Carbon fork eyelet broke. Fixable?
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Carbon fork eyelet broke. Fixable?
This is the carbon gravel bike I have. Diamondback Haanjo Trail Carbon 2016
Had a low rider rack installed on the front fork. Used it mostly for holding my Kryptonite NY lock. Occasionally a pannier, but rarely.
Hit a hard bump on the road and rack flopped forward since the top eyelet broke on both sides.
Fixable? Ride-able? Fork looks fine and feels fine tapping around. Appears no other place damaged but eyelet area
Replace whole fork? If so where would I get one that is compatible?
Had a low rider rack installed on the front fork. Used it mostly for holding my Kryptonite NY lock. Occasionally a pannier, but rarely.
Hit a hard bump on the road and rack flopped forward since the top eyelet broke on both sides.
Fixable? Ride-able? Fork looks fine and feels fine tapping around. Appears no other place damaged but eyelet area
Replace whole fork? If so where would I get one that is compatible?
Last edited by Hisamatsu; 10-13-19 at 05:50 PM.
#2
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I'd replace the whole fork, that'd sketch me out. I'd contact Diamondback first, they probably have crash replacement forks, and considering this is intended to carry a load (and just the lock sounds relatively reasonable), they may be somewhat generous, even though they only have a 1 year warranty on their own branded forks (which seems pretty bad, compared to most of the industry).
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Yeah, a big hole is a stress concentrator. And I agree with cpach. Your story indicates failure at a very low service intensity. Promise to report good or bad customer service back here on Bike Forums. May help.
#4
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I'd throw it out. You can use any carbon fork that had the same steerer 1 1/8th straight or 1 /18 -1 1/2 tapered (depending on what is in there now) and the same axle to crown probably around 395mm.
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I am shopping for a lowrider rack and there seem to be some that are connected to two spots on either fork leg, but not connected together. If this is the case, it expects the fork eyelets to withstand any bending or twisting forces, and those can act as a pry bar to rip the eyelet out.
Most lowrider racks have a U-bend rod that connects the front corners of the two racks and should prevent this from happening.
Most lowrider racks have a U-bend rod that connects the front corners of the two racks and should prevent this from happening.
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This is the carbon gravel bike I have. Diamondback Haanjo Trail Carbon 2016
Had a low rider rack installed on the front fork. Used it mostly for holding my Kryptonite NY lock. Occasionally a pannier, but rarely.
Hit a hard bump on the road and rack flopped forward since the top eyelet broke on both sides.
Fixable? Ride-able? Fork looks fine and feels fine tapping around. Appears no other place damaged but eyelet area
Replace whole fork? If so where would I get one that is compatible?
Had a low rider rack installed on the front fork. Used it mostly for holding my Kryptonite NY lock. Occasionally a pannier, but rarely.
Hit a hard bump on the road and rack flopped forward since the top eyelet broke on both sides.
Fixable? Ride-able? Fork looks fine and feels fine tapping around. Appears no other place damaged but eyelet area
Replace whole fork? If so where would I get one that is compatible?
Did you hear back from DiamondBack? I would think that this would be a warranty item.
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I am shopping for a lowrider rack and there seem to be some that are connected to two spots on either fork leg, but not connected together. If this is the case, it expects the fork eyelets to withstand any bending or twisting forces, and those can act as a pry bar to rip the eyelet out.
Most lowrider racks have a U-bend rod that connects the front corners of the two racks and should prevent this from happening.
Most lowrider racks have a U-bend rod that connects the front corners of the two racks and should prevent this from happening.
Ben
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Be careful! Those U-bolts act to crush the fork blade. Not an issue with sturdy steel blades but CF forks are not made to resist that force. (And even then not all steel framebuilders are entirely comfortable with adding the braze-ons for LowRiders. Peter Mooney wouldn't for my first 79pmooney fork. 5 years later when I needed a new one, he said he was willing to braze on a much larger generator mount (that he wouldn't have to drill the fork blade for). That has worked very well though I have to enlarge the holes/slots in my racks to fit. Also the bolts are English/American, not metric.
Ben
Ben
My fork is aluminum and I was planning on using a bolt in the mid-blade boss and the U-bolt, as well as the connecting bar that keeps them from swaying.
I may also just get a steel fork, as my aluminum fork has loads and loads of kms on it, and I can't find a similar aluminum fork to replace it.