Bike Forums - View Single Post - Drilling a fork crown "brake" hole...

12-27-21, 04:09 PM

#2

bulgie

blahblahblah chrome moly

Join Date: Apr 2009

Location: Seattle

Posts: 1,987

Mentioned: 92 Post(s)

Tagged: 0 Thread(s)

Quoted: 1173 Post(s)

Liked 2,569 Times in 1,073 Posts

I haven't examined your fork but I can't think of any reason it wouldn't be OK structurally. Millions of forks very similar to yours have such a hole without problems.
6 mm, not 8.
I'd place the hole basically as low as you can, just up from the bottom edge enough that the washer or light mount will be on the steel, not "underhanging" off the bottom, which would impinge on your fender. The higher the hole, the more likely it is to become a structural problem, such as a stress-riser that initiates a fatigue crack.
Yes
A machinist or framebuilder will do it better than a typical bikeshop bozo, but it's not that difficult, nor too critical, if it's just for a light. You're not going to mount a brake there, right? A decent home-handyman with a drill press is usually good enough. Some have even done a respectable job with a hand drill, though that's risky for a typical amateur.

Good luck!
Mark B

Reply