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Forkend
A flat piece of solid metal, with a notch or slot to receive a wheel axle. There is one at the bottom of each fork blade, and another pair at the junction of the seat stays and chain stays. Lower quality forkends are stamped from sheet metal; better ones are forged.
Rear forkends originally had the opening facing backwards, but in the 1930s, the "dropout" type forkend was introduced. With dropouts, the slot opens at the lower front, or, in the case of vertical dropouts, straight down. This makes for much easier wheel changes, since the chain does not need to be derailed before the wheel can "drop out" of the frame.
The old-fashioned rear-opening style fork ends are still seen on some single-speed bikes, mainly as a retro fashion statement. The revival of rear-opening forkends is an unfortunate fad, making the bikes that feature this design less versatile and less convenient than they would be if they used dropouts.
