Cool springer ideas?

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GTX

GTX

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I'm looking at putting together a junkyard front end inspired by the motorcycle setup pictured here...
I have several cannibalized full suspension bikes.Looks like the rear swing and shock would work for half of it.Trying to figure out if I need to order a cheap triple tree,or find a way to engineer the rest using scrap.If anyone has a photo of a similar setup that has been done on a bicycle,post it up!
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I made this using three old forks, a solid seatpost, a Schwinn front rack headset mount, Small Block Chevy valve springs (go to a machine shop, they will have a ton of them) a recipricating saw, drill, grinder and welder. Took a few hours.

I turned a stronger, short MTB fork backwards (this way the front end didn't stick way out). Made two rockers out of one of the forks, and used the other fork for rods. I cut the steerer tube off the fork and welded in a solid seatpost. The diameter if the seatpost was the same as a European BB cup. So that holds the springs that I tacked together. The steel rods I had where from a refrigerator grate I think.

About as rat as it gets. But it was free and I have taken the bike off 5 stair drops without it breaking.

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Nice! Thanks for posting the detail pix...I'm going to drag out some parts and see if anything lines up close enough to be usable.
 
I wrote to John Brain about making a set of those springers a while ago. He said he came up with the article about 6 or 7 years ago becuase he got all kind of requests from people to have him make forks for them. He thought if he made farely simple plans for forks then anybody could have a set. He said the design was a basic starting off point and that builders could make modifications to make it even better if they wanted too. he said he wrote it for the first time do it yourselfer. I think the finished springer looks good, like the one on the bike at the end of that article. I think there are alot of cool forks that people have made, I like the look of those leaf spring forks on cruisers.
 
Almost everybody that used John's plans finds out real quick that the two tubes going through the top plate need nuts welded in them and just a bolt hole drilled instead of the full size tube hole. If you build a set you will see the problem quick. Its a really good design and cheap to build.I'm sure he was aware of the problem , and I'm surprised he never changed it. Oh well they are a really detailed set of blueprints for free...can't gripe much.
 
Uncle Stretch said:
Almost everybody that used John's plans finds out real quick that the two tubes going through the top plate need nuts welded in them and just a bolt hole drilled instead of the full size tube hole. If you build a set you will see the problem quick. Its a really good design and cheap to build.I'm sure he was aware of the problem , and I'm surprised he never changed it. Oh well they are a really detailed set of blueprints for free...can't gripe much.
Click to expand...

It looks like John uses the three large holes on the top plates of all his spingers, like the way they did on chopper motorcycle springers in the 70's. I think the article mentions something about bolting the top plate to the main fork tubes if your going to use motorcycle risers. If your making a fork like the one in the article with a bicycle goose neck I dont think you would have any problems at all. That bottom fork plate would never bend or distort. I'm sure the main fork tubes would bend below that lower plate if you ran into a wall or something. he said it was basic for 1st time builders, and they could modify it as they needed. He must have come up with that article before you could get spingers from Choppersus? I'll have to read it again.
 
It says this in one part of that john brain springer article

"If you want to use motorcycle style risers on these forks you will have to put a threaded bung into the 1" fork tubes and weld flat washers to the top of the upper fork plate to cover the fork holes, so you can bolt them together. This way you will have a firm enough mounting to use motorcycle style risers. The springer build as shown is designed for use with a handlebar stem as normally used on threaded fork tubes."



You could do it this way or bolt the top plate on in your own way to get the job done. It's that do it yourself part. Maybe I should think of making one again lol
 
Dorian said:
Uncle Stretch said:
Almost everybody that used John's plans finds out real quick that the two tubes going through the top plate need nuts welded in them and just a bolt hole drilled instead of the full size tube hole. If you build a set you will see the problem quick. Its a really good design and cheap to build.I'm sure he was aware of the problem , and I'm surprised he never changed it. Oh well they are a really detailed set of blueprints for free...can't gripe much.
Click to expand...

It looks like John uses the three large holes on the top plates of all his spingers, like the way they did on chopper motorcycle springers in the 70's. I think the article mentions something about bolting the top plate to the main fork tubes if your going to use motorcycle risers. If your making a fork like the one in the article with a bicycle goose neck I dont think you would have any problems at all. That bottom fork plate would never bend or distort. I'm sure the main fork tubes would bend below that lower plate if you ran into a wall or something. he said it was basic for 1st time builders, and they could modify it as they needed. He must have come up with that article before you could get spingers from Choppersus? I'll have to read it again.
Click to expand...

On any of the triple tree springers , you can tighten the top plate to the legs. On his if you drill the top plate with three 1'' holes then the only thing holding the top plate on is the neck tube. It works, but if you drill just a small hole where the top tubes meet the plate and weld a nut in the top of the tubes , its rock solid. His design is really simple, and it was really nice of him to give it to the bicycle world for free. If you print and cut out all the pieces , its a simple build. Changing it a little will make it better.
 
The shock is easy, just use a mountain bike rear suspension shock. This is what I used for my girder fork.
 
Uncle Stretch said:
Dorian said:
Uncle Stretch said:
Almost everybody that used John's plans finds out real quick that the two tubes going through the top plate need nuts welded in them and just a bolt hole drilled instead of the full size tube hole. If you build a set you will see the problem quick. Its a really good design and cheap to build.I'm sure he was aware of the problem , and I'm surprised he never changed it. Oh well they are a really detailed set of blueprints for free...can't gripe much.
Click to expand...

It looks like John uses the three large holes on the top plates of all his spingers, like the way they did on chopper motorcycle springers in the 70's. I think the article mentions something about bolting the top plate to the main fork tubes if your going to use motorcycle risers. If your making a fork like the one in the article with a bicycle goose neck I dont think you would have any problems at all. That bottom fork plate would never bend or distort. I'm sure the main fork tubes would bend below that lower plate if you ran into a wall or something. he said it was basic for 1st time builders, and they could modify it as they needed. He must have come up with that article before you could get spingers from Choppersus? I'll have to read it again.
Click to expand...

On any of the triple tree springers , you can tighten the top plate to the legs. On his if you drill the top plate with three 1'' holes then the only thing holding the top plate on is the neck tube. It works, but if you drill just a small hole where the top tubes meet the plate and weld a nut in the top of the tubes , its rock solid. His design is really simple, and it was really nice of him to give it to the bicycle world for free. If you print and cut out all the pieces , its a simple build. Changing it a little will make it better.
Click to expand...

The way he made it in the article you would not have any stress on the top nut becuase your using a bicycle gooseneck. He did say to bolt the top plate to the forks in the article if your going to run motorcycle risers. I think that new repro Monark fork would put more stress on the top nut than that homebuilt springer would with a bicycle stem. If your bolting risers to that top plate then you'll want to mount that top plate to the forks, like he said. I'd like to mount the dropouts onto bronze bushings too. I guess thats another upgrade from the basic plan.
 
I'm making a leaf springer out of a golf cart spring! If you want to see it it will be posted in the build section sometime in the next week under the topic "Huffman build you dont want to miss!"
 
I'm nearly finished with my leaf spring . Started with a Monark Knee action springer , and golf cart leaf . I took out the fender mount and pressed in a ground 7/16 nut , then brazed it in . I added a piece to the bottom of the fork leg to get the wheel out a little , and used the struts off a BFK 20" springer , the bushings are for a Mopar , which I had plenty of at the shop for some reason :wink:Just need to finish the light bracket :D
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