Billet's used all the time for custom parts in motorcycle and auto-racing all the time, handlebars, fork triple-Ts and clamps, rearsets and pegs, suspension A-arms, steering-knuckles, etc. The design's more important for strength and durability than the raw material. Use Solidworks with linear-FEA and you can figure out the stresses pretty easily. Just add a little extra material on the flanges outside of the holes and you'll be fine (about 5mm should do). Be sure to angle the flanges in to aim at the rim.
Originally Posted by phantomcow2
but i dont see much in the way of axial loads to encounter, except maybe on turns
Axial loads are mimimal, even in cornering. That's because you lean and loads are still radial. Axial loads would only be a issue in a trike or something that stays upright under cornering like a car.
If you really want to deal with axial loads, you can use angular contact bearings:
. Page 1019 of
McMaster-Carr catalog
or tapered roller bearings:
. Page 1022 of
McMaster-Carr catalog