Girder Front End

[farmall]

Forgot about that one in the old ads until you tossed that up. Guessing there is a reason it wasn't popular

I'm guessing your guessing the correct!
First thing I see is no positive stop but the pavement. It's also ugly especially compared the the grace of a girder done right but iy fits the graceless chassis.

It's good to see the fugly shit from the past for reference and it's an interesting design but that much spring steel ain't light.

[Guest]

I have had a few bikes with Springers and to be honest, I wasn't really happy with the ride or control,.. but this is my buddys SBF sportster that Donny Smith built in about 1980 with a set of his SBF Girders and I gotta say it was one of the best handling chops I have ever ridden ………. the girders worked so damn well you'd think it had stock forks on it,.... SBF were great Quality and sometimes come up for silly money,... good to hear Donny still makes them....

[TriNortchopz]

tzienlee:"...my buddys SBF sportster that Donny Smith built in about 1980 with a set of his SBF Girders and I gotta say it was one of the best handling chops I have ever ridden ………. the girders worked so damn well you'd think it had stock forks on it,..."

The design for the linkages on the SB&F girders, carried over with Donnie Smith's (below) is a factor that creates good stability - they are made like little swingarms, compared to most others with just bronze bushing 1/2" to 5/8" wide at each end of the four separate linkages. Also there is a coil over adjustable shock for dampening, not just a spring for suspension.

Donnie Smith:


SB&F teardrop girder:


Girder plans with typical bronze-bushed linkages:

[Triumphkiller]

Yes, I am really 16 lol. I was not planning on putting the girder on the xs650, I really only want to rebuild it for a future bike that I’m gonna build. Thanks for the invite, I’ll definitely have to check that out next time I’m in oregon! I have attached some pictures of the girder, I cannot find any identification on it, so I don’t know who built it.

[TriNortchopz]

Hey, that's a cool one. it's got the gusset shapes like the Wayne girder where the back leg bend is, the same shaped gussets in the middle of the leg like the Wayne girder that one 47str8leg posted above^^^(post #9), but not the curved section at the top, and lower leg axle plates almost like the one on the KZ900 trike that shank1kole just bought:

http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54044&page=3