Front end swaps?

moetrout

Active Member
#1
Anyone here ever swap out front ends on their mini? I'm sure someone has. My motovox forks flex a little when under acceleration. Given that I want to go faster with it and that it was never designed to do 60+ mph I think I would like to swap out the forks, but what does that take? What swaps work? What forks are the right size? I'm looking at pocketbikes, mopeds, and small dirt bikes. Is there an easy swap for something like this? By easy I mean not having to cut the neck and weld a new one on. If not, I am not against doing fab work, although I would not do that kind of welding myself. I would like to hear from someone who has already done this. Thanks!
 
#2
Most likely fab work will be needed , post in the Baja section and all the Chinese guys will chime in , Yamaha PW-80 fork tubes work great but you'll need to fabricate trees for mounting , Motovox MBX-11 forks are the best as you can bolt them right on but good luck finding those !
 

joshua. c.

Well-Known Member
#4
if your just looking for stiffness you could do what I did to a trail horse frame. my friend ran the bike into a large rock and bent the forks. when I went to straiten them I welded a pace of angle iron to the front of each tube for extra reinforcement. it looked a bit different but not bad. it looked from the front like the bike had square fork tubes.
 

moetrout

Active Member
#5
Good idea, but I don't think the angle iron would look too good. However, you remind me of what my dad did for me one time when I was about 12. I had a bmx bike with Tuff wheels (if anyone remembers those) and I use to jump that bike off of anything I thought I could survive. Lots of porches and even tried a baseball dugout once. Bent those forks up real bad. Dad, being a Millwright at the Ford plant, took the forks in and welded 1/4" square stainless steel to the entire front profile of the forks. I never bent them again after that. At the present, I think I am going to first try a fork brace. I have a nephew looking for projects for his high school shop class. I am hoping to have him make up a nice aluminum fork brace on the CNC. I am building this mini bike to drag race so I don't want to add any unnecessary weight.
 
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