I would have to go and have a look at the set on my M,I do know they are original BSA as i know its history back to the eary 60s I am sure they have a cast part number on one of the castings this should indentify them. If the forks were going to fracture i would not have expected them to fracture where yours have. I have always known M forks to be well made and have given by old WD M some stick in off road trials in the past and never had any problems.
i would take them off and shot blast them to have a good look, and maybe get them crack tested as they need to be sound at the bottom where they enter the casting for the front wheel spindle.
Mybe best to send them back to where you got them from and pick up a original set!
Reproduction forks from India are horribly made. The forgings on a BSA fork are very nicely made while the India forgings are in fact castings instead and look like sh*t and are close twice the size of the originals and the tube holes are not in the middle of the castings etc. Poorly made and dangerous as castings are not nearly strong enough compared to the strength of forgings.
I have taken a look at the photo you send me and your are no India reproductions and as far as I can see original BSA.
Thanks Henk, I agree I think they are originals they have a worn out forged number on the right hand side (gear shift side) I even make out a BSA marking and a stamped number at the front 66 5016 casting above the mud guard support. I guess that it was stamped because the forged number was eligible. The reason that they may look a bit rough at the top is because of my rough welding of the speedo bracket lugs and some filler that I did not sand off properly. I have but them up against my other set of originals and apart from the number difference (originals 66 5056) they are the same. I am guessing that perhaps they were a set of factory rejects, hence the reason they were not used.
Thanks for putting up my picture in the gallery. Yes Australia is a great place with lots of places to ride, particularly long distances. Do not leave it too late to get here and have a look around, I will heat up the BBQ for you mate.
following on from my gloomy post in your other thread, factory rejects?
I have come across this idea before from riders in OZ.
A factory rejected item got scrapped, or remedied, not put into the spares system.
No British factory fobbed off far away placess with dud spares, altough granted we did seem to fob you off with some dud bikes.....and last years unsolds.
Nor would they have stamped forging numbers, why would they? d
Down under you seem to be quite obessed with all the odd numbers to be found on bikes, [no offence meant] few if which are relevant to anyone other than a sub contractor who made them.
I have to disagree with you. BSA did in fact stamp the fork blades with a number on the mudguard support. The number quoted by Bryce is a genuine BSA M20 number. The number itself however can be restamped easily but Henk has already confirmed that the forks are genuine.
The top links however are either pre war BSA (these types were used on heavy weights) or reproduction. The forged lugs did have numbers as well but these are part of the forging and were not stamped.
Having worked for quite a while for the world largest metals recycler, SimsMetal , I can tell you that a lot of what factroies reject & put in the scrap bins gets pulled out before they reach to the furnace.
Now this is fine for me as I was a metallurgist & knew what was wrong & how to fix it before using the part.
However what happens to the 2 tons of reject castings that were bought by another foundry no body really knows.
Then of course when I kark it some one who does not know the history of the 15 Tons of bits I have squirreled away will get their hands on it and flog it off to unsuspecting owners probably as NOS.
Now days parts for scrapping oft go directly to the schredder so they are totally destroyed but this is not what happened bck in the time BSA was making motorcycles
