Cold bending Rigid Mountain Bike forks

[GerryO]

28 March 2006 8:12 AM

I am in the process of experimenting with a crank forward bike design with
both wheels being 26 inch . My steering is very sensitive and I was thinking
that an increase in positive trail would be worth investigating. My setup
has 1.5 inches presently. I would like to increase it to 3 inches plus. The
forks are Rocky Mountain and very strong. In the past I have cold bent road
bike forks with an electrical conduit bender successfully. Has any one tried
cold bending these mountain bike type of forks and been successful? Has any
one tried heating and bending these forks with success? What method did you
use?

Cheers...Gerry

 

[Dane Buson]

GerryO <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I am in the process of experimenting with a crank forward bike design with
> both wheels being 26 inch . My steering is very sensitive and I was thinking
> that an increase in positive trail would be worth investigating. My setup
> has 1.5 inches presently. I would like to increase it to 3 inches plus. The
> forks are Rocky Mountain and very strong. In the past I have cold bent road
> bike forks with an electrical conduit bender successfully. Has any one tried
> cold bending these mountain bike type of forks and been successful? Has any
> one tried heating and bending these forks with success? What method did you
> use?

You'd probably have better luck in rb.tech.

--
Dane Buson - [email protected]
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
-- Hunter S. Thompson

 

[Mike Kruger]

"GerryO" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:dmdWf.193098$B94.124733@pd7tw3no...
> 28 March 2006 8:12 AM
>
> I am in the process of experimenting with a crank forward bike design with
> both wheels being 26 inch . My steering is very sensitive and I was
> thinking
> that an increase in positive trail would be worth investigating. My setup
> has 1.5 inches presently. I would like to increase it to 3 inches plus.
> The
> forks are Rocky Mountain and very strong. In the past I have cold bent
> road
> bike forks with an electrical conduit bender successfully. Has any one
> tried
> cold bending these mountain bike type of forks and been successful? Has
> any
> one tried heating and bending these forks with success? What method did
> you
> use?
>
Sheldon has some help.
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_cn-z.html#coldset

 

[Dane Buson]

Mike Kruger <[email protected]> wrote:
> "GerryO" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:dmdWf.193098$B94.124733@pd7tw3no...
>> 28 March 2006 8:12 AM
>>
>> I am in the process of experimenting with a crank forward bike design with
>> both wheels being 26 inch . My steering is very sensitive and I was
>> thinking
>> that an increase in positive trail would be worth investigating. My setup
>> has 1.5 inches presently. I would like to increase it to 3 inches plus.
>> The
>> forks are Rocky Mountain and very strong. In the past I have cold bent
>> road
>> bike forks with an electrical conduit bender successfully. Has any one
>> tried
>> cold bending these mountain bike type of forks and been successful? Has
>> any
>> one tried heating and bending these forks with success? What method did
>> you
>> use?
>>
> Sheldon has some help.
> http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_cn-z.html#coldset

Yes, there is some useful info there, but Sheldon only has an article
about respacing the frame, not the fork like this fellow is talking
about.

OnTopic: In fact I respaced a bike frame last night, from 143mm back to
it's proper 132.5 mm spacing. *High-tech* measures involving a
chair, one 2x4x10, a ruler, and some cardboard were involved.

--
Dane Buson - [email protected]
"I *made up* the term 'object-oriented,'
and I can tell you I did *not* have C++ in mind."
- Alan Kay, one of the inventors/designers of Smalltalk.