hello everybody. i wanna get mr. chinese frame guy
to make me a fork. will report back on build quality.

basically want a longer reproduction of the fork in the photos:

*axle-crown 405mm
*steerer tube 400mm
*v-brake studs, but NO disc mount
*drill thru both sides of crown for fender bolt
*double eyelets at the dropout
*mid-fork threaded eyelets for lowrider
*extra set of eyelets above them for h20 cage, cause why not.

BMC 23" frame, 22cm head tube
steerer tube with stem riser is effectively 380mm

have i forgotten anything?
if y'all was getting a fork made, what nifty stuff would you
want to add?

Nice, it seems you've got everything covered and then some, other than maybe a small compartment for a secret decoder ring.

Threaded Bosses in the fork crown , and have a better Mini rack Made to use them..

More offset for Lower Trail ? J bend tighter radius at the tip for a little more shock absorption?

U shaped Brake Brace to stiffen the V Posts against spreading in reaction to the braking force?

And/Or doubling the Tube wall thickness with a sleeve where the Brake Bosses will go..

I used a Pretty Thick wall tube for the blades *... that Improved the Braking.. on the front...

Thru the fork double mid fork braze on inside and Out to allow a Tubus Duo Front rack Type

* worked with the frame builder for Burly Tandems , and a Cargo Bike Builder , both in The same part of town at the time ..




....

I would get the Surly/Salsa 3 hole setup to be able to run Anything cages or some waterbottle holders. midmount eyelet for a rack too(making sure 1 of the 3 holes is the proper height would suffice, id assume).

I dont bikepack and dont have any interest in investing the crazy money to do it a few nights a year, but some of the ideas that have been put into production from bikepacking are creative and useful. 3 hole being one such example. <---not sure if that was created for bikepacking, but im sure someone here will happily correct me if I am wrong.

I would mention crown shape and blade shape. Any curve? How much?
Interval wires for dynohub?
What sort of load to expect. blade thickness?

Sunglasses mount?

thank you for the suggestions.

*i'm not planning on front bags, but would just have the option later.
will be "retiring" in thighland next year. plan is to take one or two
week trips in thai/cambo/laos every 6 weeks or so....interspersed
with touring thighland on a motorbike.

*not into "bikepacking", not really interested in camping with cobras
and landmines, but can see the utility of losing the rear rack to
get through narrow jungle trails. a couple water bottles on the
fork would leave more room for a huge frame bag in the 23" frame
with no sloping top tube.

*no wires, no dinohub, no lights/electronics. crown/blade will
be same as in the photo. lugged style wouldn't match the frame.

*there are rear racks available here in our china with a locking
removable (maybe not so) secret stash compartment. regardless,
i shall keep my sunglasses securely on a leash.

*i likes the idea about threading the crown holes! thanks! now
that you've brought it up, maybe thread the rear hole for the fender,
and braze on another eyelet on the front of the crown to mount
the center rack strut! (previously i had been installing starfangled
nuts in the bottom of the fork tube for extra bolt-on spots)

*and seeing as labor and materials are so cheap here, i could have
the guy (or just the local guys near my apartment) fabricate
some custom "anyhoo" cages (cromoly? alu rod?) imported stuff
is tooooo expensive! those salsa and blackburn cargo racks
are like $30 each and don't seem all that useful.

*great idea about the better mini rack! why stick with the tiny
minimally useful production models? maybe something about
10" wide (which would protect the fork-mounted h20 cages), with a
raised railing around the platform, and with some tiedown points
so's i can use a motorcycle 6-hook mesh bungee to secure gear,
and also integrate a brake stiffener into the rack.


maybe we should have a contest? y'all could submit ideas for
mini racks, we take a vote, and i'll have local dude make the
winning concept?

ummm, basically this...............38cm*27cm*11cm, wooden slat platform,
raised railing, dropout mount, with light bracket.....but i'd go for something
a bit smaller and without the wood.

($15 on taobao or can buy the whole bike for just over a hundred bucks.)

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm...2-e3db54f31250

**holy carp! he's got a chrome springer fork with v-brake studs for 30 bucks!!!***

or this really weird carrier, seems to be a german or swiss import.....
just add some bar ends....but would it work with an h'bar bag???

ah, of course....it's dutch.

Why don't you leave it up to any such person (or people) who might perhaps exist to respond instead of stirring the pot?

BTW...The OP lives and works in China.

huh? if you'd been following the threads, this was in reference to a
taobao advertisement for a chinese frame builder. he's a guy.
he builds frames. he's chinese. sooooo....that makes him
mister chinese frame guy.

regardless, i've never known a chinese person to feel being
referred to as chinese to be offensive.

there are many frustrating things about living in china, but
the paucity of snowflakes is certainly refreshing.

Reconsider the disc mount. You might decide to change in the future. Just maybe.

anyhooo....here's the plan. i'll write up what
i want in chinese and send it off the builder.

going with the 400mm steerer tube, cause a big stack of
spacers is too damn sexy. now i can dump both the inside
the fork tube riser and the bolt-on riser.

will have threaded eyelets on both sides of the crown,
for fenders and front platform rack.

will skip the disk brake mount. just so much extra
weight, and i've got a brand new deore hub that
should outlive me.

will have three threaded eyelets on each fork leg.

mid-fork eyelet will be 160mm from the dropout eyelet,
and will bolt on a tubus tara (clone). the next two will be
spaced at 65mm intervals above the mid-fork eyelet.

that lets me use a standard water bottle cage in the upper
position with small bottle when the tara has bags attached,
or can remove the tara and mount the bottle cage
lower with a large water bottle.

OK, but you have to state the rake/offset dimension too , that is still omitted..

in the details, i was just gonna ask him to reproduce (copy!) the crown and
blade shape/geometry from the windspeed fork i have now. was thinking it was
standard touring geometry, but i s'pose i can specify the rake, otherwise....

Barley malting floor @ the Brewery/distillery?

corn colonels drying on the concrete, yunnan.

chatted with fork dude this evening.
400mm tube, 12 braze-on threaded eyelets.
4130, black, no logos.
he can do it for $70.
will take about a week.

The retro bike pictures look really nice. However what issues will there be with the radial spoke pattern? Wheel rebuild shortly perhaps?

Your thoughts in this spoke pattern? My robust touring bike has 48 spoke in 4X pattern. Hence the 26" wheels are very strong.

none.

the cool bike in the photo is just that. a cool bike. it's for hanging on the
wall of your loft, the occasional toodle down to starbucks. sorta like those
awesomely awesome harley-branded lowriders.

$80 for a fork? that's insane, right?

the voices in my head are telling me to just buy
a new bike.

have my eye on this LKLM, 700C steel for $200.
700*48 (29*1.9) will fit per specs.

The fork on that frame doesn't have half of the stuff you are wanting on your custom fork. Just pointing that out.

I think I dropped about $100 for a Soma Fab. fork not that long ago but I'm happy with it. Quality long remembered after the price is forgotten.

dude, it's WINTER! it's time for dreamin' and shoppin'!

the temp's dropped to 25 degrees celcius, and it's been
drizzly rainy the past few days, and i'm stuck inside.

if there's anything i've learned on this forum, it's that
hyperthermia kills!

just gotta hold out another month.....7 week spring
festival vacation in thighland! woo-hoo!