Originally Posted by
surreal
Hi.
However, i just read the thread about the guy with the NR-equipped blue ralieh international that he got off ebay with the bum downtube and other issues. Some ppl called it out for having a bent fork. I couldn't see it, from the pictures. Someone mentioned that the front wheel looked offset; i sometimes find that i need to straighten front wheels as i tighten them into the fork. That fact, coupled with the ubiquitous bent fork jokes on here, has got me terribly freekin' paranoid that all my forks are bent...
What is, in everyone's experience, the best way to determine a fork's straightness?
thanks,
-rob
1. People with a lot of experience with vintage bikes (measured in hundreds or more), its pretty easy to spot a tweaked front fork. Randy probably has had more vintage bikes pass through his hands than anyone else here.
2. In person fork check, I use a straight edge: level, yardstick, whatever. I center it on the stem bolt, through the center of the fork crown. Its pretty obvious when the bike is bent backwards (the usual tweak). Not so good at the sideways tweak.
