Originally Posted by
ColonelJLloyd
It is a Tange crown/steerer. So you suggest starting from the crown? My inclination was to start from the dropout as the hole in the crown is about twice the diameter of the vent hole in the fork crown. What'd you use for a tracer wire? I was thinking about a guitar string.
I hope I can make it happen; I'll give it my best.
Yes, from the bottom up. A guitar string might work. I found that a derailleur cable was too stiff, and some narrow gauge electrical wire wasn't stiff enough. I ended up using single-strand picture hanging wire. But nothing could negotiate the exit at the crown. Apparently where the fork blade meets the top of the crown there was just a very narrow gap allowing the wire to pass through before reaching the vent hole, so you're basically trying to snake the wire past two separate obstacles. The wire kept getting hung up there. I also tried feeding thread through and using suction from a vacuum hose at the steerer, and that didn't work either, as the thread would continue to get sucked into the fork blade at the bottom, but get all bunched up somewhere inside. The winning trick was to glue a short, 3" length of thread to the end of the picture wire (as suggested by a bikeforums member). Then insert the wire as before until it gets hung up at the crown. Then use the vacuum to suck the thread out the vent hole. With some gentle pulling on the thread, I got the picture wire tracer through. Then I just soldered some of the electrical wire to the hanger and pulled it back through the other way.