This one is curious - was it the crown that failed, the blades that bent, or the wheel that hit the downtube?
Many bikes, even heavy duty touring bikes, have used round blades with no ill effects. It all depends on the weight of the blade of course. Was the forkcrown weakened by the drilling perhaps? Alternatively, is it certain that the frame was never crashed - otherwise perhaps the tube or crown was compromised already and the braking led to a failure. Seems like it would be good to understand this one as in most instances use of a track blade (of sufficient gauge) with drilled crown is uneventful and even a choice of some builders.
Mike Kone in Boulder CO
> I was on my first ride in almost two months on my 73 Eisentraut track
\r?\n> bike
\r?\n> (fork un-drilled using a replacement fork). If you are thinking
\r?\n> about
\r?\n> drilling a track bike fork - there is a safety issue involved as well as
\r?\n> the
\r?\n> significant alteration to what was an original bike.
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I have personal experience with the safety issue. I believe that in
\r?\n> some
\r?\n> many cases track bike forks were designed for their intended usage,
\r?\n> which
\r?\n> didnt involve strong rearward forces that could be involved with the
\r?\n> use of
\r?\n> a front brake. Fork blades are often round rather than oval and the
\r?\n> crown
\r?\n> may be lighter. I am still recovering from a biking injury caused by a
\r?\n> fork
\r?\n> failure on a ~95 Waterford lugged steel track bike. This was factory
\r?\n> drilled, but apparently, the fork wasnt strong enough for braking
\r?\n> stresses,
\r?\n> and bent at the crown when I was breaking, impacted the downtube, and
\r?\n> stopping the bike very abruptly.
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> So thing about not only the cosmetic issue, but also about the potential
\r?\n> safety issue when thinking about drilling a track bike fork. Obviously
\r?\n> some
\r?\n> non-drilled forks are strong enough to be drilled and used with a brake,
\r?\n> but
\r?\n> I know from personal experience that there are others that arent.
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Ben Sanford
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Falls Church, VA
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
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\r?\n> 5:10 PM