Is the front wheel not centered in the forks?
 

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/5291/wheelfrontcs3.gif

I measured the wheel spacers and the left one is 7mm longer than the right one. Am I measuring something wrong?

Does this mean the calipers on the left fork is offset 7mm to the right?
Because it sure doesn't look that way.

Well, you have missed a few measurements... The spacers aren't the same, and neither are the surfaces the mate too... You torque the whole thing together to make a solid piece with the axle, spacers and bearings... That means you clamp it in one direction... As you do that it's centered...

I missed something?
I'll check again tomorrow once the workshop is open. I left the bearings and everything intact just to make it simple but the spacers were jutting out too much so I removed them. I'm trying to determine caliper position relative to wheel center but if that's not what it seems to be I may end up screwing my discs when building my forks. Should I just center the calipers on the disc and calculate my way backwards from there?


Wait, this is getting confusing. When I reassemble the wheel back into the forks, torquing them together will compress the forks at one end, won't that move the calipers out of alignment?

Before you start confusing yourself completely (you don't seem to need my help much... ;) ) Take a look at the step by step in the service manual for putting the wheel in... They can explain it better than me, since they are cheating and using images...

But essentially, fact is that the wheel is centered in the fork, the calipers and rotors are mounted symmetrically in the fork... And no, you don't compress at one end, the fork legs flex equally...

The assymetric part is in how the axle is mounted in the forks, it slips inside in one end with the wide part, then you lock it and torque the other end until you have made a solid connection all across between the legs... I'm not entirely sure, but it could also be differences in how deep the bearings sit...

Why not make it easy on yourself? Use the existing forks? And if you for whatever reason need another fork (lenght, springs), find a mathing parts one and bolt it up to the matching wheel... No need to re-invent the wheel, pun intended... You are trying to build a bike, not make a drawing of the parts on this that you throw away... Correct?

Or to simplify... Take the measurement between the rotors, and center that in the fork you are building and you are good... Why make things more complicated than they need to be?

If there is one thing I have learned from working with drawings a long time... Don't ever do what you are doing, basing a measurement on another measurement... You end up adding together all your errors in the end... Start with one point, and measure individually from there and then verify the measurement the other way... Ie use the centerline of the wheel as a common reference...

Agreed - the spacers are different but the forks are centered in the forks.