Last night I was taking apart my headset to give it a check up. I thought my fork was in there good but it happened to slide out once. It slid straight down a hit the ground. It very slightly bent one of the drop outs and now I can't get the front wheel to go in there. The wheel axle wont quite slip in. I have attempted to bend it back but nothing I've done has worked. Anyone have any ideas?

Is it a carbon fork with metal dropouts or all metal?

edit: You should probably post this in the mechanics' forum too.

Yes carbon blades and drop outs are aluminum, forgot to say that.

And it probably should be in the mechanics forum, I didn't even think of it since I've never posted there.

Well...I had the idea of heating the dropouts if the fork was all metal, but if its carbon I don't know how the differences in expansion would affect it. Could be bad, so I wouldn't do it. If it's bent inward which I'm guessing it is, have you tried putting a wedge (piece of wood or something) in there and pressing it back?

I have tried wedging and prying with all kinds of stuff but they wont budge. The metal seems so tough I'm not sure how it bent to begin with.

Well I don't want to tell you to heat your dropouts if it's going to ruin the fork, but aluminum does have a pretty low melting point so it'll soften up fairly easily. You'd probably only need to get it to a few hundred degrees. That's probably your worst case scenario though, but I can't think of anything else to try first. I'm surprised that just the weight of the fork would bend the dropouts and then you can't bend them back. As I'm thinking about this, I don't know if heating and bending the aluminum would cause it to weaken and make it unsafe to ride. I've heated and bent aluminum before, but it wasn't anything that had to bear a big load. How bent is it would you say?

They are just bent inward maybe a millimeter or two, probably two. And I would think heating them would cause to glue where they are glued in the carbon fiber blades to melt. I guess it off to the bike shop, and probably a new fork.

No matter what the material, messing with the metal by heating it up is a Bad Idea unless you REALLY know what your stuff. And knowing your stuff might mean knowing that heating things up is a Bad Idea and shouldn't be done. I wouldn't know for sure. Still, any bending that's done should be done with the metal cold. Why take chances?

You're going to try and bend a CARBON fork with AL tips back? Are you serious?

If it were me, I would not heat it. It could weaken the carbon, weaken the bond between the AL and carbon, and/or make the AL brittle.

If it is a mm or two, why not file it slightly.

PS. put masking tape over the carbon before taking a file to anything.

DON'T HEAT IT UP !!!

Just get a flat, fine file and skim off a bit until it fits. Or else get some medium coarse sandpaper, wrap it around a wooden paint stirrer and sand it down a bit

Performing surgery on a part that takes so much load is ill-advised. Seek a LBS mechanic, and consider replacing the fork.

Heating, filing, bending? Come on.

Throwing things away that can be fixed is ill-advised. Having someone else look at it is a good idea though.