So recently on my steel framed 29er I’ve got a kind of creaking/cracking sound coming from the forks occasionally when I go over something rough. On inspecting the forks I noticed that the inner eyelets on the fork are missing bolts, I bought this bike second hand and rather naively thought all the bolts would still be in place 😂
There is something rust in the thread, and now I’m paranoid that water has got into the forks and the sound I’m hearing in the metal of the forks beginning to rust through, do you guys have any thoughts on how likely this is? I’m hoping the sound I’m hearing is down to something less severe but can’t get the thought out of my head that the forks are going to fail when I’m riding! Thanks for the help
by pigginteabeak
3 Comments
Surface rust is normal on steel frames and most of the time it’s not an issue as it takes a shitload of time in extreme conditions for the steel to be structurally compromised. Your problem here is you don’t have the history of the frame, how it’s been treated/used and stored.
Does the fork has holes at the bottom for water to escape ? What you don’t want is for water to pool inside the fork for long amount of time.
In doubt, you can remove the fork, move it around to see if water comes out (hopefully not) and inspect the steerer tube. If water comes out and especially if it’s very dirty, maybe bring the fork to a shop so they can have a look. Chances are any creaking is actually coming from the headset not the fork itself, so inspect that as well. Then as the fork is removed, dry it completely : blow air on the inside or ideally put it somewhere dry and warm for a while. Then you can plug the holes with bolts and ride on.
That’s minor surface rust not structural.
Clean out fork and spray in some rust preventer for piece of mind.
Creaking sound is most likely from an attachment to headset. Retighten to spec and lubricate. May want to dissemble and clean/ lube/ reassemble
shoot some compressed air in there then some wd40…
if u have ATF around u can swish a tiny bit of that up where you cant reach to see if it’s wet, and it will displace water and temporarily protect hard to oil spots through capillary action, then add wd40 after or deal with the oxidation however you prefer