Currently working on Blue Bamboo's front end.
Already replaced the bike's original rim braked Stingray 24" 40 spoke wheel and cracked tyre with a new 36 hole rim freshly laced to a Sturmey Archer 90mm drum brake. Non of S/A's brake fulcrum arm clamps are designed to fit fork legs of so large a diameter as the Stingray's, so I needed to source a suitable fork leg clamp. Clearance issues between the brake's fulcrum arm and fork leg meant I had to shorten and drill the fulcrum arm and turn up an alloy spacer bush to fasten the arm to its new clamp.
New front tyre is a 24x2.35 Schwalbe Crazy Bob. As things sit, this wheel tyre combo leaves 5mm clearance between tyre and lower fork brace. A miss is as good as a mile they say, but I'll still file a little material off the centre flange of the brace for a little extra tyre room.
Never been a big fan of triple tree style forks, so I knew I wanted to work them into something else. Considered using another springer like on my Indian boardie tribute, but couple of points re that idea; First, I could see that plan being a non starter on account of how l-o-n-g the fork tube is on this frame. Secondly, I didn't want to go over the same ground and use forks I already had on a previous build. So to ring the changes, I'm playing around with ideas to convert the bike's original forks into something more springer vibey. This is a custom - so I don't have to follow any rules...
I've combined the original forks with a nifty set of multi-adjustable cnc'd alloy riser parts, two lengths of 22.2mm dia. stainless tube and a pair of rubber fork gaiters. Still have to figure how I'm going to fasten the lower legs of the s/s fork tubes to the axle nuts - thinking rod ends for now. Pics show where things stand, fork-wise, for the time being. Pic also shows the new wide cruiser bars I'm going with. The bike's original bars attached via a pair of clamps fitted atop the upper fork brace, but those clamps are now being used as upper attachment points for parts of the new 'springers'. These new handlebars will attach to the steerer tube via a new stem riser and 32mm ahead - or in this particular case, astern - clamp, resulting in a
very pleasing and comfortable ride.
Look closely and you'll see work on converting the frame to look like bamboo has begun. I'm using half round brass stock, suitably formed into rings using my rolling bars. After annealing, these are easily clamped around the frame tubes. When the time comes, each ring will be blended-in using a little body putty to create a more natural profile. Three different sized tubes used on this frame means I need to produce three sizes of brass rings. Time consuming, but I'm hoping the resulting frame, once repainted to look like exotic blue bamboo will be an eye-catching feature.
