Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Waltworks Headshok!



Don't try to order this, yet. It is still very much a prototype - but it does open up the possibility of lightweight 29er (or 36er!) suspension forks, without all the problems of the Actiontec (short travel, poor bearing/piston life, etc). Of course, the difficulty is getting your hands on the actual hydraulic unit/steerer to begin with - in this case Dave found a used one somewhere and had it stripped down in order to cryofit (ie, dunk in liquid N2, then press into the lowers).

Note that I did not make the frame (it's a Cannondale, natch) and I had nothing to do with those flames!

Thanks to Dave for the photos. I'm going to try to find myself an old headshok to play with for a 36er project sometime soon, so if you've got something, drop me a line - maybe we can make a deal.

6 comments:

wookie_rider said...

Seems like this could also work for making a tapered steerer rigid fork, by mating a aluminum steerer with steel legs.

Walt said...

True, but you'd need to find the steerer somewhere - and what would be the point of a tapered steerer rigid fork, exactly?

wookie_rider said...

Maybe loose a few grams (I'm betting it would be very little or even add weight). The only reason I could think of is a cleaner look for frames built for tapered steerers. 

Feldy said...

Dude, make a 36" fork with one of those old Proflex forks. Yeah!

evan said...

Walt, I've been kicking around a pile of bent/broken Headshocks & parts at my shop-I nearly threw them away but then thought of you-let me see what I can do.

evan said...

Walt, I've been kicking around a pile of bent/broken Headshocks & parts at my shop-I nearly threw them away but then thought of you-let me see what I can do.