I just joined to ask this question, so hello everyone and thanks in advance for hopefully providing some guidance.

I recently had a mishaps with my top-of-the-car bike rack (it's the style where the front wheel is removed) where I significantly bent the dropout, I believe it's called (if not it's the little u-shaped piece at the end of each fork blade that the front wheel's axle sits in). I was able to *pretty much* get it back to normal with a pair of pliers and a lot of elbow grease, but it's not exact and as a result the wheel is slightly off center (I'd post a photo but it looks like you need 10 posts before you can do that). The wheel feels quite secure, but the misalignment is substantial enough where I had to remove the front brakes since they were permanently rubbing against the wheel.

My question is whether -- putting aside the fact that the bike now only one set of brakes -- this bike is safe to ride? I have a road bike that I use for more substantial rides -- I only use this one for commuting to the train station and running errands around town and such. My preference is to keep using it, but I'll pick up a used bike if I'm at risk of my front tire coming off while I'm ripping down a hill.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Sounds like you only ride this bike a couple of miles from home for short errands. Somewhere I heard that most accidents occur a couple of miles from home. Something to consider.

You could always get get a new fork.

Replace the fork. It is bent.

Even commuter bikes should be in workable condition.

Yes, replace the fork. Most of your stopping power is from the front brake. It would be good to have it working.

Here I thought we'd be discussing Marathon Man.

Beat me to it.

To the OP: replace the fork.

Having no front brakes is more like having 1/8th the proper amount of brakes on your bike than 1/2. Replace fork etc.

Figure out how to repair your fork. Front brakes are much more important than rear brakes unless you never ride much faster than a walking pace

alternately, remove the rear brake and do a sick fixie conversion

Besides the brake issue, you're also running an interesting experiment every time you hit a bump with a wobbly wheel. That will likely not end well.

New fork or stop riding the bike. You really could get hurt bad.

Ok, thanks for the feedback everyone. New fork it is.

It depends on the material your fork is made of. A steel fork/dropout can be straighten out.