Fork drilling question
 

Looking into buying this frame for my wife to ride. She likes the frame a lot but wants to be able to run a front brake. Getting it drilled is no problem and doesnt bother me... as the frame is quite cheap.
Does anyone know if these forks will be drillable? I dont know if anyone has any experience with this but i hope someone does.

thanks

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7...4023jpgkt1.jpg

Don't do it. Please.

If it were my like, I'd contact Samson, and see how much a replacement drilled fork would be. If it's too pricey, measure up the fork (rake and crown - axle length) and start hunting for a drilled fork.

Bikecult has this fork, which looks good and is pretty cheap.

OH NOEZ!!!11 WTF!!? NJS FORKZ DIRLEED?

i don't see why there should be a problem drilling that fork.
get a drill press and drill it very carefully.

Why not??


I wouldnt drill it myself. Id have it done locally. Costs about 40 bucks at a place that knows what theyre doing.

dont drill that fork, get a new one made. please. that bikes so nice.

do it. it's your/ your wife's frame. i like how these guys are acting like the drilling of this fork will kill thousands of babies across the land. if it means the bike will actually get ridden, then why the hell not?

do it.

The other day i scored an original Van Gogh its a nice picture of some chick ...id like to draw a moustache on it ...dont worry i got it for cheap so it doesnt matter ....you are an idiot .

check how tight is the fork - might be a problem finding a calliper with short enouh reach.

you just compared an original van gogh to a keirin fork. wow.

all hail the mighty NJS stamp!

Ya I know, he's rub-bash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QwCslbdbyw

(Sorry about the subtitles)

LOL. Frames like this are not rare, special or important. Theyre literally everywhere and not expensive at all. I could buy another one every week.
In fact, recently, i have bought another one almost every week.
Being in AUS must leave you desperate?

Anyway, i wasnt asking IF i should do it. Its def getting done to some NJS crap, just havent chosen the frame yet.
Wondering if anyone knows if this fork will have enough space. If anyone has any experience with this sort of thing. I dont.

Must be nice to live in Japan and own four NJS frames.

Oh, wait...


edit: for the record, the thought of drilling the fork upsets me, too. Plus, isn't there a chance that, because it's not designed for a brake, that the area you're drilling won't be strong enough?

http://picasaweb.google.com/rerunrer...41059997287682

I have my fork drilled and run a shimano 105 with no problems. It was drilled at Harris Cyclery so i trust that if things were a little sketchy they wouldn't have done it. Besides the chance that she might want to go brakeless after a while, you want to keep its resale value, or its sketchy safety wise I don't see a reason not to drill it.

Don't drill it man, that's a crime on such an amazing frame!!!












Have cantilever bosses brazed on instead.

lol

Just curious, is drilling NJS forks common practice over there for street use? Why not just get a new fork and then have one drilled, one undrilled? BTW I dig that color.

Ive seen a few drilled NJS forks running around. 99.9% of people run brakeless here.
Some people have a front brake. Some people just run a rear brake.
Kalavinka drills forks for people for about $30USD.
Were still trying to decide on whether to pick up that Samson or not. Might wait a bit and see what else turns up. She prefers white frames so..:rolleyes:

No, there is no chance of that - unless you're using those crazy-ass, old school 22mm round fork blades, you build a track fork out of the exact same materials you build a road fork out of. The main problem will be if there's too little clearance; that might've been a bigger problem a few decades ago, but these days extremely short reach brake calipers are a dime a dozen.

As proof of concept, here is the same crown with a brake hole in it:

http://ckdu.dal.ca/~mcatano/bike%20p...dforkcrown.jpg

I did that yesterday, and God has yet to smite me down. So I figure it's going to be OK...

thanks :)

Kalavinka will measure the distance from the fork crown to the rim. On my track fork it was too tight for a brake, so he sold me an old pair of Kalavinka forks for 3,000 yen.

Bring in the caliper you want to use - I think the ones that work with the tightest clearance is old Dia Compe Aeros. Shimano generally allow for tighter clearances than Campagnolo.

Beaut frame by the way - can't wait to see it built up.

From what I've gathered, those round forklegs are optimized for withstanding lateral forces during heavy sprinting. Using a front brake will cause longitudinal forces that elliptical fork legs are better designed to withstand. Don't take my word for it though...

While this is theoretically true, it just means that you might experience more fork chatter while braking suddenly.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...d_nooooooo.jpg

That's a lovely frame! I can understand why people get upset when you cut off brazeons but this is getting a little silly.

Seriously, make sure you can find a brake caliper that's short enough with the reach. It would be a shame to put a hole through that and then realize that nothing fits. Right?

I think its funny that because its a nice frame i shouldnt have it drilled. Its not a rare frame by any means. Clean or not, its just a Samson frame.
They have been making frames since 1978!!...believe me, there are plenty of them around.

Yes it can be done. I have a Panasonic Keirin fork that I drilled. I did it myself with a hand drill.

The only caution is the hole needs to be very near the top if you want to use standard short reach calipers. I drill mine very close to the top and I'm right at the 39mm minimum...

So you say they are cheep there & lots of them. Question how cheep are they or that pink samson one in particular?

It really depends on the frame. This pink frame in particular will be about $350 if i decide to buy it.
Still havent decided. Hoping some white frame will pop up somewhere.
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/7...4018jpgzi9.jpg

I thought about getting one of these dealios to mount a brake on it but the brake mount is nearly the price of the frame.
http://framebank.cart.fc2.com/user_i...nk/34_1_53.JPG

But now i recall these more primative ones ive seen. Currently tryin to get one of these to avoid having to drill the fork.
http://img241.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/u...38dscf0125.jpg

I say, if you can get a caliper, drill it. It's not a 3rensho.