The beginnings of a Girder...

The newest build requires a custom fork.  Even with stock forks lowered as far as they could go, I could not even think of using them.  The tire would be hitting the trees, and the trail would be terrible...  Off to the drawing board.

I've know I wanted to build a girder for this bike for a while.  I dug through my pile of trees, and found a donor tree. 

These trees were in need of some help, being that the lower triple was bent.  So I got to work hacking off what I wasn't planning to use...

I chucked up the rest of the stem in the lathe, and spun it down... 

I had a set of tapered bearings laying around, so I knurled the stem to hold the lower bearing just a bit tighter... 

Now Im sure someone out there is wondering why I am bothering using the stock stem, when I could make a new one...  It's a no-brainer when trying to save some time, as this one already fits the headtube, and the bearings are gonna drop right in...  Sounds good to me...

Got the stem mocked up on the frame...  Not a great pic, but you get the idea...

Then I made up the top tree...  I still have to figure out handlebar mounting, but I have a plan for that too...  Should be sweet...  I could have just had these EDM, CNC'd or laser cut, but I wanted rounder forms for this piece since I would be staring at it the whole time I was riding... 

My Aluminum TIG welding is a bit rusty, but these will clean up just fine...  Can't wait to start on the lower tree in the next few days...  Until then, I'll be busy building cranks, cams and engines for customers, so stay tuned!

Hugh