Originally Posted by
Jantaras
So an update. After 2 months at the (somewhat) local workshop I got the fork back. He was not in a hurry with my fork, I called several times...
The package also had a note that fork is softened because of damage and he does not recommend using it.
After trying to install it I noticed that end spacing is waaay off, insted of usual 100 mm it is 87 mm (it was 100 mm before I sent the fork). Also forkends are not paralell (visually), my end alignment tools won't even fit in between. The original blade misalignment is corrected, it seems.
After calling the shop it looks like he forgot to check the fork end alignment and spacing. He should be quite experienced with older bikes (at least was back in the day), but yeah, the finished alignment doesn't look good and reliable... Also, he said, the damage/blade bend makes somewhat diffucult to get all spacings right...
Looks like forkends were fixed in the 100mm rig during straightening process and after releasing rebounded to 87mm and no one cared to check.
In any case, he thinks that because of the damage the fork is softened significantly, way softer that intact forks of that age. He tried to explain but that was a bit too difficult for my understand. Somekind of a bent, that formed during damage (if I understood correctly, some kind of "shoulder"), that after straightening still prone to bending (or becomes softer).
Well, maybe it is time for a new fork...
Is this common for a fork to become softer after some kind of misalignment/bend damage and alignment? I always thought the steel is quite tolerant to bendings ( at least for a one or two). I can't find any marks of a collision on the frame.
Hard to know what all is going on there, but steel hardens with each bending cycle, unless cycled too many times at which point cracks develop.
The
structure however may itself "soften" after deformation, due to the metal no longer following a straight enough path for the stresses to contribute fully to the structure's rigidity and strength. Any ripple in the metal would be an example of this.
With the rim being off-center at the crown, the next thing I usually do is test-ride the bike to see which direction that the steering pulls toward.
If the steering pulls to the right, then the tire's contact patch needs to move toward the right. This test thus informs whether the off-center wheel more likely needs to be corrected by bending the fork legs laterally or by filing one dropout deeper. These are opposites, since correcting the wheel centering under the crown needs to also correct the steering pull to one side and not make it worse.
I've corrected perhaps half of my vintage bikes using only the above choice of methods, being sure never to remove metal that shouldn't be removed.
I of course use common sense and a visual inspection of the fork to guide my choices as well, but usually the other parameters are fine.
Checking the straightness of the steerer is a good idea in cases such as yours, but of course I say this having not seen your bike or fork.
Defective forks do turn up, especially on less-expensive bikes, where one fork leg positions it's dropout further from the crown than the other, and only so much metal can be safely removed to correct such cases. The same is true of the frame's rear triangle and I've had to take a file to a rear dropout more than once, though always on a lower-level bike.
From your description, I don't have any faith at all in the knowledge or ability of the guy who worked on your fork.