JC Higgins Poor Designed Springer Front end

[Hemihead]

I just rebuilt the lower fork plates on my wife's 1950 JC Higgins Colorflow. There was a lot of movement where the shoulder bolts interfaced with the fork plates. This made the front wheel move around when turning..bad!
I machined new bolts and reamed out the plates. There is still some wheel movement (at the plates that seem to be flexing) but much better. I have seen strut rods going from the handlebars to the fork. Is this just a poor design?? Compared to the Schwinn style springer?

 

[Hemihead]

Does anyone read these post??

 

[Captain Awesome]

I’ve only ridden one of those and I think there’s a lot of torsional force on that plate when turning or putting stress on it.

Not sure who’s riding one on here currently

 

[Wildcat]

The first classic bike I worked on was a 1955 X-53, it had two springs but had the same flanges as a beehive springer. Even though the flanges were in good condition, you could move the front wheel back and forth with an inch or two of flex. I tried that with later springers of the same kind, same amount of flex.

 

[Oak Tree]

I have one that I flipped the flanges and connecting rods over for a more rat rod look.
I love it. With ape hangers cruising low and slow, baby
Oh wait. You were asking about flex and bad design. I’ve got nothing on that topic.