Need a front brake on springer forks?

[silverbear]

I could be wrong about that. My memory is not the greatest. Was your Schwinn springer a re-pop or an original one? Mine was from 1951. My memory (faulty as it is) suggests that the drum axle was bigger than the Schwinn axle and would have required drilling out the holes to accommodate the bigger diameter axle and as a judgment call I didn't feel there would be enough meat left if I were to do that. It would help if I could go look at the bike... but it is long gone.
SB

 

[SlowBalt]

You are correct about the axle. It fits modern repops but you have to enlarge the dropouts slightly on early forks.

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

Something that worries me a lot with some of the re-pop springer forks is that they have no proper bearing surfaces to speak off anywhere and their structure is pretty darn weak and doubtful even for a pedal bike, - never mind actually putting a motor into the mix.

My still unfinished Villiers lowrider is built around a very good quality lowrider frame and forks made to special order by a local NZ company that unfortunately didn't manage to survive the Great Recession. The forks not only have a brake bridge, but they also pivot on proper greaseable bushings. Ignore the Cheap-O-Matic stamped steel brake, it's only there until I find something better, but mounting it up and getting it to work was an absolute breeze.

A little later I ordered another lowrider springer fork from a mail order supplier and was shocked to discover it was no more than a collection of stamped out tubing pieces with raw unbushed holes for the main pivots and no brake bridge either. The chrome looked nice, but that was about all. The only part of it I actually used was the chrome spring which I swapped over for the painted one that came with my better quality forks.
These days I wouldn't buy another springer fork unless I could actually see it first and check that it's a quality item with proper bearing surfaces. Having a front fork twist up and collapse under you at speed is no joke and trying to hang a good brake on a junk fork is an accident waiting to happen.

 

[atombikes]

Intrepid-

That fork may be well-built; but the geometry is very odd. It appears to have such a large rake that the resultant steep headtube angle causes negative trail. Very undesirable at high speeds.

 

[silverbear]

Atom,
I don't know if you mean that one in particular or that type in general. I only experienced my 51 Schwinn example of the style and can't say that I really liked it much. I think it is another one of those things where the original design was for a pedal bike and might have been OK for that, but once we put motors on them and go faster we have kind of gone beyond what they were designed for.

Monarch style is supposed to be better, but I've never had one. I have used several different ones designed for mopeds, a Whizzer and light motorcycles and can say that they really do work. It is one reason I like to use moped and light motorcycle parts on builds when I can. They were designed to go 40 mph or more, so we aren't pushing those parts beyond their intent. I've noticed that even Worksman drum brakes are designed for a pedal application and not going at speed. The wheels are great, but the brakes are disappointing. Much better to use good moped drums laced into a Worksman or other wheels. My opinion for what it's worth... not a lot!
SB

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

Intrepid-

That fork may be well-built; but the geometry is very odd. It appears to have such a large rake that the resultant steep headtube angle causes negative trail. Very undesirable at high speeds.

With that geometry the fork actually has a very strong self centering effect as turning the handlebars raises the front end slightly. It does feel odd though and I certainly wouldn't call it a hi-speed fork either. The cheap stamped out chrome fork would have been worse because it would have flexed all over the place with it's lack of proper bearing surfaces and no brake bridge to provide additional bracing.
With my poor health my Villiers Lowrider is going to spend the rest of its days hanging up in my garage workshop as a pretty ornament so the question of how it handles isn't much of a concern anymore.