Cold bending Rigid Moutain Bike Forks

[GerryO]

29 March 2006 7:49 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

 

[Werehatrack]

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 15:49:34 GMT, "GerryO" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>29 March 2006 7:49 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?

Very wierd suggestion based on seeing many misassembled bikes over the
years; if the axle offset from the steer tube centerline is small (and
forward) now, flip the fork around backwards to try to increased trail
theory before committing to modification. If this works, consider
having new brake pivots brazed on to the other sides of the tubes
instead of bending the fork.

Otherwise, check with the shops in your area to see who's willing to
rerake the fork, and what methods they prefer. If it's Cr-Mo tubing,
it may be difficult to bend cleanly. They may have suggestions you
haven't considered.
--
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