Just received my Sunlite Deluxe Double Springer. Paid about $125 on Amazon. Took about 3 days.
So anyways, its HEAVY. And comes with no crown race. It does have the land for one... Race of
my old Electra fork too hard stuck to get off in usable shape. Hopefully I picked the right size
PVC pipe to slam down the new race, 1.25". Won't know for sure till I get home tonight.
And also threaded slightly too tall for my frame, which is better than too short, but will affect
the final geometry. Making me wish for equally shorter springs to match how much 1" threaded
tube I may need to hacksaw.
My bike is a 26" Electra Ratrod 3i, and will be fitted with a 36V Tongsheng if all goes well.
This fork is mostly because I wanted a front brake, and move the fender away from my
toes, any small extra toe clearance will help.
This fork looks and feels indestructible. There are smooth curves and no welds to fall apart.
At least no welds in the worrisome area where folks complain that Monark clones are weakest.
That bracket at top that guides the front fork (I don't know what to properly call it), is huge
and thick, but has a very small Allen bolt thru sideways to grab around the threaded top of
the back fork. Right out of the box, that bolt was over-tightened to immobilize the fork for
shipping. Stuck hard, and worried that I might snap it before it eventually did work loose.
Stock springs are stiff, even at full extension. There are no countersprings. So its not going
to float. You can relocate one pair or even all the urethane spacers to the top, but they are
not very springy, and better serve below to prevent the main springs from scratching posts.
So I need some short stiff counterspring, and wondering if a stack of Belleville cone spring
washers might do the trick? Compressing the main springs into floating balance should also
make them shorter. Its a theory...
The hole in Sunlite's flat washer that I brought for comparison seems to be either M10 or 3/8".
Darn close to the same. Suspect from fiddling with both at the store that either size washer
could fit over either size bolt. Don't know what purpose the flimsy original flatwashers served?
But serve to demonstrate the right size hole.
Fastenall won't have my size Belleville springs in till next week, but I found some sealing washers
of similar cone shape with EPDM (Neoprene?) on one side. I'll try those and see what happens.
The sealing washers I bought at Fastenall were 18-8 stainless, holes for 3/8", just over 1cm...
Found the same far cheaper at Homely Despot, but only in galvanized. Fastenall Bellevilles I
ordered for next week might be carbon steel, no way to tell till they get here.
Sunlite has a hole above both forks, but only the front fork moves with the wheel, so that
one is where I'll try to mount my fender. The fender or brake hole in the back fork is too
high to be useful for any but a rear facing half-fender. Not more than an inch forward.
Front fork fender hole is low enough to clear a sizable fender both forward and back with
clearance to travel below the rear fork.
The wheel attaches to the front fork, not to the link. This seems important, because
both disk and drum brake hardpoints are welded to the same front fork and will not
wiggle out of alignment as the link moves.
More later, after I actually get it installed. Theoretically I have a Sturmey 90mm Drum
on the way. But that was Outside Outfitters. So 39 days later, there is still no telling
when/if ever it might ship, or maybe just threw my money away.
