Hi

I havent been on here for a while......anyways, saw this the other day and thought it may interest a few of you...

http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2012/11/13/rajputana-customs-1942-bsa-m20-laado.html

It says he increased the engine output by 2 extra horsepower..

regards
Brandon

he also has bent the girder forks to take the larger tyre wouldnt this make the forks shorter

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com

Not unless he cut them and welded in an extra piece.....

Or they were lightweight forks bent out of shape? They look lightweight.

They look like wm20 forks to me.
what a great way to completely remove all the designed structural strength out of the fork blade by bending them like that. & just incase we doubt the builder ... he has put the front brake arm upside down so it can foul the forks before stopping the bike... nice.

What i appreciate about this build is that if need be this WM20 can be restored to original condition fairly easily, at least it hasnt been butchered beyond repair....that is if he has a spare girder.

Agreed, but when i see things like that brake arm alarm bells ring & i have to assume that basic common sense has not been applied to the build & the engineering must always be a priority.

I know we're all "purists" on this forum and dislike anything that's not standard/original, but consider the possibility that this guy knew what he's doing. Maybe he tested the brake lever and it comes nowhere close to fouling. And maybe he calculated the stresses on the bent fork. Rule of thumb in engineering/design is to design in a safety factor of three. That is, the forks should have been originally designed to withstand at least three times the maximum (non-collision) forces at maximum weight. If these bends decrease the strength of the forks by a factor of 0.5, he still has a safety factor of 2.5 in every-day use. Of course, it will make a small difference in a front-end collision, but the difference between the forks bending in a 21mph collision instead of a 23mph collision doesn't make much practical difference for every-day use. How often are you going to have a collision in the small window of speeds where the bend may make a difference?

Or, just as likely, maybe he built this bike for looks and not for use.

email (option): jonny.rudge@verizon.net

I have to say, I really quite like this bike and I would be interested to know what people would have thought of it had he fitted a narrower front tyre, thereby allowing the forks to remain un-bent and had fitted the brake actuator arm the right way up?
There seems very little else to criticize. It's surely a great credit to the WM20 that it can look so 'fresh' with just the removal of perceived 'un-cool'
parts, like mudguards.

Also, of course, he saved it from decay.

Brooky.

email (option): chasgbrook@hotmail.com

Hi John..I think it might be a rash statement to say we are all 'purists' on this site...Who knows what goes on in the privacy of someones workshop or what lives people lead outside of the military bike scene?
I like my military bikes to be fairly 'standard' looking for sure...as for everything else I would pick a 'special' of one sort or another every time.
Personally I would much rather excercise my imagination and engineering skills to create my own idea of a nice bike than to build one bike after another to a rigid formula.(someone elses)...I did that in the past and eventually tired of it..
That aside I pretty much agree with your comments on this bike..Personally I don't see anything particularly outstanding or original about it though and the finishing is distinctly average.(for the work of a 'professional') The overall stripped out 'bobber' look is quite nice though.
I spent a couple of enjoyable hours 'cruising' that website, where there are a number of very innovative and well executed bikes to look at....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I think i gave the wrong impression in my post, i do really like it & have no issues with all styles i have factory original & personally altered BSA's myself.
for me though even if i had calculated the brake arm to be fine like that i still wouldn't want people to point & laugh at the wrong fitment of it.
I got it wrong anyway i realised after .....the standard shape only actually needs to be like that to clear the speedo drive on earlier models & it doesn't even need that curve & clearance on a WM20 ( i had wrongly remembered how dangerous a mistake it would be on my machine that does have the speedometer drive on that side & forgot that a WM20 has loads of clearance ).
When making calculations about the strength of a set of girders its only valid if they are as new, most are weaker than when made 70yrs ago & rusted from inside & often pitted.
maybe they are rebuilt with stronger legs.
still look sh*t to me with kinks in the legs :-D

*maybe they are Indian ones off eBay & that's as straight as they could make them.

I think you would have to go some to work out the loads on the forks anyway..They are subject to various forces for which we have no available values.
I know if you are involved with things like that enough you develope a 'seat of the pants' feel for what will work and what may be a bit marginal. It tends to lead to things being a bit 'Clyde Built' but generally works OK. It's like operating a lathe for instance..I never look up feed and speed figures or measure the angles on lathe tools against a theoretical perfect form..After 40 years of engineering I just have a 'feel' for what is right based on previous experience...'a bit faster, a slightly slower feed'..etc.
Many of the old shipwrights couldn't even read or write, never mind calculate loads..but with passed down and accumulated knowledge they were able to build some great ships. The 'kinky' fork legs look a bit like Harley Springers......Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

The bit i find strange about the forks is those 500x16 Avon's are certainly no more than 5" at their widest & wm20 forks have at least a 5" gap at that point.
Yes those lovely Milwaukee Springers which i believe is tapering "D" section, best looking fork ever but with almost no useful travel :-D .. I'm told by friends with them that a big fat tyre is almost essential to get another inch of suspension movement.
I am a keen follower of the "having a feel for what's right" method as long as its from proper experience ... i am extremely bad at being comfortable in machines that someone else has built or driving. on a recent long haul flight i would have preferred to be in the cockpit keeping an eye on the flight crew & preferably at the controls. even thought i can't fly a plane.

so fred you are not a good pillion passenger like me my fiend would have to lever my hands off the bike when we stopped

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com