Do you recognize this fork?

[MPOregon]

George Brough's own record setting bike - the forerunner of the Pendine - sported a fork I don't recognize.  At a time when most SS100s were running the Castle fork, this bike (which still exists) has stiffeners and castings I don't recognize.

Does anyone have an idea what they are and who made them?

[cardan]

The Castle fork was a thinly-veiled copy of the Harley Davidson item. Perhaps this one is real Harley?

I assume the bike in your modern photos is a replica rather than the real thing?

Leon

[MPOregon]

I don't believe that's a Harley.   Have reached out to Jake Robbins at Elk Engineering to see if he knows.

When I hear back from him, I will post his response.

[cardan]

I'm not an expert on either Brough Superior or Harley Davidson, but there are plenty of them around. Yes indeed Harley used a fork with a triple crown from veteran years into the late 1920s, so I agree the fork is probably not Harley. In that case it likely came from the Brough works, because no other bike of the period used a fork like this. The French built a lot of Harley replacement (knock-off!) parts in the mid 1920s, but I doubt anyone at Brough would fit a no-name fork to a 1930-mph racer. I assume the fork was custom-made at Brough for record breaking.

Speaking of knock-offs, the bike in your colour photos at the top of this thread has a different frame, engine, gearbox, magneto, etc. to the bike on which GB is sitting in the b&w photo. Does someone claim it is the same bike that has survived?

Cheers

Leon

[MPOregon]

No - it's a very recent repro, if I understand correctly.  I think Jake Robbins may have made the forks.

[cardan]

Weird: I must admit I don't understand the cobbling up of bits to look like a famous bike, them exhibiting it to people who don't know that it isn't the real thing. Let me guess that although the tank says "Brough Superior" there is not a single Brough bit in the machine?

I'm a bit sensitive to this sort of thing as I have a (real) racing Rudge, which is pretty-much indistinguishable from all the other "racy" Rudges that exist these days, most of which started life as road-going machines and have only been recently rebuilt into "racers".

In your first post, you mention that GB's racing SS100 still exists. Is there a photo of what it looks like these days?

Cheers

Leon