regarding the shipping, it was made on eBay with an unexperienced shipper, doubt if I will be able to.

For anyone else who has a similar bend, especially at the threads, I would also suggest replacing.

Wilfred Laurier

Was there evidence of damage to the box it was shipped it? An impact that would bend a fork steerer is significant, and wouldn't happen without leaving 'witness' marks on the box or even the frame, if it was shipped installed.

If no witness marks, then you were likely shipped a fork that was damaged in a crash or other non-shipping-related incident.

gearbasher

I have no comment on bending the tube, But, I have to say, that's a lot of threads!

dsaul

I doubt that was bent from shipping damage. Also, those marks around the crown race seat look like center punch marks from trying to make an oversized crown race fit the fork.

dedhed

Trying to fit a 27.0mm JIS crown race on an ISO 26.4mm fork crown.

Miele Man

Are you sure it wasn't from trying to force an ISO 26.4mm crown race onto a 27.0mm fork crown?

Cheers

Andrew R Stewart 

MM- That miss match usually results in a ridge forming at the very top of the steerer's shoulder as the too small race trys to find a start on the larger shoulder. As you try forcing the race seating down on the race it just rides up on the shoulder, often rocking a bit with each impact.

The "gauge" marks are likely from a cold chisel being used to grow the OD of the shoulder, as dedhed mentioned. Andy

Jeff Wills

No, those dimples are from someone using a pointed punch to expand the diameter of the crown race seat. It's an old mechanic's trick for when the crown race seat is slightly undersize. I doubt it would expand the diameter enough to hold a 27.0mm race on a 26.4mm seat.

Miele Man

Ah, got it. I'd forgotten about that trick for undersize items. Thanks for reminding me.

Cheers

Kimmo

What a nasty bodge. I've used aluminium tape, and even sellotape in a pinch, to great effect on headsets. The sellotape has to be on pretty tight, and oversized just enough to be compacted without being mashed. It takes trial and error to get the size right, you have to start big and remove a layer after each try.

Had a headset on a carbon bike where preload wouldn't hold the cartridges solid in the tapers in the head tube (due to it being ridden extensively with a rattle, due to the preload cap being bottomed out on the steerer), so I wrapped a bunch of layers of sellotape around the bearings' OD, and trimmed the tape to continue the taper and outside face, and got a tight fit in the even gap around the bearings and vertical bit outside the tapers in the head tube. Worked a treat.