Girder fork new main springs

I have no experience of the Indian springs but I have an NOS WD spring (It's matt Khaki Green No. 3 and I've handled enough of that to be pretty certain that it's genuine and period).

My caliper isn't large enough to measure the spring accurately but with a rule, it appears to be 8 1/2" (210mm) long and I agree with your other dimensions so it seems that your original may have settled 10mm which sounds reasonable.

The Indian spring is probably less likely to destroy the headstock paint when fitting but the lack of dimensional accuracy would concern me. If it's the same rate as the original then it will probably be a struggle to fit.

Someone in the trade who posts on the WM20 forum had a set of the Indian girders to check and apart from the fact that the lugs appear to be cast iron, they were about 1/2" out of square...again, not a good sign.

There are still good spring makers in the UK. Has anyone asked for a price ? An opportunity for the NOC surely ?

Andrew,no need to replace your spring if its sound,take it to a spring works and have it reset to the dimension you require.Regards John.

Previously wrote:

Previously wrote:

Thanks John. This spring is a rather tired and soft ex-WD 16H one. Any suggestions of firms to approach as I don;'t expect there is anything in the south-west?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I can recommend Paul Savage in Redditch. He made a new main spring for my '37 girders. Right now I can't find the dimensions we worked to, but if I come across them I will post. Paul can be reached on 01527 521666 (working hours).

Cheers

Ian McD

Regarding girder fork springs. I wasgoing to look into this as it strikes me that all the springs frommodels using this type of girder fork have similar looking springs,I.e. A model 50 spring looks the same as a 16h spring when removedalthough a 16h is a heavier machine thus giving the spring more preloading etc, I am sure that over the years many springs / forks havebeen mixed and this possibly may go some way to explain why somesimilar machines are âstifferâ than others, also I am sure thatsome have noticed that ground clearance varies quite significantlyfrom one machine to another,is this down to differing springspecifications or it could simply be down to wear?

I also consider that today's riders have a tendency to belarger and heavier than riders from 70 plus years ago and thereforepushing the springs beyond their average design specification, itstands to reason that a rider say weighing 20 stone is going to havea drastically different effect on a spring than one of 8 stone.

Suspension today is regarded as most important on performancebikes and there are several businesses who specialise on altering itaccording to rider weight etc. For some time I have considered theidea of getting springs re manufactured of differing rates in orderto suite different machine and rider weights in order to optimiseoperation of what little suspension is on offer.

Can anyone throw any light on this subject and is there anyinterest in this area?

Many thanks,

Will