Fork Identification

[Chrisb40]

Greetings all. I recently bought a 1966 D10 bantam and I think it's the Supreme model judging by comparing photos. The frame and engine numbers don't match and a high level exhaust was fitted at some time. However the front forks were bottoming out with a clunk.
So upon stripping them down I found compressed springs and worn bushes. I ordered new stanchions, springs, top nuts and bushes which arrived today and guess what? They are different to what I have on the bike and don't fit?! I haven't found a breakdown of my forks on any bantam diagram so I'm wondering where my forks came from. If anyone can identify them from the photo it would help me a lot

[griffo]

There is a big hint of B40 or C15 heavy duty forks there..

[Chrisb40]

Good suggestion but I've already looked at both those parts list and they are different. I've got a B40 myself. The strangest thing about these to me are they don't operate on spring compression, they operate on stretching the spring. Aside from that a bottom bush is jammed solid in the tube. Tried everything bar cutting it to get the bush out and welding it back together. Nightmare!

[AdrianS]

I don’t know what these are but I would scrap them and find some bantam ones.

[Chrisb40]

Adrian. Thanks for that. I was seriously considering it. I bought all the internals for the D10 forks believing they would fit. Gotta find the top yokes and forks now. Haven't a clue where at the moment. Any suggestions?

[AdrianS]

Yokes come up often on fleabay, forks not so much.
Dragonfly stock a lot of second hand parts, worth a try. I know Rex Caunt did have a warehouse full of second hand parts but since moving to a new site I’m not sure what happened to everything but might be worth a try.
Last resort is to find some Japanese forks that will fit temporarily to get you going!

[Chrisb40]

Japanese forks?! Are there any that will fit directly?

[AdrianS]

Not sure which ones will fit but have seen various Jap forks used with Bantams. Hopefully someone will come along and answer the question!
I believe Honda cg125 ones have been used.

[Chrisb40]

Interesting. I'll be watching and waiting

[DAVE BRADY]

Hi ChrisB,

Prompted by your item in The Star I did a bit of surfing and still found nothing conclusive with the nearest being D7/D10.  James and FB forks do not match either.  Do you have photo of the yolks and the front hub?  These may help with ID.

Dave.

[Chrisb40]

Thanks Dave. I had a phone call from a member who read this months Star. He identified the forks as coming from an early Triumph Terrier, and modified by welding on the mudguard support brackets. It looks like the welding process distorted the lower legs which resulted in jamming the bush in the leg! I have now gone down the route of procuring a Honda CG125 donor bike which is going very well and give me a disc brake on the front

[AdrianS]

It will be interesting to see what bits of the CG125 you can utilise. I am aware that the engine can also be adapted to fit - might end up with not a lot of Bantam!

[Chrisb40]

Haha!! I picked up the CG 125 without the engine or loom. I'm only using the yoke and forks at the front end.

[bluebell]

i have a set of later bantam yolks  send me the casting  number you require