Hey guys,
From the interest I've received through email I thought everyone would enjoy a quick pictorial trip to describe how Alan's (Ti fat man) fork came to be. I did not take a lot of pics, but have a few so Alan could follow the progress.
First step was sourcing original materials. The Campy forged dropouts were cast in an Italian factory that ceased production two years ago. The availability of these has become rare as milk from boar's tits. Luckily, I was able to pry two pair out of a fellow framebuilder
.
I chose to go with slightly heavier wall tubing than the original BOI to stiffen the fork up laterally as I always thought it was a bit flexy. The steerer tube and crown ring were original equipment from a west coast supplier (promised not to name names
).
I built a custom fork fixture for the geometry of the segmented fork, adjustable for different lengths and rake to accomodate pre-suspension and suspension corrected lengths.
The most difficult aspect of the fabrication is the compound miter that joins the steerer tube and the legs, requiring precise machining on a very small piece. Had to make another jig to hold this crown piece in the mill to make the cut.
The teardrop tabs were hand cut and silver brazed on...a requirement for the original tubing but mere historical accurate detailing on these.
Final clean up and paint finish it off.
I ended up building two forks; Alan's Big One Inch and a Yo Eddy for my project.
Enjoy the pics...
cheers,
rody
Groovy Cycleworks
From the interest I've received through email I thought everyone would enjoy a quick pictorial trip to describe how Alan's (Ti fat man) fork came to be. I did not take a lot of pics, but have a few so Alan could follow the progress.
First step was sourcing original materials. The Campy forged dropouts were cast in an Italian factory that ceased production two years ago. The availability of these has become rare as milk from boar's tits. Luckily, I was able to pry two pair out of a fellow framebuilder
.I chose to go with slightly heavier wall tubing than the original BOI to stiffen the fork up laterally as I always thought it was a bit flexy. The steerer tube and crown ring were original equipment from a west coast supplier (promised not to name names
).I built a custom fork fixture for the geometry of the segmented fork, adjustable for different lengths and rake to accomodate pre-suspension and suspension corrected lengths.
The most difficult aspect of the fabrication is the compound miter that joins the steerer tube and the legs, requiring precise machining on a very small piece. Had to make another jig to hold this crown piece in the mill to make the cut.
The teardrop tabs were hand cut and silver brazed on...a requirement for the original tubing but mere historical accurate detailing on these.
Final clean up and paint finish it off.
I ended up building two forks; Alan's Big One Inch and a Yo Eddy for my project.
Enjoy the pics...
cheers,
rody
Groovy Cycleworks
