Hi all,
I am trying to find a pair of good quality chrome fork sleeve / headlight brackets for my A65 Lightning.
I would like the 1968 97-2510 (LH) & 97-2512 (RH) type and I just cannot find a UK supplier with any.
Klempf's in the USA have stock of UK made 97-2510 & 97-2512 and in an email they have said that the only thing with their fork sleeves (they call them headlight ears) is that they are 1/2" longer than the original BSA units at the bottom where the rubber gaiter fits. I can't see this being a problem as the gaiter will cover this and I think the critical dimension will be from the top of the sleeves to the mounting holes for the bottom yoke.
The Klempf items are pretty expensive at $100 a piece ($200 for the pair) and then you have the shipping and import costs.
I'm a little hesitant to purchase them from Klempf because of the cost but as long as they are of a good enough quality I am tempted.
Has anyone bought any of these fork sleeves from Klempf's and could advise me on the quality and fit?
Does anyone know of any UK alternatives? I've tried everyone I can think of and even bought a pair from British MC Supplies on eBay, for just over £90 a pair but they were not really that good quality and they sent me two right hand units, so I returned them for a refund.
It's going back a few years since I restored my A65L but I vaguely remember this issue with the chrome fork sleeves. I believe I bought a pair that were too long but I can't remember what I ended up doing although I believe I might still have one of the pairs I bought in the shed. After lunch, I will have a look - I don't want to get your hopes up but if the pair I have would be usable, you would be more than welcome to them free of charge.
Hi,
Have you seen these:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-PAIR-BSA-GOLDSTAR-A65-HEADLIGHT-HEADLAMP-BRACKET-CHROME-PLATED/143529101296?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3Df149c7d85be84c288e304b11960e19be%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D223894554103%26itm%3D143529101296%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV1Filter%26brand%3DBSA&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
Best wishes...
I still have the original chrome sleeves but the problem I had was that these were too short for my A65 and so I ended up buying a longer pair. The spare ones I have are approx 20 cm long whereas the ones fitted to my A65 were nearer 22 cm long.
Hi Bess, yes I saw those on eBay but they aren't the right type that I want.
Thumper do you have any photographs of the ones you have?
Thanks, Kev
Kev. They are similar to the ones on eBay which, at first glance, look similar to the ones in the 1968 A65 parts book. What is wrong with the eBay ones out of interest?
Hi Thumper,
If you mean the ones that Bess linked to on this post then they have the wrong hole (the A65 type has slots) and the bottoms are flared, which requires a strap at the top as well as the bottom of the rubber gaiter.
The correct ones that I want on my bike are part numbers 97-2510 & 97-2512. This type has the slotted hole and a 90 degree lip on the bottom that retains the rubber gaiter without the need for a strap.
If you mean the ones I purchased from eBay, as I said the quality of the finish was not great. You could see scratches through the chrome plating, which suggests that they weren't very well prepared for the plating. On top of that they sent me two right hand sleeves, which is not much use and they were also the early flared bottom type and the guy I dealt with told me they would be the later type with the 90 degree lip. Add this to the fact that he was very abrupt and almost rude in his ebay messages to me and not much better on the phone when I rang him to tell him he had sent me two right hand units and there was enough reason for me to send them back to him for a full refund.
My bike currently has a later 97-2510 with the 90 degree lip on the left hand side and an earlier 68-5177 with the flared bottom on the left hand side. There are photographs of mine in an earlier post related to this subject.
I can only assume that sometime in the past the left hand sleeve was replaced for some reason with the later one? They both do the job and once the gaiters and straps are on you can't see the difference.
I would just like them both to be the same and prefer the later type for purely aesthetic reasons.
Apologies if it is just me being a bit dim but the eBay ones pointed to by Bess (see below) look to me to have the small rims at the bottom to retain the gaitors. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by the slotted hole?
Morning Thumper,
No you're not being dim. I'm an experienced engineer with a lifetimes experience and I get confused with all the variations and parts with different numbers that are actually the same thing!
This is my second rebuild on this bike and I am attempting to put some things right that weren't that way in the first go. Yes they worked and it wasn't a bad job, even won a couple of trophies, but they weren't quite right to the standard I want and you learn as you go along with these things.
I have attached some photos; the first one shows the two fork sleeves that are from my bike. On the left is the early flared bottom, which requires a strap to keep the gaiter on. On the right is the later 90 degree lip, which does not require a strap to retain the gaiter.
The second photo shows a sleeve with the correct slotted hole for mounting the headlamp.
The third photo shows the 'goldstar' sleeve currently listed on eBay with the plain round hole and recess for mounting the headlight.
Hope this makes it clearer for you.
Hi Kev. Thanks for the clarification - I can now see what you mean about the eBay sleeves being the earlier model (68-5059/60) requiring a clip for the gaitors and also not providing a slotted hole for the headlight adjustment. Unfortunately, the pair I have are similar to the eBay ones and so therefore not of much use to you!