There’s a fair amount of latitude, but ideally there shouldn’t be any play at all." "Also, you should stand with your legs on each side of the front wheel and twist the bars against your legs and feel for play. When forks have been abused like this, they need to be stripped and have the worn surfaces built up with weld. In fact, all it does it mask wear and it damages the side plates. "People do that sometimes thinking it will take up wear and/or hoping to slip the bike through an MOT. But take care that the side plates on the girders haven’t been overtightened. "You need to watch the side plates too and look for uneven lateral movement. It’s important to load up the bike a little to replicate how the forks behave under load, and not how they behave in the garage. "Earlier bikes without a front brake really need two people for this check. You need to watch the upper spindle areas and listen for any clicking. "The best way to check the forks is to fit them to the bike and rock them back and forward whilst applying the brakes. I make front wheel spindles too where required." "I supply some spare parts, such as spindles and bushes for people to recondition their own forks. But I’ve got plenty of experience and lots of reference material and can usually work out what’s what. There are hundreds of forks out there, and even for an expert it’s not always easy to tell one from another. "People often send me pictures for quotes and appraisals, and I’m happy to do this. The price is between £200 and £250, and the work includes new knurled washers, friction discs, and pretty much everything that wears and looks tatty. "I offer a fixed price for re-bushing and re-spindling the more common types of girder forks, such as BSA M20/M21, Norton and Velocette Webb types. "The work back then was mostly straightforward reconditioning of spindle bushes, but I now re-tube and remanufacture forks, and also There were various jigs to be built and equipment to be sourced. "Steve had amassed a considerable collection of girder forks and needed an engineer to help develop the business. It was 1990 when I began working with Steve. Currently I run a Ducati 250 café racer and a BSA B50 fitted with a Rotax 500cc engine. My older brothers all had British motorcycles, while I had Italian machines mostly.
Motorcycle girder front end how to#
Now trading under his own name and operating from a workshop in Hastings, East Sussex, Jake explains some of the intricacies of the girder fork and shows how to maintain and get the very best from them. Steve died in 2002, leaving Jake to continue the business which has gone from strength to strength. ▲ Jake inspecting his replica Castle girder fork in his workshop-an old blacksmith's foundry near Hastings in East Sussex.Įmail: Robbins began his career as a girder fork engineer working with the late Steve Burniston, the man behind Elk Engineering. Jake Robbins talks about his girder fork engineering business, and shares his insight into girder forks care, repairs, maintenance and manufacture Jake Robbins Girder Forks Repairs & Manufacture
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