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[toro1978]

There is a good reason why you don't see many home made forks.

 

[GoneFellow]

I think I’m on to something, but I’m still not 100% on the 90 degree bend in the forks. I feel like I need to brace it at the top. My gut instinct says I’m not all the way there yet but this is a better go at it.

 

[GoneFellow]

There is a good reason why you don't see many home made forks.

It’s definitely making me think. And I haven’t done myself any favours with my fork choice. I’m working on a idea to brace everything and adding a additional 2 or so springs at the axle. Fingers crossed with this go at it

 

[GoneFellow]

After a bit more playing around with the front forks I’m feeling a lot more confident. I have no idea though if it will help me or cause me new problems by putting absorb shockers at the axle. I guess I’ll find out soon.
But from scrolling around the internet and looking at grinder forks I stumbled upon a picture of a set of mtb forks use as the rear drop outs. It gave me the idea of putting springers on the rear of my bike. Lol but before I get to far ahead of myself I might try to tackle the front first.

 

[RustyGold]

That bottom style was a fairly common type of motorcycle rear suspension a hundred years ago. It works pretty well as you can adjust compression and rebound by swapping springs or dialing in preload.

Columbia was late to the springer front suspension game in the late 30s. To bridge the gap until they could design their own springer, they came out with an add on system for their normal forks (1939, I believe). They offered it for only a short time, but other companies offered similar bolt on suspensions post-war.

... definitely no rebound with this design, though you could add it by having another spring coming off the front of an extended rocker.

 

[GoneFellow]

That bottom style was a fairly common type of motorcycle rear suspension a hundred years or so. It works pretty well as you can adjust compression and rebound by swapping springs or dialing in preload.

Columbia was late to the springer front suspension game in the late 30s. To bridge the gap until they could design their own springer, they came out with an add on system for their normal forks (1939, I believe). They offered it for only a short time, but other companies offered similar bolt on suspensions post-war.

View attachment 157208

... definitely no rebound with this design, though you could add it by having another spring coming off the front of an extended rocker.

I’m discovering that all my ideas have been done before in one way or another, I’m trying to be original and think outside the box but after I started looking at grinder designs just to see how they work, I’ve found similar custom fork designs.

 

[GoneFellow]

I’ve been looking at my forks for a while now and they’ve been in this weird ugly stage. The bend on them didn’t suit the lines of the rest of the bike. And to me it wasn’t quite right. So I grab my spare set of forks and was just having a look at if they would work, but as I was playing around the answer hit me. And I think we’re through the odd bit of the build.

 

[RustyGold]

I’m discovering that all my ideas have been done before in one way or another, I’m trying to be original and think outside the box but after I started looking at grinder designs just to see how they work, I’ve found similar custom fork designs.

There has been a lot of people doing this for a long time in a lot of different ways. The individual components may have all been 'done before'...but the finished product, that is unique to you.

 

[GoneFellow]

I’ve been waiting for parts to arrive. I’m not sure where this is going, I definitely want to put them on the rear, but I’m not sure on the front. Springs on springs?

 

[OddJob]

The old Yogi Berra quote definitely applies here.
"If you come to a fork in the road, take it."

I like the curving lines you have going. Maybe after a test ride you will find out how all the mechanics work ( or don't work) together. Hard to tell without riding it.

SpriNg oN~!

 

[GoneFellow]

The old Yogi Berra quote definitely applies here.
"If you come to a fork in the road, take it."

I like the curving lines you have going. Maybe after a test ride you will find out how all the mechanics work ( or don't work) together. Hard to tell without riding it.

SpriNg oN~!

Thanks that’s a really good point, the back of the bike I need to bolt together so I may as well put the springs on there. I am concerned about the front forks and I already know that the small springs can’t go on the bottom of the forks, I put them there just for a concept idea. But my concern with the front forks is the “flop” of the wheel while cornering/turning. And the flow on effects of that.
The lines of the bike are coming together, but they are not the Elegant subtle undercurrent free flowing lines I originally wanted, this is mainly due to the 2 sets of factory front forks I’ve put on the bike backwards and upside down. They are a little sharper then I would have liked. But depending on how everything goes I might be able to soften the front end with a large fender, bring more flow through. But I’ll need to see how it looks as I don’t want it to be over crowded and so many things to look at that the ideas just get lost.
Sometimes less is more.

 

[OddJob]

Less, is almost always, more. One of my mottos for custom bike building is:

" Always quit before you think you are finished." It's easy to go too far.

 

[GoneFellow]

Well I’m the stage where I can’t fit anymore on to this bike and it’s starting to look a little busy. And I’m not overly happy with the lines of the bike as they don’t flow the way I want. I’m sure I can fix this with having curved handlebars to suit the flow of the bike and make your eyes follow the lines down the bike.
The front forks I still have a lot to work on and I might go back to a early design and remove the small springs or reconfigure them.
At the rear of the bike the suspension makes the old frame get in the way of the chain, for the moment I’ve crossed the chain over to give me clearance, but as I’ve never done that before I’ll need to look into how that works correctly or adjust the placement of the suspension. I did have my heart set of having the pivot point towards the front of the bike at the end of the gold tubes, but I may have to let go of that idea.
The additional springs under the seat I throw on just because I had them sitting around and I may lower the seat but I’ll need to see how comfortable the riding position will be.

My focus now is to refine everything to make sure it’s comfortable and functional

 

[GoneFellow]

Sometimes going backwards means moving forward

 

[hamqqea]

Well I’m the stage where I can’t fit anymore on to this bike and it’s starting to look a little busy. And I’m not overly happy with the lines of the bike as they don’t flow the way I want. I’m sure I can fix this with having curved handlebars to suit the flow of the bike and make your eyes follow the lines down the bike.
The front forks I still have a lot to work on and I might go back to a early design and remove the small springs or reconfigure them.
At the rear of the bike the suspension makes the old frame get in the way of the chain, for the moment I’ve crossed the chain over to give me clearance, but as I’ve never done that before I’ll need to look into how that works correctly or adjust the placement of the suspension. I did have my heart set of having the pivot point towards the front of the bike at the end of the gold tubes, but I may have to let go of that idea.
The additional springs under the seat I throw on just because I had them sitting around and I may lower the seat but I’ll need to see how comfortable the riding position will be.

My focus now is to refine everything to make sure it’s comfortable and functionalView attachment 157956View attachment 157957

This build's crazy, I'm like whoa! The head tube angle is going to make steering fun.

Are you aware by crossing the chain you have to pedal backwards to move forward?

 

[toro1978]

Killer chainguard. What is the plan for the rack, is it going to stay tilted like this?

 

[GoneFellow]

This build's crazy, I'm like whoa! The head tube angle is going to make steering fun.

Are you aware by crossing the chain you have to pedal backwards to move forward?

LOL Yes I realized after I crossed them. I’ve seen it done before on a bike that had multiple cogs and chains. I did it for the clearance factory but then when I was looking at how it works I worked out you’d pedal backwards to move forward. Which I thought was ironic at this stage of the build.
I haven’t actually put any thought into the angle of the head tube but I can see where your coming from, in all honesty the functionality of this bike is yet to be tested and from there I will adjust things accordingly, while trying to maintain the overall look of the bike, I don’t think I could bolt on any more stock bike parts, with the bike already having 2 sets of forks on it and a additional rear end bolted on with spring the bike is full and potentially a little to busy. But I’ll refine it from here.

 

[GoneFellow]

Killer chainguard. What is the plan for the rack, is it going to stay tilted like this?

If the rack makes the cut back onto the bike it will be on a angle but not as harsh. It was originally on a slight angle. I like it and thought it gave the bike attitude, but now with the forks being the way they are, it could already have enough attitude

 

[kingfish254]

There is some wild egghead junior stuff going on here.

 

[GoneFellow]

I don’t know how many times now I’ve broken this bike down and rebuilt it. Every idea, or tweak to the build results in either the complete front coming off or the back. Trying to find that sweet spot where I’m happy is so close but yet so far. I keep reminding myself that in the bike game a millimetre changes everything and that could be the difference between a part fixing and working to just another seat post or stem to add to my collection. I know I’m close. With the front wheel I tried a experiment were I attached a counter weight to the rockers and by moving it up and down the wheel was able to move back and forth. By doing this you could feel where the wheel would move freely to where it was heaviest. To far forward or backwards would make the steering heavy. I didn’t record any of the information because I thought one of my issues was the rear suspension making the back higher then the front and readjusting the springs to there finally place would throw everything out.
At least with the front forks I have a bit more of a plan then just throwing mud at a wall and seeing what sticks.