1971 Huffy Twin Stick Mag Wheel

[CRASH]

The fork legs were bought incomplete, meaning the work needed to make them usable hadn’t been done. The had been cut, bent and the ends pressed, but that was it. Then they sat around for years so had a good bit of corrosion on the raw metal.

First things first, I had to drill in some holes to mount an axle.

Which fits.

The length of the “feet” were uneven, but I’ll get to that. I put a bolt through the holes to check the bend and the length. The bend matched, which is good. But the length one one was slightly off.

So…

I don’t have an original to compare, but I didn’t like the corners of the pressed “feet”. So…

After some cutting and shaping…

I cleaned and shaped the top ends of the legs, then sanded the corrosion to make the legs smooth for plating.

The plates had need cut, but the edges were very rough.

So i belt-sanded them smooth so they’ll look better after plating.

One part I wasn’t able to get was a steer tube. Luckily I had a rusted fork that had some deep putting on the legs, so was sketchy. So…

Now it’s time to put the pieces together.

 

[CRASH]

I thought this might be just dirt, but it was corrosion and dirt under the original front fender.

So cleaned and polished it.

And of course the other side.

The original front brake, which won’t be used, still needed polished. So I did.

And put it back together.

The additions to this bike will set the original front end aside, but I still wanted to make the parts nice in case in the future the bike was returned to original.

 

[CRASH]

Steer tube to base plate…

 

[Chad T]

Copy Steer Tube. This is Base Plate. Read you loud and clear. Go ahead.

 

[CRASH]

Base plate, have arrived at rally point Bravo. Started team assembly when encountered resistance. Steer tube has come up short. Repeat, steer tube has come up short. Please advise, over.

 

[CRASH]

So, obviously, steer tube is getting court martialed and I will be promoting a new steer tube. I may even have to train a new recruit as base plate. We’ll see.

While taking with the owner, we’re going to set this bike apart with a couple of additional additions to the front end. One of them will require a cross brace across the legs. That will remove the flexibility in the legs to install or remove the wheel, so… I have to slot the ends.

 

[CRASH]

The welding of the replacement rim is done. First he filled in all 28 spoke holes and smoothed that out, so it looks like the original solid rim. Then he used my trying stand and make sure the wheel was true as he tacked all 6 legs in. He did a fantastic job!

With the covers set in place

 

[CRASH]

New recruit on board.

 

[CRASH]

Playing around with ideas on how to make a disc brake work on the fork. This may not be the rotor I use. I have a vintage one on the way, but at least this will help with concept work.

First and foremost, the caliper won’t align straight with the fork leg unless I want only the front part of the pads to grab. So it has to be rotated forward. Looks like I’m going to have to fab some mounts.

 

[Pondo]

Some really cool custom stuff going on here!!

 

[CRASH]

Plastic repair begins!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

What type of glue is that?

 

[CRASH]

What type of glue is that?

JB Weld for plastics. I’ve never used it, so hoping it’s strong and sandable.

 

[CRASH]

For mounting the disc brake caliper, I came up with this design. Can you see the cardboard template?

At work I found this piece of scrap

So I very artistically (like a 4 year old) traced it

And cut, shaped, smoothed, drilled and tapped the piece. Here it is sitting where it will go.

Once I get it welded to the fork I’ll do a lot more grinding and sanding to make it more of an organic extension of the fork leg.

 

[CRASH]

My guy attaching the caliber brace to the drag fork leg.

The result

Next I am going to blend it in and smooth it out.

 

[CRASH]

Smoothed out!

Next part is to actually build the fork!

 

[CRASH]

Next hurdle: we were going to tack the forks together, but realized by using a rear wheel with 135mm spacing, it was splaying the fork blades out. The holes on the plates are designed for an 88mm front hub like this.

So the answer is redesigning plates. Widening the distance between the holes so the forks can sit evenly at the wider space.

So these forks really will be even more one of a kind.

 

[CRASH]

I bought a rear 16” fender I found on EBay with no indents and only two brace holes.

So traced a round edge on both sides to cut out the mount and the holes and give me the maximum fender I could get, cut it, shaped it, and smoothed it.

And got a “street sweeper” for the front.

 

[CRASH]

Widened the plates by an inch.

I thought the larger size extruded too much, so I cut out the excess.

Going to get a steer tube welded on, then we’ll try assembly again.

 

[CRASH]

So we built a jig, and we’re using a Rail frame as part of the jig.

We built a clamp for the feet spaced exactly what the wheel is spaced and, and once we figured out what I hope is the best length, we tacked it.

And this is roughly the stance with the front wheel installed.

Sorry for the crappy lighting. Sun was setting.
Next step is to cut and shape a fender brace.