Front end fail

[Loose Nut]

Keeping myself humble, sharing my mistakes. I tried to make a leaf spring front a while back. I used bicycle forks, and a leaf spring from a old Ford. It seemed pretty solid and rode very nicely. One day, I was moving from the street to the sidewalk, and the there was a gap on the side of the sidewalk. The front tire dropped into that gap. I'm not real sure what happened after that. I went over the handle bars and tumbled down the sidewalk. But I was ok, yea! Then the bike landed on me. I carried the damn thing home with a broken hand and some good cuts and bruises. Near as I can tell, the front wheel bent just enough to jam it in the forks, then tumbling. I ordered a springer type front end, and a new wheel, and had the bike back on the road in a few weeks. Don't be like me kids. Overbuild everything.

 

[Racie35]

Was that a works man wheel?

 

[Loose Nut]

No, a regular steel wheel with a Puch moped hub. One of the things I now do, is double check spoke tightness after riding the wheel for a few days.

 

[grinningremlin]

Aside from the damage,...what a sweet bike!What kind is it??

 

[Racie35]

So....you got down in the slot like a slot car...but were trying to get on the sidewalk at anther angle....it folded then?

 

[butterbean]

This doesn't seem to have anything to do with the forks at all. Seems to me it was entirely the wheel's weakness.

 

[Loose Nut]

Something like that. On a bike when you are crossing a big crack, seam, railroad track ect, it's smart to cross it at a sharp angle: I didn't do that.