Fork Repair Help

rustycase said:

lol

"and it didn't break yet."

They are really not supposed to break!

lol

Click to expand...

I know, I was sort of kidding, but after cracking my bottom tube almost completely in half, and bending my previous front fork, causing a spill, I am a little leery of speeds over 10mph.

I am definitely not a structural engineer, but the more I experience this home building and riding process, I have found that the stresses produced on the machine at speeds of 30mph or so continuously are really enormous.

I used to ride a motorcyle everyday, but after building my own stuff, I have a new respect for the amount of vibrations and stress transmitted to the machine over uneven ground.

I was watching an old Vincent motorcycle passing me on the 134 freeway towards Pasadena the other day. That back fender, back lights, and rear suspension were shaking like crazy, it looked like the fender might just fly off from vibrating so hard.

Anyway, when I ride behind my house I ride on old cement roads in the hills. A lot of climbing and descending, but also a ton of cracks, asphalt patches and otherwise super bumpy and vibrating terrain that has proved hard on my frame and other components.

Here are some low quality (sorry) pics of the new forks on the bike.

Thanks for all the help and comments,

Gilbert

Oh yah, I forgot to mention, I think I added more than 10 pounds to the weight of this bike with the new forks. I didn't weigh them, but they feel a lot heavier than the old ones.

I feel like a just keep adding more and more pounds to this thing. Its sort of the opposite of a race bike. I have never weighed the whole bike, but I think I might try to rig up some platform to perch the bike on a bathroom scale and get an approximate weight. It would be interesting.

Gilbert