Measuring fork rake
I've messed around with various methods of measuring fork rake. I'm really liking this one. It seems accurate and repeatable. The pics don't show it but I tried it on two different forks, and I measured them with the rake going to my right (as shown) as well as to my left. All the measurements were very close.
The fork shown was designed to have 66mm of rake, but it's 67.5. The other fork was supposed to be 45, but it's 43.
I'm disappointed that the errors are in opposite directions, because it means that I can't blame the calibration of my jig... What can I blame?
This image shows a 1" bar mounted in my fork alignment fixture, and a Brown & Sharpe magnetic block sitting on my table.
The 1" bar is from a Thompson linear bearing, so it hardened and ground and very straight.
I've used that bar to see if my home-made alignment fixture is holding the fork steerer tube(s) parallel to the table. I can only see a few thousandths of an inch deviation in height from one end of the bar to the other, so I'm satisfied with that.
Measuring fork rake
I've messed around with various methods of measuring fork rake. I'm really liking this one. It seems accurate and repeatable. The pics don't show it but I tried it on two different forks, and I measured them with the rake going to my right (as shown) as well as to my left. All the measurements were very close.
The fork shown was designed to have 66mm of rake, but it's 67.5. The other fork was supposed to be 45, but it's 43.
I'm disappointed that the errors are in opposite directions, because it means that I can't blame the calibration of my jig... What can I blame?
This image shows a 1" bar mounted in my fork alignment fixture, and a Brown & Sharpe magnetic block sitting on my table.
The 1" bar is from a Thompson linear bearing, so it hardened and ground and very straight.
I've used that bar to see if my home-made alignment fixture is holding the fork steerer tube(s) parallel to the table. I can only see a few thousandths of an inch deviation in height from one end of the bar to the other, so I'm satisfied with that.