Tuesday 30 December 2014

34 - Fork repair

 Back when I stripped and rebuilt the forks one of them was sticking a bit at the bottom of its travel. If you pushed the stanchion up and down the fork leg it felt like it was binding a bit. A tug would release it but it didn't feel like the other side, which was sliding nicely.

 I mentioned this to Mr Romero when I was in his shop and he said this was a common thing. Allowing the forks to bottom out hard must swage or deform the bottom of them. "Not possible to repair" was his diagnosis. Although I didn't say anything, I didn't agree with him. I gave it some thought and decided it would be possible to hone it out.

 Today I pulled the fork leg apart and made a long "emery stick" from a couple of feet of brush shaft. I simply cut a slot in one end to receive a strip of emery cloth and put a screw nail in the other end so I could spin it in the drill.

 I gave it a few whizz's up and down near the bottom of the leg, cleaned it out, and within a few minutes I had the stanchion sliding in and out right to the bottom without any tight spots.

 So I reassembled it again, put the rubber boot over the fork and left it aside. 

 Clifford still has the frame, its only primed at the minute but should be ready soon in the new year.