1896 Roper Steam Bike
Paul Brodie

11: The Forks

Everything seems to be fitting well. There's quite a few mock-up stages along the way to make sure we're on track. The forks got made along the way, so I'll show you a few pictures of how they came to be.

Start with 1/2" steel plate, and cut out some fork crowns. Angle the tops downwards.

Machine and braze in the steerer tubes, then cut the tapers for the roller bearing races.

The fork blades were cut from a 1/4" sheet of 4130. The jig is a little Mickey Mouse, but to make a dedicated fixture for 4 forks wasn't going to happen...

Fast Forward. Forks are finished, and painted gloss black. On the front of the machine is the steam whistle, complete with antique valve and cast lever. No matter what I tried, I could NOT get that valve to seal, and finally disconnected it.

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