Why is one side/drop out of my fork like this?

[sefton1275gt]

 

[widowmaker]

Are there 2 holes in it ?

 

[averagebiker]

Looking at the picture there are and they are both threaded.

 

[Double-E F]

To install disc brakes?

 

[novocaine]

It's not a disc mount.
more likely to be a pannier mount and a mud guard mount.

 

[sefton1275gt]

2 holes. After a quick Google it looks like there are other Univegas with this same feature.

 

[foz]

It's not a disc mount.
more likely to be a pannier mount and a mud guard mount.

But if that was the case then surely the other side would be the same?

 

[averagebiker]

But if that was the case then surely the other side would be the same?

Exactly what I was thinking.
I suspect it was for some oddball accessory or gizmo only seen for a brief while in the late eighties or early nineties (if that is the time frame of the forks)?
Can the OP find a scan of Univega brochures from the correct era online which might hold an answer?

 

[novocaine]

It could be an AMP disc mount but they aren't in the right place.

 

[averagebiker]

I have had a crazy idea......

I seem to recall that in the early days of MTB in the UK there was a lot of scare mongering about how a QR lever should be closed to ensure a stray trailside twig did not flick it open and let the front wheel detach.

Could it be the second hole on the left fork drop out was designed to take a doohickey that locked the QR lever closed