So, I had my first accident with my Yakima fork mounted bike rack a few days ago. Had my Schwinn Le Tour on the roof (was on there for a day and a half, to and from work ~60miles). On the way home the second day, heard a noise that caused me to pull over. Bike was out of the fork mount and was still attached to car by rear wheel strap. Left fork drop was bent. Repairable?

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Hello dpicare26,

Images not displaying.

If by "fork drop" you mean fork end then yes, it is likely the deformation can be cold set into alignment with the Campag or VAR or Park type alignment tool set.



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Can't see pics. Photobucket won't direct link anymore.

At any rate, it depends on how bent. If there is any buckling of the tubes, it's toast. If it's just a little bent, bend it back and use tool described above to realign. There's also a fork centering gauge that better bike shops will have.

More importantly, check your frame's main triangle. Look for any signs of buckling in the tubes. That's a bigger worry in most front collisions, even the ones involving a bike on a roof rack.

Oh, see the pics now.

I will say probably repairable. Worth a try for sure. Dropouts are usually fairly ductile. If they crack, then it is less repairable -- but actually still repairable.

are images still not showing? Switched from Photobucket to TinyPic.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the aforementioned alignment tool would be more for a bent fork, more specifically, right? In my case, it's specifically the fork ends (which I was hoping to show with the photos).

I will also check frame over for tube damage.

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Thank you for the picture fix, displaying fine now.

Deformation appears quite mild and readily cold settable; about a thirty second operation.

Tool illustrated is made for frame ends, both front and back. It is not a fork alignment tool.

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The twisted dropout itself will have to be bent back into shape with a big honking crescent wrench, or similar. There were/are a few tools specifically for this IIRC, but they were just a slot in the end of a big bar. Basically you just grab the end that is sticking out and bend it back to where it was. When you have the dropout looking more or less normal, use a fork alignment gauge and a frame bending tool to bend the blade(s) back if necessary. Frankly that should really be done in a vise off the bike. When that's done, you use the dropout alignment tool in post #2 to align the dropouts.

[MENTION=328310]dpicare26[/MENTION] correct me if I am wrong but it looks like just the forward half of the dropout itself is twisted. If that is the case I think the recommendation to put it in a vise is a good one. It most likely wont take all of the deflection out but it will get you close then as above use the alignment tool. You can make an alignment tool relatively inexpensively with a couple of appropriately sized long bolts, nuts, and a handful of washers.

If however the fork arm itself is damaged...

Yes, it's easily fixable. IMO this is best done with a hammer and improvised anvil, but can also be done with something like an adjustable wrench to get it back into one plane, then with the "G" tools shown to get both dropouts parallel.

Back in the day I'd straighten the bend part as much as possible with a big crescent wrench. Then I'd clamp it in a big vice to kinda flatten them out. From there I'd use fork end alignment tools.

Thanks to all who replied.

I actually had success using a large adjustable wrench, in small increments, and then re-checking the fit of the hub. Looks and feels acceptable. Both ends of hub are flush against fork ends, wheel tracking well. I think I was most concerned about compromised integrity of the steel after all the bending. Luckily, this is a seldom ridden bike, and not ridden hard when it hits the road. Just my town bike.[IMG][/IMG]

This is a big deal. So many times I've skewers, when tightened down, that flex bent dropouts and ends into place.
Your wheel should drop in and out with no effort. As soon as the ends make contact with the skewer on the outside or the locknut on the inside check for full contact, any gaps means the ends are still bent.

Yes you cold worked the material, Just don't bend them again! As long as you didn't see any cracks on the surfaces of the DO, you are good to go. Fortunately, the skewer helps distribute the dynamic forces from the wheel to the DO/Fork, if properly tightened.

The dropouts appear to be mild steel, so re-aligning them with the Campagnolo "H" tools (or third-party equivalent) shown by juvela ought to work fine. You have nothing to lose by trying!

I believe all those criteria are met, should be good to go. Thanks for the advice.

Anyone else ever have a similar incident with their fork mounted racks? Perhaps I just hadn't tightened the skewer enough, or the fact the there are no "lawyer lips"?
Just don't want it happening again.

Never had that happen, knock on wood. I currently have a relatively new Yakima. The QR mechanism for the front fork is quite robust, and it looks like it is designed to hold the fork with more force than a standard road QR.

HOWEVER, the adjustment mechanism is not intuitive at all, and the directions IIRC are badly written and unclear. I had to go read them a couple times before I figured out how it worked, and I'm not a big directions reader. For starters it is backwards. Instead of lefty-loosey, righty tightey, it is lefty-tightey, righty-loosey. IOW you turn the big barrel (the 'wrong' way) to adjust the tightness, then squeeze the lever to secure. That being so, I'd suggest practicing with it for a few minutes to get a good understanding of adjusting the cam pressure. It should require firm pressure to close the QR lever. I set mine tighter than I would on a hub QR.

You are using the cam lever and not trying to spin it on like a wing nut, right? Please pardon my mentioning this but it has to be eliminated as a possibility. People do do this.

RE lawyer lips: as with a regular hub QR, I think lawyer lips would more likely cause a problem then prevent one. They'd force you to readjust the QR on the rack every time you used it.

Yea I have had the rack for 5-6 years now, and have used it without incident, until now of course. It was on the roof for a day and a half, and was raining the day the accident happened. Don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. I have read other scenarios where the bike came out of the mounts, but that was paired with high winds and fast highway speeds.

Well as some measure of reassurance, in the early 90's my GT Tequesta mtb fell over while in the roof rack of the car, similarly twisting the fork end. I'm pretty sure I just clamped it tighter in the roof rack and pushed it back upright to straighten it out. I then proceeded to ride the bike for another 10 years or so.

That does offer me some reassurance. Good to know, thanks.