Originally Posted by izgod
Thanks Joe-
I hadn't thought about hub brake, but I think you have a good point there. With the Ecospeed system, there is about 15 lbs of added weight, and with the speed and weight, it's really a mess stopping in the rain with the rim brakes. I expect I'll be going through rims and brakes until I make a change.
Could you tell me the difference between "ballistic fork" and "springer fork?"
I'll be having this modification done by a bike shop, as I don't feel comfortable with head sets and forks, but so far have been unsuccessful finding someone who will do the work. Two shops close to home turned it down flat. But they've given me a hard time in the past, just because it's recumbent. There's a recumbent dealer in Philly that actually builds custom bikes, so I'm pretty sure he'll be able to help me, it's just a matter of getting me and the bike there since I don't own a car. I might break down and get a U-Haul van.
Thanks again for your insightful reply. This forum is such a great resource, and it's fun too.
Happy trails!
John
I made a capitalization error, Ballistic fork-a brand of fork using 1990's mountain bike technology- Ballistic is the best known manufacturer that makes one for 16" size wheels.
I couldn't locate a 16" Ballistic fork, Here is an example of a 20" Ballistic brand fork:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WD1V
Usually someone has 16 inch Ballistic fork on ebay, unfortunately none at this instant.
Springer fork is an older (pre world war II till 1970's) technology steel fork-still used in cruisers, lowriders- that has two pairs of prongs, one of which pivots the front axle about an arcate path with a focal point on the other prong pair. A compression spring acts on the opposing end relative the axle. The Springer fork will be about 1-1.5 lbs lighter than a mountain bike fork, but will be undamped.
Here's a 20 inch springer fork:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...538031428&rd=1
Here's a page that includes 16" springer forks:
http://www.masterlowrider.shoppingca...age/396410.htm
Changing the front wheel and fork will create some plusses and some minusses in the bike.
I think you may have difficulty getting a shop to make such a modification on liabiility grounds because of the minusses. You probably would need make such a mod yourself. I would also wonder how strong the head tube is on a bikeE and whether it could handle the stresses-the other bikes that people have done this were generally chromoly steel. There are some BikeE user groups out there in which you are more likely to have found someone who has tried this with a BikeE.