Bent fork drop-out

[LegendRider]

I need some advice on repairing a slightly bent fork dropout for a friend. The bike, a Wilier Izoard, has a carbon fork with aluminum dropouts and a single dropout was bent in shipping so that the opening was "decreased" by approximately one mm. There is no evidence of damage otherwise, but the dropout will no longer accept a wheel. In other words, the bend is front-to-back, not lateral (I hope that description makes sense).

How can I safely "pry" the dropout open by a single mm? Thanks in advance.

[Cicli]

I need some advice on repairing a slightly bent fork dropout for a friend. The bike, a Wilier Izoard, has a carbon fork with aluminum dropouts and a single dropout was bent in shipping so that the opening was "decreased" by approximately one mm. There is no evidence of damage otherwise, but the dropout will no longer accept a wheel. In other words, the bend is front-to-back, not lateral (I hope that description makes sense).

How can I safely "pry" the dropout open by a single mm? Thanks in advance.

I would just file it to the proper opening. Bending it back can cause the piece to break off. Cast aluminum may bend but wont want to bend back.

[Louis]

How much material would you have to remove (via grinding or with a file) near the tip, to get the axle in? The benefit of doing that is that you won't be affecting the material near the base of the dropout, which is more important to you than the stuff near the tip, which really is just a guide, not something that carries any significant load. (Bending the thing back, on the other hand, would have some effect on the root material.)

Post a picture!

Re: Tihsepa's response posted as I typed mine - clearly brilliant minds think alike. ;)

[Dead Man]

I did this once... fork dropped out of the headset while chucked up in the stand (forgot I'd taken off the band holding it in place). I did a combination bending and filing.. I didn't want to wrench on it a bunch, but I also didn't want to go removing a bunch of material. As I recall, I used a scrap piece of steel and a hammer and just whacked it a few times, then just kind of deburred it with a file till the wheel would slip back in without any extra friction.

[mtechnica]

I agree that filing is the best option because bending the aluminum again WILL weaken it. It might be fine but I would probably always worry about it. If it were a steel fork I would probably put the fork over an old wheel or hub then use a crown race setter to open the dropout against the axle, then check alignment and file if necessary.