Re: Might Be A Dredd Lawmaster Build but probably not.

So I've been a Dredd fan since issue 12 back in the 70's. I've always fancied building something "like" his Lawmaster bike and I see lots of cool proper Fat bikes on the youtubes using car wheels etc. Now I don't have those kinda chops but I can ebike a fattie into something "influenced" in the direction of a Lawmaster.

So while scoping out a new donor for my kids dodgy ebike I found this at my local Tip Shop. It's a Reid Boss frame and back end but with what appears to be a motorcycle fork? It's pretty loose in the stem and I haven't done anything other than look at it and rub my chin while I work on another build. But is it a motorcycle fork of sorts? It looks chunky enough and has motorbike bar clamps, but it feels pretty light to be one. If the fork is usable it'd make for a pretty good base for my "chunky" bike.

So many months later I've got this project moving. The silly motorbike fork was dumped in place of a cheapie ebay $140 spring fork. Before ebiking I "done it up a bit" to check how it rides. The problem with the fork though is that it's longer than the rigid fork that was originally on it. The geometery is a little out of whack with the front a little higher than it should be. I feel a 24" on the front would probably bring it back to where it should but 24" fat wheels (or any fat bike parts) are fscking impossible to source in Australia. In fact, it appears that unless you buy a complete fat bike for your kid worldwide, then you can't get 24" wheels or tyres. It's 20, or 26. Thats it.


So anyhoos, after the usual endless reading of too much internet I decided on the Bafang G062.1000.D. It's nice and small, pretty cheap and my last build was a BBS02 so I wanted to do something different. But alas! If you buy one from aliexpress in a rim you get a 60 or 80mm rim. Nay! I say. I wish to keep my rear 100mm rim cos it's like fat as a caramel truffle. Oh yes..... I've never laced a rim before.

So, endless reading continues, that Grin bloke has an awesome video on youtube on lacing rims, doesn't look too hard lets do that. I use the Grin spoke calc to work out what I need (205.5mm spokes), finds a friendly bloke in Western Australia (some 1500km away) who will cut them to size and also has Sapim Strong 13-14g spokes in stock, before we know it...

We're lacing our first wheel and it's actually came out pretty good. There's a very slight flat spot I can't remove but I've sure the rim's actually taken a dunt at some point. Other than that it's on track.


For a controller I have a 20A KT from a 36V kit sitting on the shelf. I'll run that initially with the 36V battery while I work out what to do about battery mounting. My plan is to buy a rectangle or triangle blue wrapper "pack" and make a curved plywood/chrome edged box for it. I expect the 20A controller isn't a good idea and will either cramp my style, or burn something out.

Still lots to do but this is a draft build to see how it handles, check the controller/motor operation etc. Pleased to say it handles very well. The G062.1000D motor is a little noisey but is drowned out by the tyre noise. Since I'm missing a crank bolt on one side I ran around for about 5k on throttle only. Its sits at 43kmph flat out. With nothing getting hot.


10 minutes after getting back home the rear tyre was flat.

This is awesome - love fat bike builds

How's the power feel?

Ok, new crank bolt on now so I can pedal. Did a good 20 km today leaving the battery at around 48.2v so plenty of juice. It's running a 36T 13T crankset which is nowhere near enough. Even on PAS2 it'll out pedal me at about 40kmh.

I must say though the handling is really good. It still's attention at very slow speeds but over 10kmh it's solid, straight, responsive and goes where I want it. This is running 26x4.0's at about 15psi. This build has proven a keeper so;

Next Steps:
1. Do something about the cranks (42/46T x 11T). No idea how to get a 11T freewheel though.
2. Hydraulic brakes
3. MX bars
4. Hipster brown leather satchel with whiskey miniatures.

Alas today we say goodbye to my awesome fattie. The chain side rear bolt came loose causing the wheel to escape the dropout. In it's attempt for freedom it snapped the axle on the other side. The dropouts are also worn and look "unsafe" enough for teh frame to be written off. This bike did around 10,000km with 2 tyres and brake pad changes. The 20Ah 21700 battery still has plenty of life in it too.

Remember folks. Regularly checking nuts is a good thing.

If you're willing to make some (clamping/pinching) torque plates to bolt to the frame/dropouts, you can still use this frame safely.

You'd still need a new motor core for your wheel, or make a new axle (don't know anywhere to buy just the axles), but those are easy enough to get (even if you have to buy the whole motor for it, you can still use the rest of your wheel if it's undamaged, without relacing anything).

mongrol said:

So many months later I've got this project moving. The silly motorbike fork was dumped in place of a cheapie ebay $140 spring fork.

Click to expand...

I realize it's been a couple years since that post, but do you happen to still have the clamps/steerer/etc from that fork? I've been looking for a set of just the clamps/steerer to build another dual-crown (no suspension) fork from, preferably some that are stiff enough to build a single-sided fork with, for the SB Cruiser Mk II trike.

amberwolf said:

If you're willing to make some (clamping/pinching) torque plates to bolt to the frame/dropouts, you can still use this frame safely.

You'd still need a new motor core for your wheel, or make a new axle (don't know anywhere to buy just the axles), but those are easy enough to get (even if you have to buy the whole motor for it, you can still use the rest of your wheel if it's undamaged, without relacing anything).

Click to expand...

Yep, I've realised there's no axle's available and it's a replacement of the entire inside assembly. After opening it up and checking the shell is ok I've ordered a new one. Mine is a freewheel version though which seems to be unavailable anywhere so I've ordered a cassette version and betting on the assembly being the same. Can't think why it would be any different.

Also, the dropout's are still pretty good so I'm going to chuk another torque arm on the guilty side and give the axle nut a stiff talking to about holding up his end of the deal.

I realize it's been a couple years since that post, but do you happen to still have the clamps/steerer/etc from that fork? I've been looking for a set of just the clamps/steerer to build another dual-crown (no suspension) fork from, preferably some that are stiff enough to build a single-sided fork with, for the SB Cruiser Mk II trike.

Click to expand...

Sorry, long gone I'm afraid. They were easily 3KG each too. You don't realise the difference in engineering between motorcycle and bicycle parts until you see someone's attempt at sticking them together.

mongrol said:

Yep, I've realised there's no axle's available and it's a replacement of the entire inside assembly. After opening it up and checking the shell is ok I've ordered a new one. Mine is a freewheel version though which seems to be unavailable anywhere so I've ordered a cassette version and betting on the assembly being the same. Can't think why it would be any different.

Click to expand...

The space inside the cassette is smaller than inside a freewheel, so they could have used a thinner axle on that side. If so, the bearings in your side cover may have too large an ID and the axle would "rattle around" in there.

But if you ordered a whole new motor to get the core, then you can also swap out the side cover, as long as your original casing (that the wheel is laced to) is the same as the new one.

mongrol said:

Also, the dropout's are still pretty good so I'm going to chuk another torque arm on the guilty side and give the axle nut a stiff talking to about holding up his end of the deal.

Click to expand...

If you're not making actual clamping/pinching torque plates, but just buying a ready-made arm, I highly recommend the Grin v7 clamping torque arms (one on each axle end), vs any of the stuff you can buy elsewhere.

mongrol said:

Sorry, long gone I'm afraid. They were easily 3KG each too. You don't realise the difference in engineering between motorcycle and bicycle parts until you see someone's attempt at sticking them together.

Click to expand...

Was worth a shot.

I'm actually looking for really heavy-duty clamps/steerer/etc, because the fork on SBC MkII will be a one-leg fork:
--makes it very easy to get the wheel on and off
--makes it possible to use identical wheels on all three (two rear, one front) so I can carry a whole wheel with me and just pop one off then pop the new one on, in the rare event of a tire or wheel problem.
For a regular bike that's not really a possibility or even a need, but for a heavy-cargo trike like this, it's a huge time and energy saver, especially if the trike is heavily loaded and it's 120F+ out there.
But it requires a very stiff steerer and clamp and fork stanchion....I'd rather avoid an *actual* big full-size heavy motorcycle set, but something like what you had would work fine. It's not like the rest of the trike is exactly light. :lol:

Motor turned up yesterday from SCA Imports after 3 weeks. (which has to be record time for Aliexpress to Australia). The axle part inside the bearings is actually identical and the assembly fit perfectly into the freewheel casing. The threaded part of the axle is actually thicker on the cassette model (14mm I think instead of 12mm on the freewheel) although the flatted width which goes in the dropout is the same. This also means the cable egress out of the axle is more robust which makes me happier too. Now waiting on 2x Grin V5 torque arms coming before putting it all back together. Going well.