Crosbow Cycles

[DougC]

Gimme a couple more days on this, I'm putting together a good diagram of how I did mine.
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[Gimmick]

thanks a million doug, I am staring at them and the milk crate they reside in, and the several ace hardware brown bags that now accompany them, thinking...WHY do these have to look so cool, why couldn't i just buy some manitou shocks and be done, why must everything be cool...i am ridiculous

 

[DougC]

Okay maybe this will help.
Save it if you care at all, I delete old files now and then and after a while it may disappear at any time!
http://www.norcom2000.com/users/dci...s/recumbent/general/stuff/monark_forks_01.pdf
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[Gimmick]

you're a lifesaver doug...i will oder bushings from mcmasters tomorrow, di you just use the dimensions listed in your previous post,,,i noticed you listed the width of the bushing a 3/16...od is still7/16 with id at 5/16?

 

[DougC]

you're a lifesaver doug...i will oder bushings from mcmasters tomorrow, did you just use the dimensions listed in your previous post,,,i noticed you listed the width of the bushing a 3/16...od is still7/16 with id at 5/16?

I got all this stuff locally at a Lowe's. Any big hardware store should have it.

The bushings they carry are all 1/16" wall and fall on the even sizes. For any given size, they only sell one length. The size I used came longer--it was 3/4-inch wide I think--and I had to saw some short pieces off.

Also, the bushing has to fit around the bolt but inside the holes in the part #3 "axle carrier", so that's another way of making sure it's right.
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[Gimmick]

again...you are a huge help, im off to home despot now...i will get this done this weekend now crazy

 

[DougC]

Okay, I made a revision:
the bolt I used has a 5/16" shaft, but the head size is 7/16".
The PDF is changed [ver1.1 now] to reflect this info (hope nobody stumbled up on this... )

I was only thinking of the size of the hole it fit into, and it only occurred to me later that they're sold by the head size.....
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[Gimmick]

well, i fixed the dropout problem, thanks doug for your support on that, and now ive moved on to the latest episode of trouble, so i put in the heaset reducer shims, and the new headset, and insert the forks and low and behold, there is not nearly enough thread to mount these puppies, so...like the genius i is, i grind down the yoke some, to no avail, i finally grind it to as thin as I think is safe, and still, i cant get the top nut on the headset...dangit, so then i do what i should have done in the first place which is chop off the top 3/8 inch of my headtube above the top bar, bingo it fits like a champ...so i jump on, go to start it, and whammo the yoke bends like a taco, so now im stuck waiting for crossbow to hopefully sent me a new yoke...moral of the story, dont grind the head yoke...what a fool.

 

[Gimmick]

spoke with David Loihr at Crossbow cycles on the phone today, and he shipped a new yoke out at no charge, and none for the shipping either....seriously...I was in awe, it is great to see anyone stand up for the products they sell like that, especially considering that the failure was my fault and i told him so...so there you have it, more to follow upon arrival of the part...

 

[Gimmick]

Project completed

Well the head yoke arrived and i installed it without incident, and well, it is pretty darn cool. I will say this though. Using these forks is not for the non-zealous enthusiast. It was a LOT of custom work, between the headset reducers, cutting down the head tube, flipping the dropouts and grinding the dropouts, it was hardly a plug and ride event. That said, it was totally worth it, they look cool and function perfectly, not a lot of absorption of the bumps but a softer ride...i am mounting the fenders this afternoon, and will post pictures after that.