[Adrian II]

Well, yes. Project bikes are possibly never really finished, are they?

My Fury tribute bike was shaping up nicely, but I still wasn't happy with some aspects of it, mostly cosmetic. The alloy twin-clock top yoke didn't really suit the look of the bike, really too big a lump of polished alloy distracting attention from the big head engine, which was meant to be the main thing. Also, does a Bullet, even a tuned one, really need a rev-counter unless its racing? Didn't really like the poorly fitting front fender, and the front drum brake really wasn't confidence inspiring, despite an identical brake on my other Bullet being just fine.

So it was re-work time. Hitchcocks' still have Fury top yokes, and ebay turned up a genuine Smiths chronometric speedometer and a reasonable pattern Lucas SSU700 headlamp, but the forks were going to a problem as there were no Fury forks available, at least not over here. Standard Bullet forks have a different top fitting, which has the external thread.

The solution turned out to be a set of early B5 EFI Indian Bullet forks  almost the right top, just a little work needed, and still with the offset/leading axle of the original, but of course needing a disk brake front wheel, which takes care of the other problem. A better front fender (BSA Goldstar pattern) and a partly modified set of Hitchcocks loop stays were the main parts needed.

So the bike has gone from this:



to this.





Did I mention the cast alloy wheels, at all?   

A.

 

[grumbern]

I totally agree about the yoke, but I can't believe these wheels! And why did you change the fork shrouds?
I still have a use pair to use with the seperate headlamp brackets, as they were used on some Indians, VAX Interceptor and Fury, if you'd be interested?!
Andreas

P.S.: Please change back to spokes

[Adrian II]

Ah yes, those wheels... I did consider getting a set of flanged Morad alloy rims, WM2 19" front and WM3 18" for the rear, then I saw how much that would cost, plus I just liked the look of the cast alloy wheels, not just inappropriate but gloriously inappropriate!      They're getting a mixed reaction elsewhere. The Morads might still be a longer term possibility if the money doesn't keep getting needed for more urgent things. Car tyres? Replacement bathroom window? Etc, etc....

Changing the fork shrouds was necessary because of the forks themselves. The Interceptor type shrouds would have been fine, except that the oil seals in the new forks have integral oil seal holders, as all export Indian Bullet forks have done since some time in the 1980s. These result in the sliders having a larger outside diameter than the older Redditch pattern with the screw-on oil seal holder, and the Interceptor items won't fit over them. So it seemed better to replace the long shrouds with separate headlamp brackets and later bottom shrouds rather than chop the bottoms off the Interceptor type and fit fork gaiters.

If there had been a safe disk brake option using the Redditch pattern sliders I would have left the interceptor fork shrouds on or even taken up your offer of the VAX/Fury type. Converting those forks to disk brake is technically possible, but I'm not convinced that early Indian Bullet fork sliders are strong enough, and that still leaves the problem of finding suitable stanchions.

A.

[grumbern]

Hm, makes sense. Did you consider using XS-Performance rims? They have 40 holes and are affordable, at around 100 quid I guess.
Andreas

[Adrian II]

It would have had to be Morad rims. Maybe sell a kidney next time... 

Meanwhile I have another Fury-type top yoke. I have a plan to fit this to my AVL hybrid in the Super Meteor frame, though I know I can now get a set of forks to use with it which will let me keep the existing wheels.

A.