I had a bike that I restored a month or so back. It was all done and running fine and I had put a few miles on it to test it out before I started on the next project restoration.

The bike sat for few weeks in the line 'o bikes in my storage area (the living room) before I finally got it listed and even then it took a week or so before i finally got a bite.

When I went to take the bike out for a showing to a potential customer I noticed the bike pulled really hard to the right and there was a big black smudge mark on the sidewall of the gumwall tire. It had cleaned up the tire with a bit of alcohol on a paper towel but there wasn't anything I could do about the bike pulling. I had to call and tell the customer as they were on their way that I couldn't sell the bike that day in this condition but they were welcome to still come and see if it fit and check it out cosmetically. Since they were already on their way they decided to still come.

But I have to wonder WTH happened to the bike to bend the fork but not damage the wheel in any way (still true as an arrow without being off as much as a fraction of a mm.) Did I stumble through the mass of bikes in a drunken stupor one night and tip one over and step on the side of the fork and tire? I don't remember this but that is the thing with drunken stupors... I do remember a few bikes getting knocked over one day in a domino effect but since they are packed in there so tightly they can't fall very far and there isn't so much as a cracked or chipped cork grip in the whole line of bikes.

I have seen many bikes come into my shop with bent forks and always wondered what it takes to bend one as I've never done it while in my possession. Now that has changed and I still don't understand what happened. The big black mark on the side of the tire has to be a clue but I don't remember making it and my wife disavows all knowledge of any workshop bike-rack accident when getting her bike out of the mass on any caffeine-deprived morning pre-work ride.

Very strange. Maybe I have fork gnomes?