Those forks have had the standard bodge applied. They’re not the original adjustable spindles but just long bolts with no way of adjusting them. I’m going through the same exercise at the moment with a 1940 Excelsior. I bought a stalled restoration, beautifully painted but as I’m steadily discovering, nothing done mechanically. I’m spoiling the paintwork doing what should have been done first.
As usual I’ve outsmarted myself. I was at the fed up stage with my 1939 Montgomery and thought I’d be miles ahead with this shiny Excelsior but I now have two half baked lightweights sitting in my workshop instead of one.
Anyway, back to this Acme/Chell. It’s just another example of a kit built British style lightweight . Pick your make of forks, engine, hubs, frame lugs, etc, and build another variation of a standard theme. In this case we know who assembled the original package as the frame number and engine number tell us so. It’s not the first time we’ve had some dreamer think he’s got something exotic and it won’t be the last. My own pet peeve is claiming some mundane piece of old bangery is a ‘Sport’ model. And don’t get me started about the loons who think they have some exotic racing engine because it has two exhaust ports.
Sorry, rant over. It just amazes me how people turn the most ordinary items in to something exotic on no credible evidence and sometimes I let loose.
Cheers,
