The forks were built by heating one end of each pipe and pounding it flat with a sledge hammer. We then used a hand held grinder to cut the slot in for the wheel.

Nuts were welded into the top through pre-drilled holes and bolts would be screwed through these nuts to lock the outer tube (extensions) to the exiting fork.

Allen (left) is grinding the slots into each fork

 

Joe (left) and Pami were kind enough to invite us to their place to do the work and Joe shared his welding equipment for the job. Without his help, this project would have gone nowhere!

April's son Raven enjoyed trying it out but for some reason did not want to ride it! Hmm... the wisdom of youth.

The bike was completely unrideable at this pont. The seat was low and the front end was very light. The forks were pretty loose and were flexing badly. Still... it was a start. It was pretty obvious that the forks were too long and so I resigned myself to having to chop off 12" on each side - dropping them to 3" extensions.