Re: [CR]sloping crown fork - Several Types including Davis!

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Cinelli)

Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:23:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]sloping crown fork - Several Types including Davis!
cc: richlanguageelk@gmail.com

>> Can anyone point me in the direction of a Cinelli/Cinelli type replacement fork <<

First off, there are many types of sloping-crown integral forks and it would help to know what sort of bike it goes with.

1. The raleigh pro / team pro type-of-crown is almost "upside-down Y shaped" and appears squared off (about 1/4") when looking down the brake-hole. I read recently (cannot remember where, darnit) that it was made by Davis. Since I have a late 60's raleigh with another type of davis crown, I believe that. The crown has imho never been identified in this forum before.

The topview (looking down the steering column) of this fork is almost rectangular, with slightly bulging left and right sides.

2. There is a 2nd type of crown used on raleigh competitions. I was flummoxed when weighing my forks a few weeks ago to notice (after the weights came out wildly different) just how different this crown is compared to the Davis/Raleigh Pro crown. This one tapers to an almost paper-thin edge when viewed looking down the brake hole.

The topview of this fork is almost oval, with slightly rounded left and right sides.

3. Trek (and Raleigh) used a lot of cinelli-like forks in the mid-80's and this is probably your best bet for a cheap fork, and moreover, these forks were RELATIVELY LIGHT (780 grams for 24.5" frameset fork) :

http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/raleigh/weights.tx

topview is infinity-shaped.

Trek forks have rounded bulbous edges. Raleigh forks have sharp edges.

4. There are of course, real cinelli forks. A good source for fork crown alone is http://www.framebuilding.com. And, I think you can probably still get a cinelli fork from a cinelli dealer.

topview is infinity-shaped, i believe.

5. There are also many OTHER imitation crowns in addition to the 5 types mentioned above, e.g. the Zeus crown. This has indents (in other words, where there is a trapezoid the metal is inset 2mm in a trapezoidal shape, starting about 2-3 mm in from the edge, all the way around the original trapezoid), and course, "ZEUS" appears in relief all over that crown.

topview is rectangular / bulged like raleigh pro.

6. you might be happy with an affordable custom fork ; one of the more affordable framebuilders is franklin frames of ohio.

What bike are you looking to make whole ??

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA