I almost always build frame and fork sets but on rare occasions I build stand alone forks. Today was one of those occasions.
I was approached by a gentleman who had an older Serotta and loved it but had a few issues with it that were keeping him from using and enjoying it. The first was that the seatpost would not stay put in the frame but it drifted down over time. We talked about it and I was able to talk him through a fix for the issue and the frame is now working like new.
The second issue with the frame wasn’t the frame but the fork. He wanted to move over to a threadless fork/headset/stem system but wanted to have the original look and ride the bike always had. So today I built him a fork that is almost identical to his original but threadless. Since I built so many of those back in the day it was a simple thing to make a replica of sorts.
Now the fork is off to JB’s where it will meet the old frame and they will get matching paint and be like new once more. Pretty cool.
Thanks for looking,
Dave
A couple questions:
It looks like you raked the blades AFTER you braze the dropouts on. Can you do that? It doesn’t weaken the dropouts?
Why couldn’t you just replace the steerer of the existing fork? I’ve read some builders don’t like heating the crown/steerer more than once but I figure if it can be done to a frame tube, why not the fork?
Hey, I’m just a consumer; what do I know!
Hey Peter,
Thanks for the comment – here are a few answers.
* I do braze the dropouts in first and then I rake the blades. The main reason it’s done this way is so the curve of the blades can be kept in phase with the dropouts so everything is in line. There is no issue with bending them after brazing for two reasons. First is they the heat is kept very low so the heat treatment of the steel is not compromised. The second is that it’s a moot point as all the bending takes place above the tips by enough so there is no bending going on adjacent to the tips.
* One could replace the steerer to change from threaded to threadless. I didn’t want to go down that road because I, as a policy, never work on any brand other than my own, and even if I did I never replace steerers. It can be done safely but IMO the risk is too high. It’s one thing to repair a water bottle boss and risk the cage falling off and it’s another thing altogether to have a steerer/crown/fork fail. That kind of thing can and will kill you and for the cost of a fork it’s never work it in my book. Since I have no idea about the history of the original fork I have no idea what it’s been through and how well it was built in the first place. The risk the benefit ratio is WAY off on stuff like this.
Did I explain that well?
Dave
Yes; you explained that well!
I’m impressed that you can get each blade raked to acceptable tolerances so that they may be used as a matched pair. I always thought it would be impossible.
As for the steerers; I respect your opinion there, too. You’re the guy sending the fork out the door so your name is on it. It makes sense to me if you aren’t confident of the work, don’t hand it to the customer.