When I renovated my F4 BLT it needed amongst other things a spring, as one was missing.
I phoned a couple of spring makers who quoted prices for progressive custom wound this and that and were asking close on £200 each.
While out and about I happened on a small engineering workshop and brass necked walking in to find 3 guys in oily overalls sitting round a giant teapot. They had me leave the spring i had with them and said to come back in about a week.
So I return a week later and they've made me a couple of springs the same stiffness as the one I gave them. They charged me 30 quid
Custom spring makers are used to making fancy springs, and have big expensive machines, and are wearing clean overalls. Small down to earth engineering firm are probably just as good if not better in many ways, and just as experienced and knocking out something like a small spring probably took them 10 minutes.
There should be a thread on here somewhere about the renovation process for my F4. it would be about 2008
I brass necked my way into another firm, this one produced machines for making plastic injection mouldings and one of their younger workers was a bike rider - I spotted a bicycle when I went in and spoke to him.
My fork had pivot points missing and the rest were all cracked
He replaced all the pivots and made them in T6 alloy, knocked out the old oil impregnated bushings and refitted them, made new collars for the springs, and a spring clip that holds them on and also made a jig to compress the springs with in conjunction with an engineering vice, which was also lined in nylon to protect the spring collars, and a holding clamp to grip the shafts of the dampers should you need to service them.
I think he charged me £110 or about that amount, but it was clearly a wee lunchtime project for him, and he was quite taken by the look of the fork, despite being a cyclist he'd no idea such types of forks existed.
I've a pic somewhere showing the condition of the fork when I first got it, though many of the pics have long vanished, so the ones of them before and after i dont have any more.
Before and after, all polished up
After
I phoned a couple of spring makers who quoted prices for progressive custom wound this and that and were asking close on £200 each.
While out and about I happened on a small engineering workshop and brass necked walking in to find 3 guys in oily overalls sitting round a giant teapot. They had me leave the spring i had with them and said to come back in about a week.
So I return a week later and they've made me a couple of springs the same stiffness as the one I gave them. They charged me 30 quid
Custom spring makers are used to making fancy springs, and have big expensive machines, and are wearing clean overalls. Small down to earth engineering firm are probably just as good if not better in many ways, and just as experienced and knocking out something like a small spring probably took them 10 minutes.
There should be a thread on here somewhere about the renovation process for my F4. it would be about 2008
I brass necked my way into another firm, this one produced machines for making plastic injection mouldings and one of their younger workers was a bike rider - I spotted a bicycle when I went in and spoke to him.
My fork had pivot points missing and the rest were all cracked
He replaced all the pivots and made them in T6 alloy, knocked out the old oil impregnated bushings and refitted them, made new collars for the springs, and a spring clip that holds them on and also made a jig to compress the springs with in conjunction with an engineering vice, which was also lined in nylon to protect the spring collars, and a holding clamp to grip the shafts of the dampers should you need to service them.
I think he charged me £110 or about that amount, but it was clearly a wee lunchtime project for him, and he was quite taken by the look of the fork, despite being a cyclist he'd no idea such types of forks existed.
I've a pic somewhere showing the condition of the fork when I first got it, though many of the pics have long vanished, so the ones of them before and after i dont have any more.
Before and after, all polished up
After