A couple of years ago I did something really evil to my fork...

[24track]

I'll preface the story by saying I had a really bad headache that day...

So, I was having an issue with my Guerciotti Genius (that I have had since about 1997) where it would start to seriously shimmy at speed. Even though the lbs mechanic (and the owner of the shop) said "check the headset" I thought that I knew better. After all, it was a Chris King headset, and what could go wrong with that?

I had already been through a couple of sets of tires and tubes, changed my Brooks Swift Titanium for something else (forget what) and made sure that the Campy aero wheels were in true (they were).

So, it was time to break out the fork alignment tool that the lbs had and make sure that the blades were actually parallel.

They were.

BUT...I could still see that the rim was not centered within the fork.

Instead of stopping there, what did I do?

That's right!

I FILED DOWN ONE DROPOUT!

Hey, I had a headache!

It turned out that the wheel itself was dished off center.

In the meantime, I probably took about a millimeter off of one of the chromed Campy dropouts.

I've not ridden the bike since (and this was three years ago) as the only way to have the front wheel centered (after I trued the wheel correctly) is to have the skewer positioned so that it does not bottom out on one side and then lock it down tight! Obviously that can't be safe...

What I would like to do is have a framebuilder either replace the damaged Campy dropout with a NOS Campy dropout, or have both dropouts replaced with the Richard Sachs (or other high quality) dropouts.

I am looking for recommendations for a "go to" person to fix the fork.

The fork is also made of Columbus Genius Nivichrome.

And, of course, it turned out that the grease in the headset had turned chunky, and that was what was responsible for the speed wobbles!

Thanks in advance for your help, and remember not to do something irreversible when you have a headache!

Best Regards -
Rich

Richard Alan

[e-RICHIE]

Best Regards -
Rich

Rich - we need a first and last name on all posts here on the Frame Forum.
Thanks atmo.

[Eric Estlund]

File the other fork tip.

[Dancingbear]

File the other fork tip.

+1 on this, for whatever my opinion is worth!

[24track]

File the other fork tip.

At first I kind of laughed at that response, but that might just be the way to go.

I've attached pictures of the butchered dropout and the virgin dropout.

Does it look like there is enough metal to be safe in the butchered dropout?

Best Regards -
Rich
Richard Alan

[mjbabcock]

pile some JB weld in the filed dropout or glue in some plastic shim.

[Mr B]

pile some JB weld in the filed dropout or glue in some plastic shim.

I discovered the original (Advanced Composites) fork on my KHS had uneven ends upon building the bike for the first time. Mis-cast, I think.
As the ends are Aluminum I elected to epoxy several layers of beer-can shim into the 'deeper' fork end rather than file the other down.
Not sure I'd pull the same ghetto move on a fork as nice as ^^that, but thought it was worth mentioning.

[e-RICHIE]

I <cut>

Please add names to your posts.
Thanks.