ROFLMAO! Now that was funny!

haha

You would think not, but a lot of builders will not attempt it. My concern is that Raleigh's concern for the safety of their customers was so low that they put a beginner on this joint, they probably had him do the fork legs too.

Any fool with an acetylene torch could put the pieces back together, however; one might question quality of the results.

A proper way to repair this would take place at a shop. The first concern is fit. Does the steering stem fit tightly into the fork crown? If not tight, too bad and the resulting repair quality will be substandard. It might work and it might not.

Straight? The stem will have to be installed and square to the fork set. If not square, you will be starting out with a bent fork. To achieve straight, the repair person had better have a way to secure the pieces before attempting to braze or silver solder the joint. Silver solder would be best since it requires less heat to employ.

Once the steering stem is installed, what about the bearing race? Machining brass is hardly a good way to go when mounting a bearing race. So, once again, some more expert help will be required, assuming, of course that one wants to do the job correctly.

So, easy fix? Yup, for the person who knows what they are doing and has the skill/experience to know how to do it.

Fix it yourself and worry about the results forever, or until the repair fails and, perhaps, fails catastrophically.

Just an old fella's opinion. If it were up to me, I would seek out and replace the fork set.

is that the original fork? not being a Raleigh expert it seems odd that a '69 would have such a plain sloping crown fork

Is there any chance a fork crown like that is still available? Could an application of heat free the blades from the existing crown so the whole thing could be re-built with the new crown? I've never done any frame work, so apologies if these are naive questions.

the steerer tube seperated from the fork crown.

that is the OP's bike? I still think a bike like that would have had a nicer crown and prehaps more noticable/charper curve for the rake

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...6&d=1314629468

No, that's my bike, but a fairly original '69 Raleigh Pro. For the period, the sloping crown was one of the nicest available, and continued with the Raleigh Pros for years!

From talking to framebuilders in the past, their concern would be getting a good bond to the oil impregnated metal. I think it'd be worth a go myself. There were some nice Japanese sloping fork crown forks available in the past, but they seem hard to find these days.

Yes, that's the correct fork for a (came in your choice of white) Pro of that year.

P.S.

Since the steerer is 100% complete, (if that were mine) I would get it to a well-seasoned framebuilder (not garlic and cayenne pepper, but experienced at brazing 531 etc.) for an assessment and re-brazing if appropriate. Amazing that the front brake's pivot bolt held it together for 42 freaking years! That's a vintage Raleigh for ya, though....

Ask in the framebuilders thread, maybe somebody knows a builder in your area to get that repair, the fix is pretty straight forward anyways. Maybe a new tange fork will work in here, the crownfork looks the same. Just paint it white and ready to go, maybe even cheaper than get that fixed.

Bernie Mikkelson in Alameda maybe, or Brent Steelman in SF I am sure could fix that or tell you for sure what it will need.

Yes, I have had Bernie Mikkelsen fix a couple of frames for me, he does good work. I was thinking either him or Ed Litton, as I will be going to his shop soon.

Ed Would be a good framebuilder to have check that out.... He is very vintage-sympathetic, so to speak.