Filed down fork tips - opinions please!

[foz]

It turns out that the fork tips on Mrs Foz's Razesa have had their slots filed down (or upwards, depending how you look at it). I can see no signs of crash damage, and the forks appear to be straight (I didn't measure them yet, but they look fine, not obviously out of shape at all), so I assume that the filing has been done in order to be able to use short drop brakes (the ones that came on the bike were exage 500 dual pivots, 39-49mm, with the pads set as far down as possible).

One one side, the narrowest point left is 6.5mm, the other side it's 5.5mm.

While my gut feeling is that they will be OK (the bike isn't going to be ridden hard or fast), I am worried that there is too little material left there, and obviously a broken fork tip wouldn't be good, especially if it happened while riding :shock:

So firstly, opinions please on the state of the fork - safe to ride? fixable? ready for the bin?

And secondly, would adding a touch of weld into the slots, then filing it down to leave a smooth, original-size slot, be a reasonable fix? Has anyone every done this, or had it done?

(bad) pic of the fork tips below.

thanks in advance for any help!

Andy

 

[47p2]

I would be tempted to weld them up and tidy with a file. Why on earth would someone do that?

 

[Midlife]

There's still quite a bit of metal there, and it's in compression and that's why they drilled dropouts BITD.....what a daft thing to do

Shaun

 

[PANZR]

I did it to some old track forks once, long ago when I was younger. I never had any issues with it although, my filing was angled back slightly more than can be seen on yours and was not quite as deep
I wanted tighter clearance between the tyre and fork...it was all about appearance

 

[foz]

So from the replies so far, I gather that it isn't as bad as I thought it might be?

I'll take them round after work though, and see what can be done. I'll get some weld added and file it back if I can - better safe than sorry I think!

 

[pigman]

it will be ok, they are steel. Even with the reduced meat, they are still thicker than the metal on the blades. Plus compression from the skewer holds it together anyway to stop the thin bit flexing if that's your worry.

 

[keithglos]

If you think of the many millions of roadster bikes round the world with tinny pressed (trapped) ends, and yours are about 4 times as strong now, you might agree there is nothing to worry about.
Keith

 

[foz]

Good point there Keith! I think I just don't like seeing things bodged, as this has been... anyway, I dropped them off at the repair shop literally over the road from my house, he said no problem at all, call back tomorrow and they'll be done

I'll report back with the results!

 

[latman]

i imagine the rims went from 27in to 700c and the brake pads could not go deep enough , i agree they will be ok

 

[foz]

I don't think the frame is old enough to have been built for 27" wheels - the style, dropout spacing, colour, etc. All point to early 90s

Funnily enough, I can't find a serial number on it anywhere! It hasn't been removed, it just appears to have never had one.