Fork, but mostly steer tube considerations for cargo

Hi! New here. I’m beginning to gather things for a cargo contraption. A Carla Cargo style trailer, or/and a dual 406 bike with front and rear cargo features. Other people’s projects I’ve found online reference some unremarkable BMX fork, cheaply obtained, if the fork is mentioned at all. In particular, a Carla style trailer can put one heck of a load on that front wheel. I’m trying to proactively snuff any nagging sense of catastrophe harshing my future sense of adventure if I have the opportunity to load up a half ton. Am I overthinking this?

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I’ve made multiple cycle truck forks. The challenge is getting long enough steerers. The first one that I made used a Bike Friday Tandem fork and extending the steerer with a long tapered sleeve. Subsequent ones used 1.125” x 058 (or 065) tubing with an 095 insert pressed into the bottom to make a butter section. It’s a heavy ass steerer, but stout, and that was built into a crowned fork.

The nice thing about 406 forks is that the lever arm is quite short, so you get a long of bonus strength just using components made for 700c forks.

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BMX forks are VERY overbuilt. If it helps put you at ease, a fork that is too weak will be too flexy. Even then, a flexy fork won’t suddenly explode unless you are doing dumb things on it.

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Thanks for the reality check! I was starting to assume as much, but when it comes to loading up forks it seems maybe better to ask than to find out.

Aww but that’s half the fun of bike cargo! :stuck_out_tongue:

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