Cracked lawyer tab



Trek_Racer

New Member
Aug 24, 2010
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So I went biking today and got extra *WET* so I was taking my wheels off my Fuji D6 when I got home and I found this ........(see attached- I'll try to attach it but if there's nothing there just know I couldn't do it). It's really hard to see but the safety tab ("lawyer tab") on the front fork is splitting away from the carbon fork .........oh yea- not good. Who knows how it happened- it's a brand new bike but I bought it from someone else. So .......hopefully I'm not F'ed big time! So what's your feeling guys (I know I am asking a STUPID question) but how safe is that? It is not TERRIBLE but it is so bad that I can't really get the wheel off without taking the skewer out. The safety tab is sticking out where cracked so much so that I can't pull the wheel out from the fork (that's basically how I found it). I suppose I basically just hope it holds up and cross fingers. I suppose no chance of calling Fuji since I didn't get it from a dealer? Any suggestions folks? Should I be as ****** off and dejected as I am right now? There's not much I can do I suppose. Maybe nail polish it for what it's worth? I'd appreciate any opinions / advice. I have talked to one guy who said just watch it .....shouldn't be a big deal or catastrophic or anything. Just thought I'd check with some additional knowledgeable folks. The other guy I spoke with said that sometimes racers will even shave these portions off (to make exchanging wheels much faster) but my thought is that shaving it off is a bit different than a crack forming.
 
That doesn't appear to be a crack forming. Rather, it looks like something has caused the metal face of the dropout to de-bond at that spot. It's hard to say what caused it. What to do....first, you should call Fuji just to cover that base. The worst they could say is "No", and that would just leave you where you are now. The next option would be to put some epoxy in that area, and then and it flat when dry. You could also sand or grind off the lawyer lips. Doing so will likely void any warranty on the bike, but if you've got no warranty now, then no harm will be done. Of course the easy option is to do nothing. That just requires that you unscrew the QR a bit more to remove the wheel.

The caveat in all of this is that all these suggestions are based on the assumption that no other damage has occurred in that area. That assumption then is based only on two pictures. Remember that assumptions aren't necessarily facts.

You can also go to an LBS and get their "opinion" on the condition of the fork and what you should do.
 
Agree with Alienator's comments. Perhaps the debonding (apparent in the second photo) might have been caused by dropping the bike without having the wheel installed, or having the bike on a roof rack without a proper clampup in the skewer (have seen other dropouts bent that way).

Safe thing to do would be to take it to a Fuji dealer or send the pics to their tech support. If the debonding is just at the tip, past all contact with the locking skewer, I'd personally not worry about it. But maybe I'm a foolhardy type.....I did file the lawyer tabs off my Reynolds Ouzo fork as soon as I got the new bike home :)
 
If it is just a little debonding that wont cause you any safety issue. You may want to consider a clix skewer. This could possibly allow you to remove your wheel witout removing your skewer.
 
any idea of where to buy a clix skewer? been looking for several days on the net, ebay and forums.

thx, dabbindan