Maybe bent fork? How to tell?

maybe a bad head set? have u checked it holding the front wheel off the ground and turning the
hadlebar right and left? it should be smooth with no grinding and such.

"John Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

Recently I borrowed my wifes prized bike (nothing flash but she loves it) and maybe I was a *bit*
hard on it, I don't recall any nasty incidents but anyway, now it has some odd dynamics...

When I go into a turn with it, it seems to 'suck' itself further into the turn. I thought it might
be that the weight might have been all wrong set (seat right forwards to make up for excessively
long handlebar stem) but changing the handlebars to risers and shifting the seat back didn't help,

in

Quoted message said:

fact, if you *lightly* push the bar on one side the bike steady drifts

into

Quoted message said:

a ever increasing turn. Its better at speed but still not nice!

The bike has an alloy ridgid fork on alloy frame (pinewood x90). About 4" handlebar stem. Flat or
DH riser bars.

I am wondering if I have bent the fork backwards? It looks a little bit backwards to the eye but
(being nervous about a sick fork) I took it out, cleaned it all up and cerfully inspected it. No
cracked paint, not stress marks, in fact it looked fine. Off the bike its flat from the steerer

tube

Quoted message said:

down along the fork until the fork does its bend forward section.

Any ideas? If it a normal characteristic how do I fix it? My wife has

made

Quoted message said:

the odd comment that its 'weird' to ride now, and it looks like I may be

in

Quoted message said:

trouble soon ;-)

Cheers!!

Hamish

Hi Serg,

Thanks for the reply, yeah, I checked that and its ok, really smooth and bearing all nice and
shiney, new grease etc, what I'm wondering is how much tolerance does the bikes handling have to a
slight change, say a shift backwards of 1/2" (roughly 1cm)?

/hamish

"serg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

maybe a bad head set? have u checked it holding the front wheel off the ground and turning the
hadlebar right and left? it should be smooth with no grinding and such.

"John Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

Recently I borrowed my wifes prized bike (nothing flash but she loves

it)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and maybe I was a *bit* hard on it, I don't recall any nasty incidents

but

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

anyway, now it has some odd dynamics...

When I go into a turn with it, it seems to 'suck' itself further into

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

turn. I thought it might be that the weight might have been all wrong

set

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

(seat right forwards to make up for excessively long handlebar stem) but changing the handlebars
to risers and shifting the seat back didn't

help,

Quoted message said:

in

Quoted message said:

fact, if you *lightly* push the bar on one side the bike steady drifts

into

Quoted message said:

a ever increasing turn. Its better at speed but still not nice!

The bike has an alloy ridgid fork on alloy frame (pinewood x90). About

4"

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

handlebar stem. Flat or DH riser bars.

I am wondering if I have bent the fork backwards? It looks a little bit backwards to the eye but
(being nervous about a sick fork) I took it

out,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

cleaned it all up and cerfully inspected it. No cracked paint, not

stress

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

marks, in fact it looked fine. Off the bike its flat from the steerer

tube

Quoted message said:

down along the fork until the fork does its bend forward section.

Any ideas? If it a normal characteristic how do I fix it? My wife has

made

Quoted message said:

the odd comment that its 'weird' to ride now, and it looks like I may be

in

Quoted message said:

trouble soon ;-)

Cheers!!

Hamish

John Smith' may have said:

Hi Serg,

Thanks for the reply, yeah, I checked that and its ok, really smooth and bearing all nice and
shiney, new grease etc, what I'm wondering is how much tolerance does the bikes handling have to a
slight change, say a shift backwards of 1/2" (roughly 1cm)?

If the fork is bent, it's probably not bent evenly. There's a tool to check for this; the lbs may
have it. It bolts to each fork tip independently; if the two bits of the tool don't line up, the
fork's bent.

See if the bike's manufacturer gives a spec for head tube angleon that model, and use a protractor
with a level to check it; if the angle is farther from vertical than it should be, then you may well
have bent the forks back a bit.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail. Yes, I have a killfile. If I
don't respond to something, it's also possible that I'm busy.

Check if the frame, may be bent also, I have a road bike that does the same thing, if i let go of
the bars, it turns, so i cant ride no handed.

Supposibly thats whats wrong with my bike, I did a couple jumps with
it. (Its was all I had)

This is why I never ride others bikes, I always ay, oh, this bike can do it... OH SH@#, that dont
look good. So I stay off other peoples bikes.

[email hidden] (TJ Poseno) wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Check if the frame, may be bent also, I have a road bike that does the same thing, if i let go of
the bars, it turns, so i cant ride no handed.

Supposibly thats whats wrong with my bike, I did a couple jumps with
it. (Its was all I had)

This is why I never ride others bikes, I always ay, oh, this bike can do it... OH SH@#, that dont
look good. So I stay off other peoples bikes.

You can also check real wheel alignment. My bike's steering went wacko once; a quick check showed
the rear wheel off-center in the dropouts, cause an axle nut had worked loose.

Try riding with no hands (or with just a light touch on the bars with fingertips). If everything
else is ok and bike either consistently steers to one side or "auto-centers" more than normal then
forks are probably damaged.

A frame builder may be able to repair them but also consider new forks.

~PB

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Recently I borrowed my wifes prized bike (nothing flash but she loves it) and maybe I was a *bit*
hard on it, I don't recall any nasty incidents but anyway, now it has some odd dynamics... When I
go into a turn with it, it seems to 'suck' itself further into the turn. I thought it might be that
the weight might have been all wrong set (seat right forwards to make up for excessively long
handlebar stem) but changing the handlebars to risers and shifting the seat back didn't help, in
fact, if you *lightly* push the bar on one side the bike steady drifts into a ever increasing turn.
Its better at speed but still not nice! The bike has an alloy ridgid fork on alloy frame (pinewood
x90). About 4" handlebar stem. Flat or DH riser bars. I am wondering if I have bent the fork
backwards? It looks a little bit backwards to the eye but (being nervous about a sick fork) I took
it out, cleaned it all up and cerfully inspected it. No cracked paint, not stress marks, in fact it
looked fine. Off the bike its flat from the steerer tube down along the fork until the fork does
its bend forward section. Any ideas? If it a normal characteristic how do I fix it? My wife has
made the odd comment that its 'weird' to ride now, and it looks like I may be in trouble soon ;-)

Check the head tube /downtube junction. If it is wrinkled, then the damage is to the frame,
not the fork.
---------------
Alex

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Recently I borrowed my wifes prized bike (nothing flash but she loves it) and maybe I was a *bit*
hard on it, I don't recall any nasty incidents but anyway, now it has some odd dynamics... When I
go into a turn with it, it seems to 'suck' itself further into the turn. I thought it might be
that the weight might have been all wrong set (seat right forwards to make up for excessively long
handlebar stem) but changing the handlebars to risers and shifting the seat back didn't help, in
fact, if you *lightly* push the bar on one side the bike steady drifts into a ever increasing
turn. Its better at speed but still not nice! The bike has an alloy ridgid fork on alloy frame
(pinewood x90). About 4" handlebar stem. Flat or DH riser bars. I am wondering if I have bent the
fork backwards? It looks a little bit backwards to the eye but (being nervous about a sick fork) I
took it out, cleaned it all up and cerfully inspected it. No cracked paint, not stress marks, in
fact it looked fine. Off the bike its flat from the steerer tube down along the fork until the
fork does its bend forward section. Any ideas? If it a normal characteristic how do I fix it? My
wife has made the odd comment that its 'weird' to ride now, and it looks like I may be in trouble
soon ;-)

Alex Rodriguez said:

Check the head tube /downtube junction. If it is wrinkled, then the damage is to the frame, not
the fork.

Does it look like this perhaps?

yellowjersey.orgBRKNDREK.JPGOpen ↗

--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971