UnFair Lady

[GuitarlCarl]

Ren, if your springer is like mine they have slots on the inside of the spring cup that the struts line up in, effectively keeping the spring cup from being able to tilt down. I moved my struts outside of the cup allowing the downward tilt it needs to line up the spring to the sidebolts.

Carl.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I follow what you're suggesting, but moving the struts outside of the slotted stops wouldn't help anything here.

The spring bolt is fixed at 90deg to the mount. So nothing would move unless you changed the angle of the mount. But if the mount was bent to the point that the holes at the top of the fork legs intersected the spring bolt it would be at such a steep angle that the spring would be rendered useless.

It's hard to understand with just words but this picture should help.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

Yeah I remember I did need to do that to mine. I put it in a vice and beat on it. I don't have it anymore or I'd go look at it. Rock n' Rollfast has the same springer too but the bolts all line up. I did check that one...

Carl.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

I think this ‘bent’ fork is also called an ‘extended’ springer.
They make a 90 degree bent fork ring to compensate for the new geometry

Example link:

https://www.bicycledesigner.com/lowrider-bike-parts/extension-springer-fork-crown-ring.html




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[Chad T]

Could you bolt the fork together with the spring mount inside of the strut and fork tubes so it could be tilted forward to allow you to get to the proper angle?...

Does look cool on there. Dr-T's solution looks workable too if you can flip it.

Found another guy with the same problem. Not a very elegant solution though.

Looks like these forks might be set up more for 20 inch boys bikes with the shorter head tube.

 

[RustySprockets]

Can the top mounting bracket be inverted so that it bends down rather than up? Not sure if that would fix the situation, or just cause more problems.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The link that Rob posted only tells half of the story. The part shown is to be used with an extended fork crown which changes the angle.

The solution in Chads photo works because the action of the fork doesn't change. That is one viable solution but not very strong in my opinion.

To me the one thing that makes the most sense is that the top of the fork legs need to be extended. The fork pivots on the middle hole (the fixed point) and the action at the top needs to be in line as much as possible with the spring. The movement is in an arc so the cup part also pivots slightly at the top of the fork and the rubber bushing compresses to make up the slight misalignment as it moves.. This is the geometry that makes it work!

Maybe this will help to visualize what I mean. The green point is where the top fork hole should be which would place the cup back in the correct position. The red point is where the problem is!

I'm thinking that Chad may be right about the forks being for a 20" shorter head tube. The manufacturer probably used the same tooling to stamp the top two holes and just extended the bottom section to the dropouts so that a 26" wheel would fit.

 

[Wildcat]

I had an old Schwinn springer I added to my 53 Meteor. It didn't fit exactly, the head tube must have been a half inch longer than what it came off of. I thought all Schwinn cantilever frames were the same size, except for the king size. So, I just ran it like that, but you can see the same thing as mentioned above but to a lessor extent, it needed the arms to be a tad longer. The spring didn't line up just right.

Then I got one of the sunlite springers for my Hawthorne. It was just luck that it fit with a spacer at the top, there's no room for adjustment. If your frame is too small, then it can be managed, but taller, will take some fabrication.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Problem solved.

I made these temporary 'shackles' and everything lines up now. I will make some nicer looking permanent parts later now that I have a pattern for the holes.

It seems like this could be strong enough as it is, but to be fully confident in the strength, I will probably make the final pieces with three holes therefore making it completely rigid again.

 

[ParkRNDL]

Problem solved.

I made these temporary 'shackles' and everything lines up now. I will make some nicer looking permanent parts later now that I have a pattern for the holes.
View attachment 109168 View attachment 109167

It seems like this could be strong enough as it is, but to be fully confident in the strength, I will probably make the final pieces with three holes therefore making it completely rigid again.
View attachment 109169

Shackles! OMG I just flashed back on the leaf springs on the old Chevy Nova I had in high school.

 

[Chad T]

Great solution! Was wondering if adding the extra holes would be necessary. Might be ok.

Technically it's a triangle since the bottom of the struts and forks meet at the same point.......looks like the shackles would pivot at the bolts but I don't think they will....Take it off some sweet jumps and see what happens..

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Shackles! OMG I just flashed back on the leaf springs on the old Chevy Nova I had in high school.

I had a Nova in high school also! A '66 Chevy II Super Sport, I wish I still had it. No shackles though.

Great solution! Was wondering if adding the extra holes would be necessary. Might be ok.

Technically it's a triangle since the bottom of the struts and forks meet at the same point.......looks like the shackles would pivot at the bolts but I don't think they will....Take it off some sweet jumps and see what happens..

I don't think it would weaken it by much, but the shackles as pictured above do make the triangle into a quadrilateral if you consider the pivot bolt a corner. I know that the fork is in one piece but if it were to bend (from taking it off some sweet jumps) it would be at that bolt hole. So to take away any possible failure at the pivot point, it makes more sense to go ahead and add the strength back by adding the extra bolt. At that point it becomes a triangle again!
Probably overkill.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Pretty much sums up my mind

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[OddJob]

That is you to a "T" Doc T!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

More muscle

 

[A.S.BOLTNUT]

 

[restodave]

OK, that looks like it would handle like a shopping cart.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

OK, that looks like it would handle like a shopping cart.

A shopping cart would out perform it tenfold. It's barely ridable.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

Rule 37-b ...must be barely rideable....

Merle.

 

[OddJob]

That 'handles like a shopping cart' dialog has me rolling in the aisles!

"Pick up in aisle 5, old guy ROFL"