Raleigh Sorted
He said that his first principle in bike repair is do no harm, but given how much the front of the steerer tube had been rubbed away, we figured riding it as is was not going too well. There are a few Raleigh forks on Ebay, for various prices, that aren't too bad, but none of them are 1952 forks. Given the situation, he felt we had nothing to lose in giving bending it back into place a try.
Following the advice of various people on the For the Love of English Three Speeds thread on Bike Forums, we put the fork in his massive bench vise, supported on either side near the crown with steel blocks that are cut to fit on either side of a pipe.
He slipped another pipe over the steerer and had me do the bending. I was careful not to bend over-enthusiastically, so it took me a few tries.
We ended up with a steerer that I would describe as "pretty straight." If you squinted at it long enough, you could detect a hint of an S-curve, but not much.
I put everything back together, and it turns more smoothly than I think it ever has, and certainly better than when it was binding. I was also able to insert my stem properly, which is one of the things I was worried about post-bending.
It's been fine for a ride around the block, but I think I'll wait until a week's worth of riding has gone by before I call it a true success.
Charlie said he is thinking about building city bikes, based on old designs, with a seven speed, belt drive. It sounds like a good project.
The picture above was taken on the half-century route I rode in late September, at the start of Three Speed October. I rested my Olympus OM-1 on a guardrail support post. I'm waiting for the photos to come back from the Darkroom, so I can attach them to my Three Speed Journal and send it back to Shawn.
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