classic motorcycle forum
Motorcycle Discussions => British Bikes => Topic started by: MPOregon on July 20, 2016, 03:16:40 AM
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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?
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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
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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.
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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
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No - it's a very recent repro, if I understand correctly. I think Jake Robbins may have made the forks.
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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