Warped Qu-ax Frame

Well, apparently my frame’s forks are a little off-kilter…I’m not totally sure how this happened, to be honest. They were fine when I rode over the Christmas holiday at my grandparents’ house, and after an 8-hour drive home, I tried to put my baby back together and the bearings on the wheelset were wider-set than the caps on my frame. Upon closer inspection, bent forks seemed to be the problem.

Whatever caused it is irrelevant (it was probably the suitcases sitting on the frame in the car on the drive home, or possibly the weather), but I’d like to know the best course of action to take at this point. I’ve tried just bending them out to straighten them, but I’m worried I ruin the crown-forks welding, cause I was already starting to hear a little creaking while I pull. Is there anything my LBS can do, or more preferably, that I can do (to save money)?

Few pictures from a few different angles:

Any advice from anyone?

-Matt

You are going to have to bend it back. I bent the forks on my qu ax frame so that I could fit a moment hub on it, the welds seemed to be fine.

If you are worried about the welds, maybe you should find a way to hold the frame together near the crown, and just bend more towards the bearing holders.

Heat treatment could be an option, I’d ask sombody whos done it befor though.

I dont understand why you cant put your wheelset in it, place one of the bearings in a bearing holder and bend the frork out while you push the other bearing in.

Cause then when I let go, it’ll try to bend back in and possibly mess up the hub.

I just wanna make sure I’m not breaking anything…

Hm, ok, apparently not. Just did what agentQ said.

>.>

Thanks guys.

So you can unicycle now?

Should be ok to ride it like that, if you got it back on the wheelset. It might make something rub against the hub/frame, I’ve had that happen with a different frame before…

It would still be a good idea to bend it back, you are putting continuous sideways pressure on your bearings.

It should be the case that the welds are stronger than the surrounding steel… unless the welds are defective. This is a non-issue.

Listen to this dude.

steel doesn’t make cracking sounds. you probably heard the paint cracking.