I've been looking for vintage bikes on the cheap since I joined the Forums last year. No luck yet, but it's only a matter of time.

I'm concerned about the safety of older bikes, particularly the "death forks" which I understand to be made of cast aluminum. How do I know when I'm looking at a death fork or a death stem? Any photos out there?

Death is bad. I'm trying to avoid it.

Agreed; death is bad. The fork really wasn't as bad as made out to be though. Here are pics of one on a NOS '72 Lambert I recently sold. Sorry the pics don't show the whole fork:

So far, so good eh?

The Viscount/Lambert aluminum forks, and the A.V.A stems are the items I've heard given the auspicious nicknames.

Thanks TOG.

If your photos depict the typical death fork, it appears that they are easily identified... bare aluminum with some oxidation.

Are they always bare, or are they sometimes painted? Also, what part of the fork is prone to break?

It's not so much breakage as rapid disassembly. The blades were pressed into the steerer tube so essentially the only thing holding it together is friction.

That said there are a number of former Lambert/Viscount riders who will testify to no troubles and I rode with a Viscount lover in the 70s who never had that problem. He lost one bike to a car but that's the usual result of that affair...

"Death forks" were unique to Lambert/early Viscount so if you find a bike of any other brand there's no issue. AVA stems are found on older French bikes.

Of course there's a website dedicated to failed vintage Campy cranks.....

Don't let it bother you. :)


:beer:

You know, I had read that same thing on the CR list... I can tell you first hand though, that the NOS '72 (a very early Lambert too; had threaded bottom bracket, not pressed) I sold to a Japanese collector, had a split roll pin also holding the steerer to the fork. I doubt it would have been dangerous at all. My guess is that when Yamaha bought the Lambert/Viscount company, they recalled the forks because some of the forks weren't pinned, and there probably weren't records of which were or weren't. Maybe it was easier to do a general recall for safety. BTW- I found that bike a few years ago, on display over the entrance of a local bike shop that had been in business since at least the '60s. The owner was moving to Spain, and selling the shop to another guy... He was blowing out all kinds of stuff for great prices; I think I bought 6 bikes from him!

How 'bout old Sugino and Campag. "death cranks"? OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it is no fun to snap a crank on an out-of-saddle climb. (Been there ... done that with a first-generation Sugino Mighty Compe.)

Gotta hurt!

You just don't know your own strength :eek:

Does anyone know if the hi-e riveted aluminum fames or forks were prone to catastrophic failure? They are a beautiful thing.

Don't tell me you've actually found one for sale...! They're probably OK, if you're around 125 pounds. I've got some "stupid light" wheels built with Hi-E rims and Pino Ti spindle hubs... Geeze, they're light. I'd break 'em going around the block.

Hmmmm, Death forks, death cranks, suicide levers.... am I missing anthing? I'm building up a bike for the mother-in-law.

an AVA stem - and that oh-so-special touch, unglued tubular tires. :p

I'd say throw on a viscount quick-release. I have one, and it simply will NOT keep the wheel in place.

Be sure to hang all your components on a Teledyne frame--the one that breaks where the down tube is "choked off" to accommodate the clamp-on shifters.

I had a 72 Lambert, the fork broke on it when I had it shipped, before I even got to ride it. Replaced it with steel fork.

Don't forget modern Shimano MTB brake pads. They quickly get so embedded with grit they'll machine her rim sidewalls paper thin in no time. Bang!

Here is an original visount for sale, including death fork:

http://derbyking.com/Detail/?n=69

and here are some good pictures of it: http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Bri...bert_fork.html

The shop I used to work in sold a lot of Viscounts. I never did see a fork break, but it's not something I really wanted to see. I heard rumors about them breaking well before the recall.

don;t forget 'tubulars'
all that old ****e is untrustworthy.
why, just the other week I had to pull a set of Campy cranks off one of my bikes, they were U G L E E E! and the chainrings were just toast. Dam stuff lasted only 25 or so years, what crap!
now, suntour...

No hobby is complete without its commonly-held apochrypha; plausible yet impossible-to-substantiate horror stories that one can cluck about to noobs in order to seem worldly-wise. I used to ride with some nutbags who swore up and down that a green on a motorcycle was the 'death color'. I never did get a rational explanation on that one, but I'm sure the Trilateral Commission was at the bottom of it.

I can say this though, without fear of contadiction: All you guys riding around with an AVA stem are gonna die -- every last one of you. Just wait and see...

Im building a specal bike for my mother-in-law too. When she rides away itll never bring her back. :D

The mother-in-law bike needs
widowmaker Cinelli pedals.
they won't break but as the name says.

Hey, Don't forget Shimano! In 1997 they recalled 1 million mountain bike cranks that were prone to breaking. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, some of these broken cranks resulted in cuts and fractures.

And we all know the government always tells the truth.

gloomy thread, huh? Myself, I often worry about meteorites. You're riding along and BAM!

I recall that the conventional wisdom had you filing the sharp corners where the spider intersected the crankarm on campy Strada cranks. Does it actually keep the break from happening?

yup, relieves the stress riser.
Not sure if the conventional wisdom was
ever proved scientifically but it sure was
a neat ritual.

If anyone wants to get rid of these failure
prone aerospace pros in 21 or 22 inch, or
some of these dangerous pedals I will be
happy to take them off your hands.
I will even trade for 2 very annoying cats.

marty