PM sent.
Pete
Please take Pete's advice.
Tom G.
As fast as I can understand and apply it!
And many thanks to Pete, too!
Stainless, Rex, Stan, those are wise words to someone who looks like they are about to hurt themselves. Thanks!
Can I ask a stupid question like what is wrong with a standard fork designed by experts? Sems your new one would have reduced aero as well as the other comments on safety.
TLDR: "Because."
Long story:
Lots of things are wrong with telescopic forks from an expert perspective (of which I am not one, but where I look to Tony Foale as the most experienced experimenter with funny front ends).
For me, I'm getting 2.5 inches of added lowness with no apparent adverse effects to handling and no increase to wheelbase. As I understood from a discussion on aero for motorcycles around here somewhere, the area around the front tire is a hot mess from an aero perspective anyway (and somebody posted a fancy CFD picture to prove it). Besides, all that stuff should be under the fender.
As I have understood the above commentary on safety, most of it was addressing my obviously untutored welding (the short answer is, I was doing it wrong). The sage folks here have no end of good advice, and I'm willing to accept plenty of it directly and indirectly through reading the posts from the past. That's kind of why I hang around here.
Another concern that might be raised is trail... I'll measure for real when I have a helper to hold the bike for me, but it should still be at least 4 inches.