"New School" Springer Fork

[Vonpotter]

So I've been kicking around the idea of chopping up the rear suspension of a cheapo mountain bike to make a long, cool looking front suspension fork somewhere in the vein of a springer. This idea may not be the most functional, but in the end, I think it might look cool if nothing else.

or add a couple more trusses and set it up like this:

The trusses will probably end up hooking in on my stem or handlebar. Any suggestions? has anyone else atttempted this?

VP

 

[kngtmat]

8) That is very interesting.

 

[jackdaw]

I think devon_science made a similar fork, turned out well. Definitely worth pursuing, I would think.

 

[Vonpotter]

searched for anything by devon_science. Couldnt even find him as a user...

 

[jackdaw]

Sorry, that's 'cuz i misspelled it :lol: .

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=49541&p=485913&hilit=deven+science#p485913

 

[Vonpotter]

Ah. Similar indeed. Hopefully he'll chime in soon

 

[deven_science]

Uh, HI!

First, don't you hate when you think you've got an original idea, only to find that someone else has done it? It's happened to me several times on this wonderful site.

Yes, the Frank bike has a MTB rear as a front springer. It functions quite well, actually, and gets comments wherever I take her. I didn't use a front fork at all, as your first mock ups do, but used the entire rear as the front, welding the rear up to a fork headtube that I had diced up. Took a lot more work than I thought it would to get it just right, but she came out well.

I'll definitely be watching this, to see what you might do with this.

 

[Vonpotter]

I didnt want to use a rear triangle. I wanted to still use a fork, because it will look more "rod like" and the curvature of the fork will give it a nice stance methinks. No real way to tell until I get something mocked up later this week. I drew up a sketch this morning for my "springer bracket" Gonna send it to my auto-plas guy later this week. I'll post up the sketches at lunchtime.

The frankenbike looks pretty sweet. How does it feel in terms of suspension? Does it actually work? I really don't care, like I said earlier, but I can't help being curious.

The bike I'm mounting this on is actually just a cheapo Walmart cruiser. I liked the frame though, and it was a good basis for a build. The bike will be flat black with minor hints if rust and copper. Im thinking about stripping the paint off the coil spring on this fork setup and letting it rust naturally for a little contrast up front (Flat black bike, Flat black fork, Black rims, black fatty tires) Gonna need a little color right? Keep your eyes open for a build in the near future

VP

 

[Vonpotter]

Did a mock-up of the longer idea. At first i just had the two sets of trusses coming from the spring. This was just too many swivels for it to work at all. So I added the vertical braces. The verdict? This long spring setup may look ultra cool, but the suspension is absolutley worthless. I expected this. Just wanted to try. The only way I can make the long reach setup work would be to carry it all the way above the stem. That may be the next phase.

So..... back to the drawing board. I apologize for my drawing abilities

VP

 

[kingfish254]

I am interested in seeing how your engineering shakes out on this beastie!!

 

[Bigcam59]

Did a mock-up of the longer idea. At first i just had the two sets of trusses coming from the spring. This was just too many swivels for it to work at all. So I added the vertical braces. The verdict? This long spring setup may look ultra cool, but the suspension is absolutley worthless. I expected this. Just wanted to try. The only way I can make the long reach setup work would be to carry it all the way above the stem. That may be the next phase.

So..... back to the drawing board. I apologize for my drawing abilities

VP

Just a thought...did you try reversing the spring position, like this?

 

[Vonpotter]

ya know, I thought about it, but If I were going to have the spring that close to the fork, I'd just build a more conventional springer fork using this same idea. The bike I'm going to be mounting this on will have a steampunk sort of theme. So the goofy spring farther out may not be the most practical thing in the world, but it fits the theme.

Who ever said Rat rods were practical ya know?

VP

 

[Vonpotter]

ya know, I thought about it, but If I were going to have the spring that close to the fork, I'd just build a more conventional springer fork using this same idea. The bike I'm going to be mounting this on will have a steampunk sort of theme. So the goofy spring farther out may not be the most practical thing in the world, but it fits the theme.

Who ever said Rat rods were practical ya know?

VP

 

[Vonpotter]

Digging up a way old thread here, but I figured I'd share the final results of my new school springer

yep. that's a 29er disk front wheel

 

[user 135]

Looks good. I assume it pivots much like the Schwinn style.

 

[kingfish254]

Sweet work there!

 

[Vonpotter]

Yeah. The steerer is actually from a springer. It pivots on the bottom of that.