- an article in AMCN is on the way......This is Laurie Smith's latest project, and is an improved version of the first girder front-end that he built for the CBR400/Blackbird hybrid.
Not sure what a girder front end is ?? here is a picture of a set of typical girder forks. A similar design was used on the Vincent 60 years ago....
Laurie built a version of these forks for his hybrid track bike, but this version used the stock steering head and s/head bearings of the original frame. He then decided to knock up a complete front end for an R1. This involved cutting the entire steering head off the frame
, and replacing it with his own design. I will copy that story across from CanberraRIDERS shortly.......in the meantime, here are some photos from todays most excellent strop out the back of Anarchy Road
Laurie looking very happy with his new ride......
A close-up side view of the girder fork. Milled from solid billet....
Detail shot from the left, showing the massive new billet steering 'head' which has replaced the entire R1 steering head ...
Close-up of that milled billet section.....
Close-up detail shot of the left-hand side. That is an Ohlins TTX shock, fully adjustable - sourced from a Quad.
Front view. Those girder blades are......chunkylicious !!
View from the cockpit. That big flat panel in the centre is the solid top-plate. The top of the Ohlins shock mounts on the side, to the right.
Gos about to go for a strop......
This bike was amazing to ride. It felt like a normal bike, but with some subtle differences and some massive ones. It had a really nice light feel about the steering, and it also had a self-centering affect when you came out of corners and straightened the bike up.....a bit hard to describe, but felt good. Under brakes - solid as. Laurie has built a small amount of 'dive' into the front-end under brakes - it is possible to have none at all - but you need a bit just so things feel 'normal'
- but really, you could reef into the brakes hard without any loss of suspension travel or feel. *That* - felt a bit weird. The TTX Ohlins used, works very well......Through corners ? - it was only a short 5-minute strop, but plenty of good corners in that 5 minutes
, and the bike behaved impecably through every corner. I wish I could have this bike for a whole day !! With some new Pirelli Corsa's fitted, there was no problem with the rubber - I got really comfortable on this bike within 30 seconds of climbing on board, and was comfortable with punting through this stretch at the same pace as the Barge........perhaps even a tad quicker It was amazing to think that you could do better than telescopic forks - but this girder front-end works. I am no *tester* by any stretch of the imagination, but in 5 minutes, well it convinced me that girder front ends can work.....
An absolute credit to Laurie's skills as a designer and builder. I can't wait to get this bike up to Wakefield Park for a decent strop, he will be up there this weekend but I have already committed to a weekend away on the piss for a 50th !! aaaah well , next time.....
