Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Q&A: pedal overlap

QUESTION:
Hi Jim,
I have a Marin bike with 700c wheels. When turning the front wheel it hits
the pedal if the pedal is horizontal to the ground and to the front. Could
this be right? The fork is nearly vertical with little clearance from the
down tube. It is hard to ride, too.

Thanks for your help,
Leon

ANSWER:
Hi Leon,
It sounds like the bicycle has been in an accident. Maybe someone ran into a
parked car? This would bend the fork and frame making the front wheel too
close to the frame and pedal (when it comes around). You can check for this
by looking at the frame top tube and down tube, the 2 tubes that meet the
head tube (the front frame tube that holds the fork). When a frame is bent
in a front end collision like this these tubes usually get buckled a bit and
you can see and feel the wrinkled paint and bulges on the bottom and top of
these tubes. You might also see damage on the fork legs so look there, too.
Sometimes the wheel won't get damaged at all so you can't go by that.

Unfortunately, if the frame and fork have been damaged like this, it may be
impossible to repair perfectly so it might mean you'll need to replace the
frame and fork, or bicycle.

Good luck,
Jim

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