Mudguards from India

Hi Mick

I bought one ! even after all the grief with Indian petrol tanks but that's another story. As my Atlas rear mudguard has been welded and rechromed I thought a spare mudguard would 1 get me out of trouble or 2 be a good insurance it would see me out. I can't say I have compared them next to each other as the original is on the bike but the Indian one looks OK and is much heavier gauge steel as they are hand worked not stamped. If chroming is to be done a good polisher will be required on the edges due to being hand made but there is enough material to work with.

Regards James

I have a pair of new Indian mudguards for slimline if anyone is interested, with all of the holes drilled in the correct positions - I sent the vendor all of the dimensions. Tried to persuade him that he would sell more if he did that, especially the plated ones. Who is going to buy a new chrome guard then drill it? He did add the front brake cable clip and rear light cable clips too, but not the reinforcing cross-plates. Maybe a bit heavier gauge than original, and I think they would chrome up very nicely. Duck's bill at rear looks fine. If I had used them I would probable have silver soldered reinforcing cross plates to the rear one before plating.

Anyway in the end I succumbed to welding, silver soldering, lead loading, copper plating and re-chroming the originals, but not as a cost saving exercise!

Will sell on these new ones at cost if anyone is interested- can be viewed in London.

Steve

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I should add that tthe rust in the pic is very superficial and would come off with wire wool.

Mick

Here's the contact e-mail address, the eBay transaction details have long disappeared.I think one of these guys could clean up if they would just go the extra mile and say 'visually indistinguishable from the original'.

Maybe the heavier guage make the strengthening unecessary.

parvinderahuja@gmail.com

I missed panel beating from the list of activities required to recover an original mudguard to chrome-able standard. At least it was chrome to start with.

Steve

I don't know about the slim lines but the ones I bought for my model 7 were literally double the size, poorly made and ultimately a complete waste of money. Slim line mudguards aren't too hard to come by in UK, a bit pricey perhaps but at least they'll fit and if they don't, it won't cost you an arm and a leg to send them back. If someone knows otherwise regarding model 7 guards let me know, they seem to be nearly impossible to find.

Previously james_whiting wrote:

Hi Mick

I bought one ! even after all the grief with Indian petrol tanks but that's another story. As my Atlas rear mudguard has been welded and rechromed I thought a spare mudguard would 1 get me out of trouble or 2 be a good insurance it would see me out. I can't say I have compared them next to each other as the original is on the bike but the Indian one looks OK and is much heavier gauge steel as they are hand worked not stamped. If chroming is to be done a good polisher will be required on the edges due to being hand made but there is enough material to work with.

Regards James

Did you have a Bridge pace welded in were the rear stays fit and is there the wiring harness tags welded on the left hand side. and the holes for the wiring harness .for the rear lights if not your mudguards will crack

Norton them selfs knew of this cracking . this is why there a bridge pace in there. how many times have I written about this. yours anna j

Previously steve_marshall wrote:

I have a pair of new Indian mudguards for slimline if anyone is interested, with all of the holes drilled in the correct positions - I sent the vendor all of the dimensions. Tried to persuade him that he would sell more if he did that, especially the plated ones. Who is going to buy a new chrome guard then drill it? He did add the front brake cable clip and rear light cable clips too, but not the reinforcing cross-plates. Maybe a bit heavier gauge than original, and I think they would chrome up very nicely. Duck's bill at rear looks fine. If I had used them I would probable have silver soldered reinforcing cross plates to the rear one before plating.

Anyway in the end I succumbed to welding, silver soldering, lead loading, copper plating and re-chroming the originals, but not as a cost saving exercise!

Will sell on these new ones at cost if anyone is interested- can be viewed in London.

Steve

No there welded in as a part of making the mudguard .I have sent these Indian chaps load of information on Norton mudguards but they have taken on notes So it was a wast of my time. slimline mudguards there still trying to sell them as wideline mudguards they haven't a clue . what there doing. and never buy any thing thats chrome plated with NO hole drilled your just wasting your money. so please do not buy any thing of these guys. in India! your not saving any thing.buy it . yours anna j

Previously anna jeannette Dixon wrote:

Previously steve_marshall wrote:

I have a pair of new Indian mudguards for slimline if anyone is interested, with all of the holes drilled in the correct positions - I sent the vendor all of the dimensions. Tried to persuade him that he would sell more if he did that, especially the plated ones. Who is going to buy a new chrome guard then drill it? He did add the front brake cable clip and rear light cable clips too, but not the reinforcing cross-plates. Maybe a bit heavier gauge than original, and I think they would chrome up very nicely. Duck's bill at rear looks fine. If I had used them I would probable have silver soldered reinforcing cross plates to the rear one before plating.

Anyway in the end I succumbed to welding, silver soldering, lead loading, copper plating and re-chroming the originals, but not as a cost saving exercise!

Will sell on these new ones at cost if anyone is interested- can be viewed in London.

Steve

No there welded in as a part of making the mudguard .I have sent these Indian chaps load of information on Norton mudguards but they have taken on notes So it was a wast of my time. slimline mudguards there still trying to sell them as wideline mudguards they haven't a clue . what there doing. and never buy any thing thats chrome plated with NO hole drilled your just wasting your money. so please do not buy any thing of these guys. in India! your not saving any thing.buy it . yours anna j

I would agree with Anna, I bought a tank from enfield india, it was poorly finished, the profile was all wrong, rusty inside and the fastening threads were so rusty you could not screw the bolts in. I then tried to clean the inside of the tank only to find there were multiple pin hole leaks! I suppose I could have soldered up the holes but I would never have trusted it. It is now gatherring dust in the loft never to be used. I stuck with my original fibre glass tank which shows no ill effects from modern petrol after 3 years use. The moral of the story is, buy from reputable sources and, if possible, visually examine the item before you buy, you may have to pay more but it is cheaper in the long run and a lot less hassle.

Regards, Paul.

Well just for balance, I would say that the ones I bought were pretty good apart from the missing strengthening plates. It could be that the thicker gauge makes them redundandant in reality, but does make them visually wrong. It would have taken massively less work for me to just braze in these simple rectangular MS plates than it has done to recover my originals (1/20th the hours). Just a pity that after getting all the holes drilled, and adding the front brake cable clip and rear light clips, they wouldn't go that extra mile. I would say that the workmanship is generally good, and that polishing and plating the indian ones would achieve a better result than recovering the old ones (one that that a hard life for 50 years that is). Just me being silly about retaining original parts wherever possible.

For the benefit of posterity, I will take photos of the originals and indian ones side by side when my rear guard comes back. Just don't hold your breath dear reader......

Previously steve_marshall wrote:

Well just for balance, I would say that the ones I bought were pretty good apart from the missing strengthening plates. It could be that the thicker gauge makes them redundandant in reality, but does make them visually wrong. It would have taken massively less work for me to just braze in these simple rectangular MS plates than it has done to recover my originals (1/20th the hours). Just a pity that after getting all the holes drilled, and adding the front brake cable clip and rear light clips, they wouldn't go that extra mile. I would say that the workmanship is generally good, and that polishing and plating the indian ones would achieve a better result than recovering the old ones (one that that a hard life for 50 years that is). Just me being silly about retaining original parts wherever possible.

For the benefit of posterity, I will take photos of the originals and indian ones side by side when my rear guard comes back. Just don't hold your breath dear reader......

Yes they look OK But If it was me I would go for the bear steel , and not the Chrome ones these I would leave well alone, but you pay you money and takes your choice, this all down how much you have too spend. as were not all millionaires like some in this club , I am Skint so that lets me out of it, yours anna j

Previously michael_addison wrote:

Join the club Anna. I am skint as well.

As you can see from these messages I also sent loads of photographs toan Indian manufacturer.

As Steve says his Indian Mudguards looked O.K with generally good workmanship. So I have contacted his supplier to see if he would work off photographs of a genuine original Norton mudguard to see if he could produce a complete mudguard.

Cheers Mick

Happy New Year

I'm not surprised the Indian company didn't respond to AJD they probably didn't understand it I know I have problems!

Since no one, in the UK, can be bothered to make replica mudguards, it seems there are but three choices:-

1. Buy Indian copies, and modify them to suit.

2. Spend much time (and money) scouring autujumbles for originals, which will probably take even more money to restore.

3. Leave the bike in the garage/shed and write posts moaning about the poor supply of parts for, lets face it, obsolete vehicles.

Or just do as I did - fit universal stainless guards (I think the rear one on my Domi is a Commando one of some variety) and get on and ride it and not worry so much about precious originals rusting away. I once got some quite nasty abuse from one bloke when I turned up at a Scottish bike show one February on a very original BSA. My crime was daring to ride it in winter. Ho hum.

Gordon is right to say use something else, like a Commando guard where a decent original isn't available, especially on a non original. Done it lots of times.

However, I managed to get a very good Slimline Dommie UK made Slimline mudguard from club spares earlier this year. Still trying to get a front one. Fred Williams makes them but he's not well at the moment and he's a one man show. Get well soon Fred....A problem when trying to build an original.

But nobody, not even Indian's are making pre F/bed engine plates! And we as a club are supposed to be keeping Norton's on the road?

Previously neil_wyatt wrote:

Gordon is right to say use something else, like a Commando guard where a decent original isn't available, especially on a non original. Done it lots of times.

However, I managed to get a very good Slimline Dommie UK made Slimline mudguard from club spares earlier this year. Still trying to get a front one. Fred Williams makes them but he's not well at the moment and he's a one man show. Get well soon Fred....A problem when trying to build an original.

But nobody, not even Indian's are making pre F/bed engine plates! And we as a club are supposed to be keeping Norton's on the road?

well Neil if you need Pre- Featherbed engine plates just sent me some measurements And I make them for you , do you like steel or stainless steel or alloy 8mm steel 6mm thickness . yours anna j

If anyone wants sets of photos showing the setting out of all the holes and strengthening plates in slimline guards (front & rear) please let me know and I will forward by direct e-mail. Sadly too big to upload here.

Steve

Previously anna jeannette Dixon wrote:

Previously neil_wyatt wrote:

Gordon is right to say use something else, like a Commando guard where a decent original isn't available, especially on a non original. Done it lots of times.

However, I managed to get a very good Slimline Dommie UK made Slimline mudguard from club spares earlier this year. Still trying to get a front one. Fred Williams makes them but he's not well at the moment and he's a one man show. Get well soon Fred....A problem when trying to build an original.

But nobody, not even Indian's are making pre F/bed engine plates! And we as a club are supposed to be keeping Norton's on the road?

well Neil if you need Pre- Featherbed engine plates just sent me some measurements And I make them for you , do you like steel or stainless steel or alloy 8mm steel 6mm thickness . yours anna

Thanks for the offer Anna, I may take you up on it?. 1/4" steel would be ideal if you or I can get it. I have drawings but the part that sits over the swinging arm is going to be the challenge.

I am hopeful that our clubspares will come to the rescue. After 5 years, these must be near the top of the list. I want to get on with it as soon as my Dommie99 is done, although there is still the 650 motor to sort out, so let's say the Autumn of 2014.

No plates = quite a bit of good quality of scrap steel!

Mick

Photos sent by e-mail today. Let me know if you don't receive them

Steve

Previously michael_addison wrote:

Thanks for the offer Steve.

I have taken about 20 photographs of a slimline rear mudguard with measurements- which I sent to India.

Unfortunately they are on my old computer and I can not now access them, worse still the photographs were taken off my mates mudguard and I have moved house since then and no longer live near to him.

To make it easier for you can you just send the rear one please?

My e mail address is mickaddison@outlook.com

Thanks ever so much.

Cheers Mick

Previously neil_wyatt wrote:

Previously anna jeannette Dixon wrote:

Previously neil_wyatt wrote:

Gordon is right to say use something else, like a Commando guard where a decent original isn't available, especially on a non original. Done it lots of times.

However, I managed to get a very good Slimline Dommie UK made Slimline mudguard from club spares earlier this year. Still trying to get a front one. Fred Williams makes them but he's not well at the moment and he's a one man show. Get well soon Fred....A problem when trying to build an original.

But nobody, not even Indian's are making pre F/bed engine plates! And we as a club are supposed to be keeping Norton's on the road?

well Neil if you need Pre- Featherbed engine plates just sent me some measurements And I make them for you , do you like steel or stainless steel or alloy 8mm steel 6mm thickness . yours anna

Thanks for the offer Anna, I may take you up on it?. 1/4" steel would be ideal if you or I can get it. I have drawings but the part that sits over the swinging arm is going to be the challenge.

I am hopeful that our clubspares will come to the rescue. After 5 years, these must be near the top of the list. I want to get on with it as soon as my Dommie99 is done, although there is still the 650 motor to sort out, so let's say the Autumn of 2014.

No plates = quite a bit of good quality of scrap steel!

Well if you have some scrap steel you half way there all ready all you need is a good makita gig saw and some steel blades then mark on in chalk and do not try to follow you lines dead on keep out side of the line you need too cut in to cut bits of as you go round the corners then you can finish of with a angle grinder with flapper disc on it this will take all the rough edges off, and get it near the lines too then you need a mill drill and carefully mark out your bolt holes before drilling them under size if there under size you can get more to the right size with a round file or reamer on the mill drill you need to be a tight fit so there no vibration between the engine plates and the engine. for nice bolt to the right size you need to see Nooks Nuts On Ebay.co.uk he dose lot of nice nuts and bolts for BSA A10/A65 and Triumph 6T /T110/T120 and Norton Twins and singles and very good washers there a must have. I get them a bit longer than needed then I put two nuts on so you can lock the nuts, or you can now get the nilock nut he has, there very good value and in Nickel plated and they polish up too there better in many way to Stainless bolts and nuts as Stainless may not got rusty but they get hot a lot quicker and do not take vibration easily ether and get slack easily round the engine plates and barrel base , I changed all my stainless nuts and bolts for this reason now every thing stay tight as it should,

I've replaced almost all of my rusty nuts and bolts with stainless ones from HT Engineering. Never had one come loose. So I wouldn't get too worried about using them. For making your own engine plates, you could start with a card former then a hardboard one to make a template and then transfer the outline to the steel before doing the hard work. Can save making several sets of non-fitting engine plates.

I had some 8mm MS plates laser cut into quite elaborate shapes for structural purposes a few years ago, there are firms which will laser cut any shape from a drawing quite cheaply.

Steve,these photos would be very useful to me .Please mail to mjasbury@yahoo.co.uk.

many thanks.

Malcolm

Malcold

Just sent them through, hope they serve your purpose.

Steve

Previously steve_marshall wrote:

Malcold

Just sent them through, hope they serve your purpose.

Hi Steve,

Just received a call from my friendly welder saying he can not repair my old mudguard so I have given up on it and now find I am going down the India route. I have noticed however that the Indian ones have a number of the holes in the wrong places.

Although I have the original guard I would be grateful if you could send me the information you have with regard to the holes and strengthening plates. My e-mail address is efoulkes@hotmail.com

Eric

Previously Gordon Johnston wrote:

I've replaced almost all of my rusty nuts and bolts with stainless ones from HT Engineering. Never had one come loose. So I wouldn't get too worried about using them. For making your own engine plates, you could start with a card former then a hardboard one to make a template and then transfer the outline to the steel before doing the hard work. Can save making several sets of non-fitting engine plates.

well Nook's Nut's Do Stainless steel as well but with Nylon lock system in Cycle thread as well as BSF But most Norton twins are in Cycle thread or whitworth thread at the other end , the small nuts and bolts were in BA , British Association thread. so you have a nice choice of Nick plated or stainless steel but do Remember that stainless steel can be Brittle in some cases just take look at incidents that have taken place with Stainless steel spokes breaking in the wheel whilst riding and new Triumph Bonneville T100 stainless steel spokes failed when riding at speed and very nearly kill its rider , one incident where a Matchless twin front wheel collapsed when riding the machine at 30mph the rider was injured and taken to hospital, police inquiry the result of brittle stainless steel spokes this was in 2006 now old case so this is why I am very weary of Stainless steel But the not all the same. its more to do were the stainless steel was made, its all to do with the rolling process and harding of the steel products , so be careful out there what may seem like its too good to be true and a good bargain often turns out too be not so ,and end up as a scam

and bad or ill fitting parts , there out there so be on your guard at all times and ask question , so be safe you all yours anna j