bent steel fork
 

Hi everyone. I have an old shogun road bike frame (guessing around mid-80's due to the teal and yellow paint shceme) that I bought a few months back with hopes of building a nice, low-budget fixed-gear bike this winter. The frame is tange cro-mo and is lugged at all the joints, including on the fork. My problem, which I just noticed a few weeks ago, is that the fork is bent. If you line it up and look down on it, you can plainly see that the left fork blade is bent back and inward. I don't want to spend a ton of cash on this project, but I also don't want to do anything to this fork that might hurt me in the longrun. Is this something that I can fix at home just by cold-bending or with a torch, should I take it to a shop, or should I ditch the fork altogether and find a replacement? Your insight is much appreciated!

Provided there is no sign of buckling near the top of the fork blade, try coldsetting it, using a steel pipe up the steerer tube. If the fork fails in the future it will just bend gracefully, without shattering. Also check the front ends of the top and down tubes for signs of bending, like dents or cracked paint.

I had the same problem with a Ross 290S. The bend was so slight that I could ride the bike, but the brakes were out of alignment. I took it to four or five LBS. Not one mechanic would touch it because they were all concerned the fork would eventually break if it were bent back. I finally replaced it with an old Schwinn fork. Hope you have better luck than I had.

i got a bike with a bent before...pyramid makes a cro-mo fork that i picked up for $16 new, if you don't want to bend it back. at least try though...