Originally Posted by
Sprayman
Howdy;
I'm overhauling an old bike. The forks on the bike have a lot of play in them, even though everything is tight. I plan on pulling it apart, cleaning and greasing everything, but before I do, what should I look for? What would cause the forks to be so loose?
Thanks
Could the problem be that this bike somehow has 2 forks when there should only be one?
Seriously, the likeliest cause is a loose headset. Less common, is a sloppy fit on the crown race, or headset cups, both of which need to be tight press fits. Least likely, but not heard of, is a braze failure at the fork crown.
Years ago a friend had a fork that drove him crazy, always feeling a trace of play no matter how he adjusted the headset. This lasted a month or so, until one day he removed the front brake to work on it and the crown and blades fell off the steerer. One more reason to always use a front brake.