Good God - someone in Manchester is actually riding this !!!

riddim-track":34dhft9x said:

but the fact it's a old steel bike with one gear makes me think... its a completely daft fashion statement

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Sadly, I think you're probably right!
Surely it's an accident just waiting to happen.

Ian.

On closer inspection, is that a gatorskin tyre too? hmm... I'm sure there's some hipster deck shoes in the background of the pic too, Ian what kind of company are you keeping?

Judge not. It's symbolic. On many levels.

For starters, if forks were made like that as a matter of course, we'd all be taking the piss out of the f.wit who bent his/her forks into the stupid shape ours are now.

torqueless":1w33s322 said:

Judge not. It's symbolic. On many levels.

For starters, if forks were made like that as a matter of course, we'd all be taking the piss out of the f.wit who bent his/her forks into the stupid shape ours are now.

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But surely forks aren't made like that as a matter of course because it isn't the best way to build forks. I expect that in the early days of cycling all manner of fork designs were tried until the best solution became apparent.

Looking again at the Manchester pic I was wrong about the centre of the wheel being behind the axis, there is probably about 20mm or so of rake so it probably doesn't ride as bad as it looks but is probably very twitchy.
I still wouldn't ride it though as to me it definitely looks like something a clown would ride.

I used to have a Freddie Grubb that had a fork rake of 3-3/4 inches. I think forks like that were generally referred to as Banana forks. I was told that with a very long rake it was very easy to ride with no hands for very long distances (if you should ever want to!).

Oh and the trendy people in the hip shoes were nothing to do with me! The photo was taken near the old URBIS building and it is an area full of EMO/Goth/punk types. Not that any of those would be wearing the shoes in the pic, probably a stray student just moved to uni there, lol.

Well, I'm assuming that that bike hasn't been front-ended, either accidentally, or as some sort of cathartic release from psychic tension..(or both at once!)
If it has, then yeah it is dangerous, but there doesn't seem to be any buckling of the downtube(s?) that you would expect from doing that.

So assuming it's been done deliberately, that is actually quite a clever way of taking a cheap bike and improving the responsiveness of the steering for city riding conditions, provided it's been done without stressing up the fork blade/fork crown/steerer tube joints. A more sensible and creative approach than the obvious one of straightening out the existing rake, and yes, for my money that is a much fairer curve than the one you get on a Bates.

Apart from that, I'm with you... I don't want to ride it either!

Bates replica?

is there much difference ?

I think it's been in a head on crash. From the photos, it does look it still has some forward rake, perhaps smaller than before. It probably handles a bit differently but you get use to it.

And no I don't think it's dangerous, either in handling or it's going to break.

common problem

forks on this era of peugeot were a bit of a weak point - each fork blade has a seam down the back where it is formed into shape. presumably cheaper than a seamless fork blade. they used to bend like this quite a lot. i knew a chap who told me he had these forks on a racing trike (not sure why exactly?) and he pulled up sharp to chat to a mate at the side of the road and the front wheel came up by the pedals! we had a pair that had bent almost straight - with a broom handle stuck in the steerer tube it made for a useful tool for getting tyres down from high shelves in the bike shop i worked at!! Not sure they'd be terribly safe in the condition pictured due to their 'seamed' construction...be funny to watch when the inevitable happens though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAs-N9R8 ... re=related

Not quite the same, but amusing nonetheless...