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1941-ish Rollfast Lightweight

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I called NYC Bicycle works who has a welder and they said it will start at $100 to weld the tube back on!

i'm going to have to keep looking
 
It doesn't hurt to shop it around but bike frame builders are generally not cheap.The last time I needed a fork repair done by a frame builder, the rates ran about $100 to replace the fork column, $20-30 to fix a crack, and $40 to replace a drop out. There are lots and lots of old lightweights around with busted forks because a professional repair is more than the bike or part is worth.

You could try a motorcycle/car or welder's shop that isn't specialized in bike frames and see what they say. A competent, careful repairman could do the job even if he's not specialized in just bikes, but it's always safer to get a bike frame builder. The material should be plain old steel and the tolerances are probably pretty big for today's standards.

The cheapest solution may be to get a generic replacement fork, either in chrome or black.
 
You could try a motorcycle/car or welder's shop that isn't specialized in bike frames and see what they say. A competent, careful repairman could do the job even if he's not specialized in just bikes, but it's always safer to get a bike frame builder. The material should be plain old steel and the tolerances are probably pretty big for today's standards.

The cheapest solution may be to get a generic replacement fork, either in chrome or black.

I wonder why it is so expensive? I'm sure it takes them less than 20mins to do it.

my sister in laws dad said he wld take a look, but he typically does silver so not a lot of steel experience. =/

I will have to check a body shop too.
 
with setup, prep, and repair seems like it would take the better part of an hour to me...?
if it's done right by a specialist $100 seems about right.
...or you could put the c-note toward a torch and do it yourself :D
 
Yeah, the prep work is longer than most people think.

You also have to take into account that professional frame building is a high-end industry generally. The competition is generally limited and the clients are often high-end. Most people pitch an old bike with a crack or bend. The people who pay to have the bike fixed often had high-end or custom bicycles that economically are justified in getting a repair done.

Also have to factor in compensation for liability risk in the event a frame or fork fails. There is the biggest benefit to the professional frame builder option. The work is usually very clean in the end, with a much smaller chance of failure than an amateur job.

The most common fix I see is to replace the fork with a chrome or generic color-matched fork. It's not a bad option if you're doing a custom bike.

I was not clear on the earlier posts. Was the fork bent at the time of sale or did it get bent in shipping? A bent or damaged fork or frame is a material fault the seller should be required to disclose.
 
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with setup, prep, and repair seems like it would take the better part of an hour to me...?
if it's done right by a specialist $100 seems about right.
...or you could put the c-note toward a torch and do it yourself :D

i would need $3k for a course too :) i checked and it is expensive for someone to teach you to weld.
 
I was not clear on the earlier posts. Was the fork bent at the time of sale or did it get bent in shipping? A bent or damaged fork or frame is a material fault the seller should be required to disclose.

Hey Mike

from looking at the before pic up at the top of the thread or the sale thread, meaning before the bike was shipped, you can just see it is tweaked. Only because i know where to look now. I am giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming the seller didnt see it.

What's done is done and it is a bit too late. :)

Some good news is that i went to my sister in laws dad's shop in Brooklyn and he showed me how there was an internal piece of steel connecting the fork to the tube. Long story short, he melted the soder, knocked out the piece, cleaned everything... and then i had to leave to take my eldest to soccer. He is planning to use the same piece and then "pin it". Drill a few holes and place bronze pins to cross brace the tubes AND add one more tube inside the other tubes, then braze everything together.

A few pix below and a few more pix in the photobucket of the leather mallets :) he uses for silver and somepix of the inside of the blackout hub i started to clean [ what a mess ]

hopefully next weekend we can finish it offand i can finally take this bike for a ride. [ and not kill myself ]

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Received the finished product yesterday. the weld and bracing looks to be great. im not a welder, so i was impressed.. All pieces are original, the only thing that was added was the bracing pins and the second inner steel tube which runs down in to the shoulders of the fork and through and past the larger tube which was original.

my one qualm is that he cleaned up a bit of the shoulder paint. =/ ... it is my fault, i didnt tell him to be mindful of it. but hey it could be worse!

In the meantime i had been cleaning the rims/hubs, fenders etc. So maybe 1-2 more weeks of squeezing out some hours at night and i think it will be ready.

photos are blackberry quality :cool:

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I finally got this one back together and took it for a ride!!
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so there is a lot that was done and a lot that still needs to be done:
- cleaned out both hubs. bearings greased and plates oiled
- fork was rewelded
- rust on the handle bars and pretty much all over has been removed. I want to give the handlebars a further light sand and polish... but for now it is good enough
- spokes, fender braces and rims need further work. The rim pain is just toasty and i tried VERY hard to see what i can do. I just gave up for now
- chain and the crank completely gone through... im happy with it for now
- dont know what i am goign to do with the seat. It is crispy
- the pedals are interesting.. i found two right threaded blackout pedals since the one i had were so rusty i just got all the rust off and now they look like reg T8s. So i took the left bolt off the orig pedal and put it on the black out right to make my set. :)
- i need to work on the seat post... completely forgot about it.
- some cool paint on the fenders came out.

It rides nicely, brakes nicely... i think i have to grease up the fork a bit as it is a bit stiff. What i could use is a new screw for the top of the front fender as i just found anything that sort of fit and jammed it in there

my photobucket has a TON of pics through out the process if anyone is interested.

IMG2015051700161_zpsgqawch9j-1.jpg


IMG2015051700157_zpss91diwng-1.jpg
 
I finally got this one back together and took it for a ride!

so there is a lot that was done and a lot that still needs to be done:
- cleaned out both hubs. bearings greased and plates oiled
- fork was rewelded
- rust on the handle bars and pretty much all over has been removed. I want to give the handlebars a further light sand and polish... but for now it is good enough
- spokes, fender braces and rims need further work. The rim pain is just toasty and i tried VERY hard to see what i can do. I just gave up for now
- chain and the crank completely gone through... im happy with it for now
- dont know what i am goign to do with the seat. It is crispy
- the pedals are interesting.. i found two right threaded blackout pedals since the one i had were so rusty i just got all the rust off and now they look like reg T8s. So i took the left bolt off the orig pedal and put it on the black out right to make my set. :)
- i need to work on the seat post... completely forgot about it.
- some cool paint on the fenders came out.

It rides nicely, brakes nicely... i think i have to grease up the fork a bit as it is a bit stiff. What i could use is a new screw for the top of the front fender as i just found anything that sort of fit and jammed it in there

my photobucket has a TON of pics through out the process if anyone is interested.

thought this was a cool one. Before assembly :)

IMG2015051700152_zpszljboe6x-1.jpg
 
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