Alan forks?

[Frank Krygowski]

A friend of mine has, among his many bikes, a nice Alan frame. IIRC, the
frame dates from perhaps 1990. Sorry, I don't know the model. He
acquired it when the original owner, another good friend, passed away.
I remember test riding it briefly when it was new. In fact, I recall a
lack of rigidity, such that in a sprint, I could see and hear the chain
scraping alternate sides of the Campy front derailleur.

Anyway: The current owner said he recently heard that Alan front forks
were prone to breaking. Perhaps not as bad as the ancient Viscount fork,
but still risky. I've never heard that, and searching online didn't
reveal any significant problem.

Does anyone here (i.e. Andrew) have any experience or definite knowledge
about this?

--
- Frank Krygowski

[AMuzi]

I don't have specific knowledge.

I have not seen a failed Alan fork but they do break at some
low but measurable rate. Not more than other bonded aluminum
forks anyway. I know a couple of customers riding 50 year
old Alans with original fork BTW.

p.s. The Viscount product suffered from casting voids which
is a different thing from rolled aluminum tube.


--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

[Tom Kunich]

One of the guys that rides with me has a 50 year old Vitus which is the same thing and he hasn't even had particularly bad flex problems.

[AMuzi]

On 8/6/2023 9:57 AM, Tom Kunich wrote:

It's not quite the same thing except 'made of aluminum'.

Vitus 979 has several technical advances over the 10 years
older Alan design not the least of which is a much stronger
fork blade to crown joint. Still, Alan's fork seems
adequate even if less than ideal, noting 979 forks are
significantly lighter.

[Frank Krygowski]

OK, thanks. I'll pass this along.

--
- Frank Krygowski