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Old 08-13-10 | 04:36 PM
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cehowardGS
Motorcycle RoadRacer
 
Joined: May 2010
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Originally Posted by cyclezen
yes , steel fork is repairable...
but a bent fork usually is complicated...
often the steerer tube has a kink
and quite often the toptube and/or downtube will have been kinked in the impact.
run your fingers on the underside of both the toptube and the downtube, in the area just behind the lug/attachment to the head tube.
If you feel a small crease in the paint or 'ripple', then those tubes have been bent...
I would be looking for a new frame then... (or bike)
if there is no evidence of damage to those tubes, I would recommend a new fork unless you absolutely have to have the original.
Only person who could repair the original are gonna be custom frame builders who are willing to do 'repairs'. This would be more expensive than a new fork by a wide margin.
nashbar has some replacement forks which work quite well.
a carbon fork I've used and liked:
http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...7_10000_200456
can't beat the price - $70, and I can vouch for the fine ride it gives on 2 of my steel converts...
then its a matter of poppin off the bearing race from the old fork and installing on new fork and then installing fork to frame, brakes to fork, yadda, yadda, yadda.
not sure how much LBSs charge these days for that kinda work, but this DIY (if you don;t have to put on a complete new headset...) is actually not that difficult if you have some modicum of mech skills.

I'm sure you can prolly find a steel fork on ebay, although finding a matching Reynolds 531 taper gauge fork with the proper steerer length might take some searching.

having had the same bike - Raleigh Comp GS - which I used as a 'Travel' training bike when flying around for the job, back in the early 80's; I believe the fork rake was about 48-50mm. The carbon fork at 43 mm might feel a bit 'different', but should still work nicely.

was actually a very nice machine and rode quite nicely for its time. I think it's worth the new carbon fork if the main triangle is still in good shape.
First of all, super big thanks for feedback!!

If it is just the fork, I will try to replace with the one your mentioned/listed. If the frame is damaged, then I am going to chalked this one up as a loss. Even though I am a newbie, I did have 3 bikes, not including my wife's bike. So, I have two more bikes to fall back on, and one of them is an 85 Raleigh Competition.
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