Yeah, Chris built my fork custom as well, and when I was talking to him about it, he mentioned that all of the old BOI and Yo Eddy forks floating around (and bringing in huge $ on ebay) were not heat treated and that he couldn't convince Chris to spring for that back in the day.
I also recall that the first forks didn't have that teardrop gusset on the back and they broke, so they added it (I think that story was told here, maybe by Scott B?). So when mine didn't come with the gussets (I didn't ask for them either, just told him I wanted a segmented fork with 1990 Wicked Geo) I assumed it was because the modern heat treated steel didn't need it. After all, Chris probable built all of those old forks, so if anyone would know - it's be him!
rmp
Finally sorted my cable hanger woes with this bulky looking, but very functional Campy part. Routed the front cable with a v-brake noodle, no flex and finally dialed in.
I've had similar thoughts about modifying stems, but for length.
When I originally discussed the fork with Chris I also asked if he could modify the T-bone stem that came on the bike. It was crazy long, like 140cm or so, it had the cable guide hole on the top that would have worked nice. He said it was possible, so i sent it to him with a hand sketch. He called back saying that it wasn't a good idea because it would compromise the strength of the stem and would be cost prohibitive. Then he dug up the cool Salsa I ended up with.
Back on subject. If someone if determined to add a cable guide I would think drilling a small hole though the top, then maybe a larger dia hole only through the top of the stem to support an alloy fitting might be the least invasive. Not sure if it would weaken the stem.
I'm just thinking out loud. Certainly there are others here that would know far better than me.
Hate to bust your bubble but Chris I had left Fat City and was doing his own deal in Maine before the first Yo Eddy was built. He did weld some box crown forks and he may have done a couple of prototype segmented forks but he would not have done any production forks. All of the Yo and BOI forks were welded by George Reynolds, Dave Blakeney, Sue Kirby, and Patrick. I did a few, but not that many. I believe I welded all of the segmented road forks that came out of Somerville, but some of those could have been done by others.
I was also a strong proponent of heat treating the Yo forks. We did some fatigue testing after some early cracking and that did lead to the tear-drop gusset so Chris decided against it.
Happy Holidays to all
Scott
I love it when people come up with clever solutions using existing parts (ie the V-brake noodle.) Oh yeah and the blue with white tires is stunning.