Choppers Australia

steve · Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 20 Location: ipswich

Hello all

I would like to hear some honest opinions on the advantages/disadvantages of Girder forks over Telescopic forks.
I am not after, which looks better as I can judge that for myself.
I would like information on ride comfort, handling in corners, strait line and braking. When giving this advice please remember I live in Queensland with our extensive network of goat tracks.

Thanks in advance.

Reidy

sharky · Joined: 17 Jul 2009 Posts: 175 Location: Brisbane

Do girders have compression & rebound damping along with preload adj ?
Confused

El Skitzo · Joined: 30 Sep 2009 Posts: 238 Location: Perth, WA

pommychopper · Site Admin Joined: 04 Apr 2006 Posts: 2054

Bacca · Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 1525 Location: Stawell Vic

Brassy · Joined: 16 Oct 2009 Posts: 58

i would sacrifice comfort for style any day and springers corner well as do girders nice and hard

KeithinSB · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:57 am Post subject:

one of the big advantage's of a girder is that the trail remains nearly unchanged during compression. When telescopic forks compress, they get shorter, there by reducing trail when braking. A properly set up girder will only change your trail by 10 or 12 mm during compression, whereas a set of telescopic forks my change up to 40+ mm. I don't thing you would notice it much when going slow, but you would when riding fast and cornering.
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Ride it like you can fix it.

sharky · Joined: 17 Jul 2009 Posts: 175 Location: Brisbane

steve · Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 20 Location: ipswich

I have two more questions.
How much travel do you normally get out of a set of girder's?
How do girders compare to tele's for unsprung weight?

Thanks

Reidy

johno · Joined: 25 Jul 2009 Posts: 70 Location: brisbane

in PCs defense i would rather were a skirt on the mega ride than one sitting at home Laughing

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just because its old don't make it good

sharky · Joined: 17 Jul 2009 Posts: 175 Location: Brisbane

From what I've heard he does both Rolling Eyes

pommychopper · Site Admin Joined: 04 Apr 2006 Posts: 2054

What bike did you ride on the mega ride Sharkster.....oh that's right, your carer said you weren't allowed out as you'd not perfected the ironing of your Coles Trolley collectors uniform!!! Very Happy

KeithinSB · Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 12:36 am Post subject: Re: Travel and weight

Bacca · Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 1525 Location: Stawell Vic

Now that 1 be a little different!
& had to grin at this 1

Here is an artistic touch

Tho I don't like this next 1 it shows they defiantly don't have to be the same as everyone else's

More art

Thanks for that link KeithinSB, many ideas there
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Bikers 4 Christ Victorian Chaplain

Chopped '80 Kawasaki KZ440C, Chopping a '81 Kwaka KZ750 twin Amen Saviour & '07 Triumph America

Chucky · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 1065

I have run a few sets of Girders ofer the years. They can adjust trail badly if not set up correctly. The key is to get the linkage lenghts correct so that the axle moves up and down vertically. The whole setup needs to be a parallelogram.

If you've got this right then the best shock set up I ran was on a Z1000A1 (sorry kwacka guys) chop. It had twin fully adjustable Koni's, I have dampening, rebound etc and it was one of the most stable bikes I've ever riden in corners.