De Raking a fork?
 

Hello all,

I have a Reynolds 531 fork from a 1978 TREK that I would to change the rake from 5.5 to 4.5.

Can this be done safely or is it as ill advised as it seems?

Thanks,

Jim

Yes, if done carefully. Support the fork at the crown and the dropouts and hit the back of the raked section with a soft face hammer. A full centimeter is more than I've attempted, though.

Just ride into a brick wall at low speed.

Do know that deraking a blade in a built fork will increase the A-C distance and, thus, alter the head angle a bit. Has the "new" trail considered this? Andy

Are you prepared for the demonstration outside your house by Low-Trail fans ?

Most noticeable effect will be needing a new, longer-reach front brake. Not necessarily, but likely with such a large change in rake. If it has canti posts, they might be in the wrong place afterward, to where no brake will work.

I use a soft rubber mallet. Use the largest one you can find; the size means the force is spread out over a large portion of the tube, not concentrated in one place.
I set the crown and dropouts on a piece of softwood, with a strip of rubber over it if the paint is precious.

Soft whaps at first, with measuring to see if you've moved it. If no movement, whap a little harder, check again, iterate as necessary. Once you figure out how hard you have to hit it to get it moving, hit it in more than one place so you take out rake all through the curved part. It will be eaiser to unrake at first, the first couple mm, but the force required will go up a bit after that.

The way you "measure" to see if you're moving it is setting the crown and dropouts on a flat plane (e.g. benchtop) and see if both sides of the crown and both dropouts touch at the same time. If the crown is touching both sides but only one dropout is, that's the side with more rake. Check that before you start; don't assume the fork was properly aligned.

The reason I’m considering it is because I had a frame with identical geometry that I converted to 650b and ended up with trail of 46 and hated how much I had to drive it through a corner. It was ok when riding alone but became too much when you’re tired and riding in a group. I want the suppleness of 650Bx44 without the low trail.