PVD Road Fork

The Fork

The fork will be a steel handmade fork. It will be made so that one of the more popular carbon forks can be put on the bike without screwing up the geometry.

Reynolds, Easton and True Temper are major players in this market.

43mm offset seems to be the favorite these days. Although 40, 44, 45, and 50mm offsets are available

Easton EC90 Forks have 43mm rakes with axle to crown lengths of 365 ± 1mm on curved forks and 364 ± 1mm on straight bladed forks.

Alpha Q forks tend to use 44mm offsets with 371mm axle to crown distances.
Reynolds forks tend to use 372mm axle to crown distances and 43mm offsets.

The fork will be made 372mm x 43mm.

The Parts

• Steerer Tube: True Temper OX Platinum MSRDLT, $14.10, 28.6mm, 1.65/1.14 Wall
• Fork Blades: DEDACCIAI COM ROAD OVAL (DED_CRFB_OVL_9), $33.20, 390mm
• Generic drop-outs
• Custom 4130 crown race seat
• 1.000 x 0.035 41030 struts
• 0.028 4130 caps

Notes

• Blades cut to 348mm
• 23mm under crown race seat
• 30 degree struts.
• 1.00x.035 struts, ovalized to 1.125x
• 1.375" steerer mitre
• Cut down drop outs.
• Crown race cut to 1.1817" to 1.1841"
• Brake boss 360mm from axle.

Weight

A 1.125" Reynolds Ouzo Pro fork with an integrated crown and 350mm steerer is stated to weigh 390g. This is going to be my benchmark.

A 1.125" Reynolds Ouzo Comp fork with a standard crown and 285mm steerer is stated to weigh 480 g. This would be the minimal goal.

This fork weighs in at 631 g. (with a 285mm steerer and without paint or brake boss welded in). Kinda heavy by comparison. Obviously, for pure performance riding, any carbon fork would be the only choice.

The Process

A 320mm generic Nova 1.125" steerer.


The True Temper steerer of the same length. An 84 gram savings


Crappy mitres made nice with five tacks on each side.




Leaving the cap slightly oversized before fusion welding gives some filler to use.






Cut about 10mm from the generic dropout.


Drilled the hole for the brake. This hole should have been less than 6mm.


Little face plates. 0.625" diameter x 0.080". The pilot should have been something less than 6mm, insteat they are 3/8".


Welded up.


Drill out the mount holes. 6mm plus up front, 5/16" in back. Face the sides square.


The center of the brake hole should really be around 360mm from the axle. Mine is a little too close at 356mm.