Favorite forks?
 

Kind of random, but I find that a fork can make or break a bike for me. I'm into the road bikes, so my fork preference usually lands me just outside of the "vintage" range.

For some strange reason, I just can't find myself liking a flat crown fork on an otherwise sleek roadbike. I really, really like the sloped crowns and pretty much can't stand a uni-crown fork. Kind of deadlocks me into 80's steel, which I don't really mind.

Now if the flat crown fork is on an older 3-speed or touring bike, I don't mind at all. But I also don't see myself buying one anytime soon.

So do you have a preference, or does it depend on the bike, or what?

Pretty much what you said, minus that I'm OK with flat crowns. I just prefer a slopped crown. I do think that a flat crown does just look "right" and good on some builds/frame-sets. And it helps a lot if there's a nifty little painted symbol on a flat crown to make it not look like it's just a random protrusion from the bottom of the head-tube.

To me, the bend of the fork is a determining factor. I love a nice curve. Straight forks just don't look right to me. I also like chrome forks, but not on all bikes. I agree with the above for the most part in regards to flat crowns. Although I had a Bridgestone Kabuki Submariner that had a flat crown, chromed and it looked fine on the bike.

I love sloping crowns, though I like flat crowns. I dislike unicrowns or whatever they're called when the blade just goes up to the steerer tube.

I do like myself a nice biplane fork crown. I've never actually had one myself, but I do like to look at them.

How's this? :)

I love the look of sloped crowns, like the one on my PSV:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y44...cture005-1.jpg
Not really into flat corwns, just looks too old fashioned to me and totally don't like unicrowns.

Chombi

That is gorgeous, it's definitely my favorite style. I like the Cinelli sloping crowns found on the older Raleigh Pros, the one on your peugeot looks really similar.

I like flat crowns a lot, but lately I've begun to like sloped ones as well. Unicrowns are nasty. With modern forks, it really just depends, since there are so many different types.

I like the fork on my Mercian a lot. It has a sloping crown with nice long points, I haven't seen this style on other Mercians. The fork blades have a very attractive bend and round tubes. The generator tab is a little unsightly, but it's cool in it's own way.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5307/...99cce02b_b.jpghttp://farm6.static.flickr.com/5185/...43c03bae_b.jpg

My Raleigh Gran Sport also has a nice bend to the fork. The blades on the Raleigh are oval and look larger from the side. I think the flat crown fits the bike, it looks older to me.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/...09a1c764_b.jpg

The forks on my Raleigh Pro are a different beast. The fork blades look much smaller in diameter to me and are round like my Mercian. The bend is more of a kink at the end and the fork crown is semi-sloping I suppose.
http://velospace.org/files/DSC01288.jpg
http://velospace.org/files/DSC01290.jpg

Well, it depends... For my Merckx or DeRosa (neither of which has shown up yet), it'll definitely be a flat-top crown. If and when my Eisentraut A comes along, it'll definitely be full sloping. It's the ubiquitous semi-sloping crown that leaves me cold - neither fish nor fowl, if you will. And don't get me started on unicrowns: just another "improvement" that only benefits the manufacturer.

SP
Bend, OR

ps - and yeah, the diameter and bend of the blades matters too: slim, with a low bend on a rando or classic road bike, beefy and gradual bend on a crit or track bike. Either way, the bend goes all the way to the drops - no straight tubing at the bottom.

Funny this thread would pop up, I am working on my Jetter road bike and while I was test fiting the front wheel I am going to run I noticed my front fork was bent way over to the left at the bottom of the head tube. I went through all of my forks that are hanging around and the only one that I was able to make work is a unicrown fork off of a Panasonic ATB ( fitting a 700 wheel in a 26" tired fork to boot, it's the same height ). I really like sloping crown forks and would even like a flat crown fork but for now I have to run what I got.

The bike had 27" wheels originally but 700's fit the stock fork like a glove with the stock Dia-Compe 500 brakes even fitting. I am stripping a Trek 1000 SL with a damaged frame & moving all the parts over to the Jetter frame making a few upgrades as I go like STI's, Dual Pivot brakes & better triple crank. This is a budget build using what I have on hand because I am 1- broke 2- don't know if I will like it when done 3- did I say I am broke lol. Anyone have a sloping or flat crown fork that will fit a 700 wheel and has at least 185mm head tube they would consider trading something for.
I am taking this,
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...x4/bike017.jpg
Plus this,
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...ikepics060.jpg
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...ikepics061.jpg
and using the fork from this,
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...AUCTION016.jpg

chrome lugged panto'd.
1-Pinarello
2-Some EM's
3-Cinelli

http://velospace.org/files/P1120605-1.jpg

This is my Favorit fork...
http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...Full_TQF_1.jpg

But there is something to say for the good old flat crown also, if you're looking at the right one...
http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...C_Lug_HT_1.jpg

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...ke_Cal_F_3.jpg

Semi-sloping has its place in the vintage road bicycle world, also, in my opinion...

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...ke_Cal_F_4.jpg

And there is so much the artist/craftsperson/framebuilder can do with the boarders defined by a nice crown...
http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe..._Tube_HT_1.jpg

And this is the fork crown (?) on the best riding bicycle in my humble collection...
http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe..._Tube_HT_2.jpg

Though I never really thought much about a favorite style of crown, I do like fork crowns and the opportunity they present to add a little extra to a bicycle. The same goes for lug style and presentation and, I like head badges for the same reason. Attention to detail for the sake of appearance, coupled with function optimized.

All that said and showed, I really hate the looks of the unicrown fork!

This one:
http://bhovey.com/Masi/MasiBits/ForkCrowns/73tp.jpg

image courtesy bhovey.com

Favorite fork on any bike is always the same...

The segmented fork known as a "new england fork" a "Fat Chance" style.

Waltworks makes my favorite version of this custom for any bike/headset/cyclist. At $275 probably the best deal going in cycling.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2746/...2068415b63.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2705/...b9e03932fe.jpg

I like this one... but I'm kind of partial to the bike.

Here's my fave fork only because I have no idea what it is other than it's old and track. Good old chrome, beefy drop outs. The uni-style crown has a flat area at the back.

Any thoughts? I'll give a prize for a positive ID :thumb:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-c...0/redtrack.jpg

I used to dislike flat crowns also, but I've come to love them since acquiring a Super Course. I don't have a strong preference for one to the exclusion of others, I don't even detest unicrowns.

+1

The crowns that Rawland uses are pretty over the top, but I like them.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-N.../s800/rS14.png

Mmmm...

http://www.coopertechnica.com/_image...-Bicycle-4.jpg

I like semi sloping, Columbus Max, sloping, aero, and in the right case, CF. As for the bend, I like the aesthetic of fork that resemble the sweep of a katana.

Colnago Precisa.

http://www.totalcycling.com/images/l...135_132959.jpg

^ Pic?

I don't care much about the fork as long as there is a nice medium rare peice of filet mignon on it. :)

At least the question wasn't something like "What's your favorite ball bearing"?......uhmmm..... lesee,...round, silver ones,........not too big,.......steel, for sure,.......hate them cracked ones, specially when they have flat spots too!!:rolleyes::D