Springers......

S

soulsurfer

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Hi from the UK,
To the point.......
I’ve been thinking about putting a set of springers on my XS for a while now...
But the nice ones cost a f**kin fortune and the cheaper ones ie DNA are too wide and don’t look right.....
Well the other day I came across DNA narrow springers which look good and aren’t that expensive.......
But the advert says can’t fit a front brake !!!!
Why?
There must be a brake that fits ?? Would prefer a drum brake!!
Anyone any ideas??

In the UK you must have a front brake for MOT test !!!
Cheers
Simon
 
'Surfer,
You could try looking for a front wheel drum break hub from a dirt bike. If you're lucky, you could get the whole wheel intact, just have to put a street-type tire on it. (lose the knobbie) Look up "The Chopper Handbook" (www.chopperhandbook.com) and related articles. This will give you enough knowledge to be dangerous! :wink2: Good luck with your build, and send us pictures!!!
 
soulsurfer said:
In the UK you must have a front brake for MOT test !!!
Click to expand...

....and that is a wise thing to require on a road-going bike. Clearly the UK-MOT knows a few things about vehicle dynamics and safety.

Best of luck with your bike.

Pete
 
soulsurfer said:
...But the advert says can’t fit a front brake !!!!
Why?
There must be a brake that fits ?? Would prefer a drum brake!!
Anyone any ideas??
Click to expand...

The front drum brake backing plate must be locked to the rocker, or at one of its pivot bolts. Attaching a brake stay to any other point, like the springer's leg, will force the backing plate to rotate a bit, relative to the rocker. You want the front axle to be tight, and for that the backing plate can't rotate against the rocker. A different problem with disc brakes...
 
Because it lacks somewhere to attach a brake stay. Which is why this one is painted maybe?

brake stay.JPG


This is on the Fenland Choppers site https://www.fenlandchoppers.co.uk/Shop projects Spiders Shovelhead March 2013.html where they say, "DNA Springer forks, Solid Struts, Skinny Ribbed Guard, Solo seat, The Old Drum brake needed some work to get it to fit in the Springers but got there in the end."

Hope this helps
 
Last edited:
Good pic, Dave.
If you visualize the suspension in motion, rockers pivoting, the axle spacer will spin/scrub against the backing plate. If the axle is *really* tight, the suspension may not move at all.
brake stay2.jpg


The only way to prevent that "slippage" is to tie the backing plate to the rocker.
Best done at the rear pivot bolt.
brake stay3.jpg
 
TwoManyXS1Bs said:
Good pic, Dave.
If you visualize the suspension in motion, rockers pivoting, the axle spacer will spin/scrub against the backing plate. If the axle is *really* tight, the suspension may not move at all.
View attachment 127023

The only way to prevent that "slippage" is to tie the backing plate to the rocker.
Best done at the rear pivot bolt.
View attachment 127024
Click to expand...
And that won't be simple either, looks like the bolt is stationary to the leg, the rocker pivots on the bolt shank. Creating another pivoting anchor on the bolt where it protrudes inside the leg will be an engineering exercise. A wormhole indeed.
 
TwoManyXS1Bs said:
Good pic, Dave.
If you visualize the suspension in motion, rockers pivoting, the axle spacer will spin/scrub against the backing plate. If the axle is *really* tight, the suspension may not move at all.
View attachment 127023

The only way to prevent that "slippage" is to tie the backing plate to the rocker.
Best done at the rear pivot bolt.
View attachment 127024
Click to expand...

If you tie where the purple is, you just lost your suspension. It will no longer pivot, as that distance grows when the rockers move up.
 
hogtyed said:
If you tie where the purple is, you just lost your suspension. It will no longer pivot, as that distance grows when the rockers move up.
Click to expand...
If you take the existing tie rod and move it down to the pivot screw as 2many indicated (purple), you will not affect the suspension action. The screw acts as a pivot. As long as it's allowed to rotate.... or hinge if you will, it'll work. The only down side is that under moderate to heavy braking, it's going to want to rotate that link down. Your suspension action will get very stiff. On the plus side... front end dive will be almost non existent. ;)
 
JimD54 said:
... On the plus side... front end dive will be almost non existent. ;)
Click to expand...

That's what I liked about my springer. Choose the correct rocker length, and front braking produces virtually no nose dive.

A front brake stay linkage setup as shown in DaveO's pic could be done with a "floating" backing plate. The axle spacer would be longer, passing thru the backing plate, pressing on the wheel bearing. The backing plate would rotate on the spacer. Of course, the spacer would need to have appropriate shoulders and flange, to confine the backing plate and apply clamping pressure on the wheel bearing's ID.

But, I've never seen or heard of this done...
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone this is really helpful, the pics are I think normal springers not the narrow ones !! But looking at the pics of narrow springers they have what looks like a bolt area to fix a break stay to, I have a Honda twin leading shoe hub etc I want to use of a cl350 with a 21” rim , my main concern is importing a set from the US and they are no good!!
Cheers
Simon
 
Hi @soulsurfer,

Fenland seem to sell them (see link above) although I don't know whether they have them on hand or just import them for you. They're not just around the corner from you, though. They might have something on hand that they can take some measurements of or some photos.

Hope this helps.

Dave
 
Just a little thread refresh to show a couple pics of springer brake stays.

Kinda fuzzy, but you should be able to see the front brake stay on my ol' springer, a 4" strap attaching the top of the brake plate to the lower leg's rocker pivot.
PanHead-51-c3.jpg

And, from LiveSlow's thread,

http://www.xs650.com/threads/hard-tail-springer-rearsets-clip-ons-and-full-race-fairings.54529/

You can just make out the short strap attaching the brake plate, at the rear, to the lower leg's rocker pivot.
SpringerBrakeStay.jpg
 

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