ericbaker

Just picked up a couple old frame fixin tools.... I know what they are, lets see if you do

Here's the first one...

JohnDThompson 

Park fork alignment gauge, model #FT-4

heytchap

I think it makes sure the fork is straight; although, I may be thinking of a different but similar looking tool.

fietsbob

+1 with JDT, I got a out of whack fork made right going to a shop that had one,

A good score, since They stopped making them years ago .. now tweaked forks just get replaced.

noglider 

I've used this tool TWICE in the last couple of weeks!

First, I used it to straighten a steel fork on a racing bike with 700c wheels.

Then I used it to widen and de-rake the fork on my 1973 Raleigh Twenty.

It's a great tool. I mentioned to my LBS that I'd like to buy it, but the folks there only chuckled in response.

ericbaker

that was quick, heres another..

ilikebikes

Its a 1950s car jack thats been altered into some kind of bicycle tool. Did I guess it?

Chris_in_Miami

Bead jack for Challenge tires?

squirtdad

tubular tire stretcher? I haven't the faintest, but am guessing I will feel dumb when the answer comes out

rootboy 

Bent fork straightener. No?

Chrono-synclastic infundibulator?

Sixty Fiver

Seatpost jack.

noglider 

It's a head tube straightener. We had that at a shop where I worked.

auchencrow

Cool tools Eric.

Is there any chance you could show us a pic of these things in action?

- Not that it isn't immediately apparent to ME how to use these things - Oh nooooo.....

kc0yef 

Frame alignment jig the second one

ericbaker

It is actully, although it is also a bicycle specific tool sold to bike shops by the guy(s) that modified them.

Known around here as a "Fork Jack" for pushing out stuffed forks.

Heres the headtube straightener, you pre-guessed my next one. Looking at it now, maybe with a little ingenuity, you could actually use the fork jack to push out a buckled headtube.

dddd

This thread is interesting in that I have been at work with the design of a "lowest-cost fork/headtube straightener" for home use.

Also working on a system of removing toptube/downtube dents from the inside.

I promise to post what I come up with.

jimmuller 

Walnut cracker. Or headset installer/remover. (Just guessing but it looks familiar, like I should know.)

rootboy 

So, I guessed right, eh? ...that's a first.

ericbaker

yes, but it only straightens in one direction! ... or i guess two if you turn it around

obrentharris 

We tried, with limited success, to use the fork jack as a head tube straightener in a shop where I worked in the early seventies. We would put one of those super-beefy MX forks (Cook Brothers?) in the headtube to be straightened and use the jack to push on it. Unfortunately any frame with serious crimps under the top tube and down tube would often end up with small crimps on the top of the tubes as well after this treatment!
Brent

harpon

Excuse me but didn't you just tell me if I rode my very slightly bent fork after straightening "You will die"
in the "Love of English 3 speed" thread?

And the second tool is actually a fork straightener as well- it's exactly like the one we had back in '73 and ''74- the summers in college I worked at the Bicycle Peddler at 38 th and Georgetown Roads in Indianapolis. It worked pretty well on the cheap bikes I personally used it on once or twice- but I wouldn't want to have ridden them much either- and never in a race!

The flats behind the moving "jack" part rest up against the BB and one of the hook slots of your choice on the red part of it fit on the hub axle- you pump the handle and - voila- the car jack pushes the axle away from the BB.

By the way, I ordered a used replacement fork for the 3 speed- but then found some new ones on Amazon too, shipped under $20- although they are out of stock on the chrome I would have preferred. Don't know what a shop wants to straighten a fork these days-

the park tools are listed on ebay starting about $65.

noglider 

Busted!

But that Huffy's fork is very bent, and it's a Huffy, not a Raleigh.

My LBS won't bend steel frames any more. They got rid of all their tools for steel frames and had forgotten about the gauge that eric showed us. They let me use it myself, since they don't want to do it.

JohnDThompson 

If your carbon fiber fork gets whacked out of alignment, it's time for a new one anyway, I suppose.

Here's one I've only seen in this catalog drawing. Hint: it's made by Campagnolo, but hasn't appeared in their catalogs since the 1950s:

bici_mania

Wow! This is the sort of stuff I love about this forum. Thank you for sharing, I hope there will be more to come, perhaps from others as well.

harpon

No, it's actually only slightly bent- an inch out at the furthest point- I still think the flat tire in the picture emphasizes it- I really have to get a straightedge against it-

and it is a Huffy- and not a Raleigh- sometime in the 60's I guess they quit importing them- so its a heavier American frame with a big bottom bracket-

a '69 I believe- just took the crank off tomight- a great big 48 tooth sprocket HEAVILY chromed- higher quality than they got later even-

One of the reasons I bought it was to have the option of motoring- though I doubt I will- that always messes up the paint- so it's a cheap throwaway of sorts- I'm just overhauling- got burned another $19 for the fork beyond the 39.95 I paid for it.- Cleaning up nicely tho.