Ultimate 20 inch suspension fork?

[recumpence]

Hey Guys,

In my quest to build the ultimate "Street Fighter" E-bike, I have been looking and looking for the best 20 inch suspension fork. I have had 3 White Brother's RC80 forks and they are wonderful! However, I want something really over the top in rigidity and quality. Also, the RC80 is 3 inch travel. I really wanted 4 inches. So, I contacted White Brother's and spoke with one of their engineers at length about this and asked if they could shorten their Groove 180 inverted forks from 7 inch travel to 4 inches for me. After talking about it for a while, they agreed to try it for me. They have shortened them a small amount for tandem guys, but never this short, nor have they tried moving the triple clamps down far enough to truely use a 20 inch wheel properly. However, I really wanted to try this and they agreed to do some labor and see if it would work out.

Here are the results. Though I have not ridden them yet, these things are freakin PHENOMINAL! They are stiff as anything, they use a 20mm through axle, and are crazy high quality. If NASA built forks, these would be it!

Anyway, if anyone is looking for crazy forks for a light weight motorcycle/E-bike project, these could be the ticket! I can get them if anyone wants a set. These are $1,100+ forks, though. But, they are about as crazy as you can get (for sure the most crazy for 20 inch wheels). One cool thing about shortening longer travel forks is, the bushing overlap increases dramatically. This increases stiffness very much. That is a good thing.......

Wait till you see the bike these are going on. It is at the powder coater right now getting a coat of Crimson red and I have black anodized Hope brakes coming for it along with black spokes and red spoke nipples. My newest drive system is going on it as well.

Stay tuned!

Matt

 

[vanilla ice]

Niiiice. Can I get them in 16"?

 

[Thud]

Damn!
I am totay jellous of your e-bIke budget LOL
You have a buyer already lined up for this one Matt?


(We should car pool to the cali race in october & together I am sure we could make a better showing than I alone have been able to muster.)

I am looking foward to seeing this one unveiled. (total sucker for red bikes )

 

[recumpence]

My budget for this bike is $5,000. It will be worth about $9,000 when it is finished. I must admit, I do have a huge E-bike budget. That is mainly because I get stuff at cost and I make a profit on my drives. Plus, most of the bikes I have built have sold within a few months if finishing them. That really helps fund alot of projects.

This bike is not spoken for. It is a rolling advertisement for my newest drive (more on that in the next week or so). I am hoping to mount a 220mm foating formula rotor on the front with the Hope caliper........

Thud,

I have actually considered collaborating with someone on a racing build. Admittedly, I do not have any racing experience, though. But, I think it would be a fun project. Problem is, when the race is done, who owns the bike?

At any rate, this new build is everything I have ever learned about E-bikes, taken to the radical extreme (not so much in power, but refinement and overall "Badness"). It will still be my standard left hand drive. That is what I have gotten so used to building and it is bullet-proof if setup properly. Besides, this is another signature build meant to promote my wares. So, I plan on doing some serious torque limiter testing to achieve the best performance possible while saving the controller. For starters, I will be running a 4 turn 3215. It should be a screamer with that motor. I can always go up to a 3220 if I feel the need to. But, that would probably be way too much power for this bike. I plan to gear the bike for 30mph. That should make it a wheelie monster with the fast spinning 3215. The motor will be running harder, but cooler than my usual builds (more on that later).

Oh, also, I plan on having some serious pin-striping done on the frame and laser engraving on the black anodized drive unit.

This new bike is simply being called "Crimson". :wink:

Sorry, this thread is about the forks, not my next build. I will start a thread on that in due time.........

Matt

 

[bzhwindtalker]

Now those are some serious forks! Over my whole ebike build buget, but super cool

 

[Hillhater]

Niiiice. Can I get them in 16"?

someone else posted this link in another thread.. http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31154
http://www.funbikes.co.uk/Pit_Bike_Forks_CRF50_M2R_645mm%28687%29.aspx

 

[recumpence]

A few things about pit bike forks;

#1 They normally weigh a TON.

#2 They look cool in pictures and perform like crap.

#3 They are not setup with the proper spring rate and damping for our use.

#4 They are not a bolt-on option.

They are much cheaper, though!

Matt

 

[wojtek]

http://www.rst.com.tw/ct/product/product2.jsp?id=PI1249350450039

for different sort of projects but if we wanna put 20'' suspension forks in this thread, here is another one.

There is NOT much choice for suspension forks in 20'', so great job to Matt for persuading them to produce one. :wink:

But how many of us can efford it , it is another question :?

 

[recumpence]

http://www.rst.com.tw/ct/product/product2.jsp?id=PI1249350450039

for different sort of projects but if we wanna put 20'' suspension forks in this thread, here is another one.

There is NOT much choice for suspension forks in 20'', so great job to Matt for persuading them to produce one. :wink:

But how many of us can efford it , it is another question :?

I know the market for forks like this is thin. But, hey, I wanted the best I could get my hands on.

Matt

 

[vanilla ice]

http://www.rst.com.tw/ct/product/product2.jsp?id=PI1249350450039

On the cheap end is the RST capa 20" disc fork. But like you say, not many options exist in this size.. The capa works how you would expect it to for the price. It is better than the forks that come on the cheap kid bikes from xmart at least. I think the capa 20 originally came std on some specialized and giant mtbs for kids, but you can purchase it separately.

 

[liveforphysics]

I have a pair of those White bros groove 180 forks chilling on the shelf at my workshop. I gotta admit, they look pretty cool with shortened travel like that. Good luck with the build Matt!

 

[recumpence]

Thanks, Luke.

I am trying to make this build super clean and extremely aggressive looking, a true street-fighter.........

The forks seem a bit stiff (spring rate) when messing around with them. However, I do not have them on the bike yet. I bet they will prove to be crazy rigid and very well suited to their application. I spoke with WB about this specifically so they could set them up for my application.

Matt

 

[FFR Trikes]

Very nice!! Looks super stiff and well-made. I'm anxious to see the bike, I'm sure it will be a performer.

Tommy