1949 CWC Roadmaster Tri-plate Fork

[ozzie]

Are you going to clear coat the fork. I have used this stuff on raw metal car parts to prevent them from rusting and it works well. easy to use, heat the part a little, brush it on and polish off residue.

 

[GTs58]

Nice! I think those type of forks look best either plated or raw. Do you have a Dremel with the Scotch-Brite pads or wire brush to get inside the slots?

 

[Miq]

@ozzie I will see if I can find some. I have just put a couple of coats of wax on it for now. Arizona is pretty forgiving for metals. Thats worked for other bare steel parts on my bikes. I like the idea of it being a little better protected though.

@GTs58 I used the dremel a lot today but none of the sanding pads I have are small enough to reach between the plates or even into the corners of the crown plate and fork legs. That took a ton of hand sanding. I’ll see if I can find scotch brite dremel pads but I’m thinking I’ve invested enough time on the fork.

 

[Miq]

 

[shane1979]

So without the springer it seems like it's a Roadmaster Deluxe and I think they used both triple plate & forged at the same time on different models, maybe it's a supply or price thing. as far as the forged one being stronger I've told the story here about bending a brand new 79 Spitfire fork ( lasted 1 day! ) BUT I was jumping!, I'd feel fine with that fork for some medium riding, It's not like they just break, just keep a eye out for a bend!

1941 cwc

 

[Miq]

More time with the wire wheel and then a healthy warm layer of RPM went on. I let it cool then took a microfiber cloth and made it shine again. I was closing the bathroom vanity, after putting my wife's hair drier back, when she walked through the door with the kids coming home from soccer. I'm guessing it is going to look like this for a while now. I'm psyched, thanks for the suggestion @ozzie

The top cover was inside the bigger chrome crown topper and rusted in there for years. Not hiding the ratiness, it's 74 years old...

I know other people have dealt with these CWC steerer tubes before. They start out around 22mm, but just below the threaded section, it gets much narrower. 20-21mm?? Here's a pic looking down the inside steerer at the step.

I had soaked the steerer in Evaporust for a couple days and gotten most of the rust out of the inside but that step would not allow my 21.1mm quill stem to be completely inserted. Are all the CWC stems just really short and 22mm? What do other people do to make this work?

I took a 13/16" (20.6mm) bit and carefully cleaned the inside of the narrow section of the steerer. The pic above is after the reaming. After that, the quill stem's wedge could be completely inserted at the end of the long bolt, but the bottom of the quill was still a little binding. I filed and sanded the tooling imperfections and bulges out of the the bottom of the quill and it can easily be completely inserted.

The tapered section below the threadless head of the stem centers it in the top nut and gives it a solid feel.

I still need to deal with the crown race. The one that was with the fork was very beat up and seemed too big for the steerer OD. I have another race coming. The removal of the chrome crown topper decreases the stack height and the top nut doesn't reach the top race any more. I'll deal with it soon.

Fork work never ends @GTs58 !!

 

[ozzie]

That fork is looking good.

I found that the crown race on my 53 fork seated better without the chrome cover. The CWC forks like ours doesn’t have a stepped section like a Schwinn fork where the crown race fits, so the ID of the CR will be the same as the steerer at 1”. Hopefully the CR you have coming works for you.

 

[Miq]

@ozzie yea that's the issue with the race. The steerer stays at 25.7mm OD even where the race sits, but 1" races come in 26.4mm and 27mm ID usually. I'll see how the 26.4mm race I ordered fits but I bet there is going to be some slop...

 

[ozzie]

Someone on the forum will have a decent used headset with the correct race. @Krakatoa

 

[Miq]

New 26.4mm race arrived. I also picked up some 3M stainless steel adhesive tape and Hillman machine bushings.

I wonder if anyone has tried this before. The top of this crown / bottom of this steerer tube was a very small platform that was pretty rough. I stacked a couple of the bushings on the top of the crown to give the race a wider more stable platform to rest on.

I used the 3M stainless steel tape to shim the steerer tube to race interface (gap). The gap was less than a mm (0.7) so I wound 7 or so turns of the tape tightly around the steerer, smoothing it out as I went.

I removed 1 turn of tape at a time until the race just barely started to move down against the tape. It got really tight at the bottom, where the tape was not quite as smooth.

Then I set the race the rest of the way with a PVC pipe. It is tight against the bushings.

I don’t have any idea how well this will work over time, but right now this headset is solid and smooth. Way better than any of the mock-ups I did with the race that came with the fork. I‘m not sure if it was the OG race or not, since it also had a gap.

I’m happy for now. Stick a fork in this fork, it’s done until I go for a ride on it….