I recently ordered a replacement fork for my road bike off ebay for a nice $15. It just came today and to my surprise the wheel doesn't quite fit. The tire rubs between the legs of the fork. Just rubs enough to make it hard to turn the wheel. I thought hm, maybe the person selling it was confused and sold it as 700c when it was in reality for 650 wheel. I took it out and put it in the frame and put the caliper in, and the caliper sits only a few mm lower on the rim than with my old fork. This makes me think that it is in fact a 700c fork with only a manufacturing difference to account for the few mm's of size.

Current wheel is a Mavic MA2 700c rim with a Maxxis Xepher Un Catergorie 700 x 25c tire. Tire is not too wide, just too tall (comes out too far away from the rim).

I can make it work out if I pull the axle a few mm's out of the dropout. Seems very unappealing to me to have the axle not sitting all the way inside the dropout. In a workable configuration the axle does not even start to protrude from the dropout, so it's still entirely "inside" the dropout. Is there some sort of spacer I can put on the axle (shimano qr skewer) so I don't have to rely on clamping the skewer ultra tight? I'd hate to be going down the road and hit a bump and have the axle slide fully into the dropout causing the tire to rub on the fork, and likely me to go flying over the bars.

Wow, that was way longer than it needed to be...

Is a $15 fork really worth it?

Put your $15 fork where my $15 fork sits--in a storage shed.

Doc

He could turn it upside down and put it in a vise and use it as a poor man's truing stand. Just make sure the tires come off first. Use some tie wraps as indicators and off he goes. Hopefully, it's at least standard width Then, buy a decent fork.

Hm, it's actually a very nice Pinarello Oria steel fork. Just seems as though it's meant for some super low-profile tires or possibly tubulars maybe. I'm not above lining the dropouts with 4 or 5 layers of cut-out soda can, but if there is an existing spacer for such a thing, that's the question.

You will need to stack a lot of soda can strips to make "a few mm". You will also want to be sure you have the same amount of shim on both sides. Make your shims from something like small diameter water pipe that gives the right thickness in one go, and hold them in place with epoxy.

best repair ever is the one that works perfectly and costs $0.

my 25 tire just plain isnt very big, are there any tires out there known for their low-profile?

Don't attempt to ride with the axle less than 100% seated, it will slide down as you ride which will cause the binding you noted.

You could try some different tires...or scrap the fork.

Bummer

problem solved, found some goofy ol hutchinson 700x22 (yes, 22) tires in my closet that dont rub. guess i'll be using those from now on up front.

Is it possible that it's a track fork? Usually those are SUPER tight with 23mm tires, the crown will be cut to just fit the tire in. You may actually be able to sell it for a decent profit if that's the case.

Not sure, here's some pictures

Here's how the 25mm tire "fit"
https://home.mn.rr.com/goons/25mmtire.jpg

Here's the 22mm tire
https://home.mn.rr.com/goons/22mmtire.jpg

Here's the fork from the side
https://home.mn.rr.com/goons/sideview.jpg

That's an interesting looking fork. I don't know anything about track specific forks but from the pictures I would guess that the crown was designed and possibly machined especially for use with small tires. I think DFrogs is on to something. The overall quality of the fork does not look cheap. The leg curvature and steel threaded steer tube has older classic look. I'd keep using small tires and ride it in good health.

Al