Here are a few of my favorite pictures so far this summer of my buggy. Im looking forward to another SOBB in a few weeks.

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A point of view of me trying to chase down wind_dog. That pink kite makes him fast...

Duplicate, delete.

Duplicate, delete.

Duplicate, delete.

Quote: Originally posted by ColinW

I see (I think?) that you have some spacers in between your down tube and the clamping plates on your side rails. Could you tell me what they are made of?

Colin, sorry to keep you waiting for 3 months...

My spacers at the front are made from 1"x0.5"x0.065" stainless rectangular tubing. You are seeing the wider 1" side. They are mitered and welded into a rectangular frame. There is also another piece of 11ga (0.125") stainless steel in addition on each side.

Keeping in my style of Johnny cash "one piece at a time" instructional how too...

When I first built my bigfoot sized fork for my buggy I built it around one of my three wheels. Eventually I cut the polished and bent material for my fork legs. It was at this time that I realized that one of my three tires was 9/16" shorter than the other two tires. Guess what one i was building it around. Oops.
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At the point that everything was bolted together the neck bolt and nut just barely cleared the tire. I decided to ride it this way through the summer with the plans to fix the fork so it will clear any bigfoot tire during the winter when I had more time.

Recently I cut my fork to extend it. I consulted a friend that has built and modified custom motorcycles throughout his life. He suggested that I machined a insert/slug to go tightly into the fork leg to support where the cut was. I machined thick wall stainless pipe down so it would fit into my fork leg. I made the insert/slug longer at first. It inserts just over 1" into each end of the fork leg adjacent to the cuts.
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I drilled and tapped (6) 8-32 holes to hold everything in place so I could mock it up for length and check for square. Once everything fit and cleared to my liking I pulled out the screws, countersunk the outer leg.
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I then fuse welded the countersunk outer leg to the inner insert/slug.
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These six welds would keep the insert/slug in place which supports the welds near the extension from behind. After all bolts were removed and replaced with welds I cut a short section of the original tubing that was extra from building the fork to fill the gap. These pieces ware split in half (so it could get into the extended section and around the insert/slug).
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This little piece also got beveled on the edges so the weld would penetrate to the full thickness of the original fork tube. I welded everything up and then sanded and polished all the welds flush to blend in with the rest of the fork.
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Now my fork clears all of my wheels and tires.

Wow, that's totally awesome. Thanks for the share.

Fantastic mod Eric!
Would you be willing to come up to Victoria and figure out my disc wheel fork?
It is currently in the back corner of the garage awaiting me to improve my skills in many areas of fabrication.
I am still hopefull that it will be ready for Ivanpah this spring.
Thanks so much for your input earlier tho!

Just read through this all with zooming in on all the photos. Too cool. Very nice to see this all come together. Having seen this bug in the flesh I know what a sweet ride it really is. Well played.

Black magic, I say... fine craftsmanship

Thank you all for for your comments.

Colin, keep trying and practicing. It will all come together.

Now you have extended the fork legs, you will need to extend the swan neck to bring the front end back down to earth, all part of the learning curve and evolution of building the perfect buggy for yourself :-)