Forum

[Mike flanagan]

I was wondering if these features could be identified as being older RE parts.The upper headlight ears/fork shrouds and the front fender.I like them,but I suspect they may not be 1963.I may want to keep these or find direct replacements,I know the headlsmp is wrong.thanks for any opinions

[Adrian]

They look like Series 1 export Interceptor headlamp brackets from around 1964/5, though the Interceptor would have had a twin-clock alloy top yoke for a rev counter.

https://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/p ... pages/3313

Still, it's not a bad looking arrangement, our hosts sell the chrome trims as well as replacement brackets if your old ones don't clean up well enough to re-use. There is also a suitable replica Lucas headlamp available, part no. LU/51829

A.

[Adrian]

The fender/mudguard looks like it belongs to a larger bike too, being for a 19" front wheel rather than the 17" on the MM.

This raises questions regarding what you want to do with your rebuild. If I haven't already mentioned this, using a 19" rim on the front and 18" on the rear wheels will give you a much better choice of tyres - sorry, TIRES, though the steering geometry will be a little different.

You have a number of options for sorting out a front end for that bike depending on whether you want a restoration or a restomod(?).

A.

[vince]

Hi, it looks like the front off an Indian enfield trailblazer. The headlamp has a more rounded back than normal which would be correct. Vince

[Adrian]

It's not obvious form the old catalogue pictures Vince, but I'm open to correction.

http://re-indian.com/history.html

The forks on Mike's bike have the reduced offset sliders used with the 17" wheels fitted to MMs, the top yoke looks as though it's only the normal 3.5" Smiths speedo type fitted to UK models, and not for the 5" Stewart-Warner speedo, while the headlamp actually looks more like an 8" job, similar to the Sunbeam S7 but without the speedo hole, that would account for the more rounded shape compared to the 7". The Indian Chiefs used a rounder headlamp shell than the SSU700 Lucas, but they weren't side mounted.

What do you think?

A.

[vince]

Hi, not all indians used stewart warner clock, tomahawk and apache used smiths chronmetric. The latter had matching tacho. The bike in question is not uk spec which leaves export ie Indian or someone has just fitted the early head stock. Re the headlight it certainly looks more rounded but it might just be the photo. Vince

[Jools G]

The single-instrument top yoke was introduced around 1950; at the time, the fork stanchions were not threaded at the top and were held in place via pinch-bolts (of the same type as the steering stem pinch bolt). Later models top yokes were modified to accept the threaded type of stanchion.

Similar top yokes were used on 'Airflow' models, 250 Crusader-derived trials models, and also on the US-export 250 'Fireball' scrambler.

[enfield_trials]

it will be nice interceptor bike build it .. it worth building.
if were you get the engine going first .. gives you motivation.

[Adrian]

What I'd like to know is exactly which RE models were officially exported to the United States AS Royal Enfields rather than Indians after the Indian-badge deal with Brockhouse finished. Apart from the Interceptor and the Fury, Jools mentioned the Fireball, any others? Was the Meteor Minor in any form an official export to the US by the time the 17" wheel models were introduced to the UK, i.e. after the 500 Tomahawk? Did any of the later export models have 17" wheels?

I take the point that it's not currently in UK trim with that front end, but - pure speculation, here - I wonder if this was a UK bike privately imported into the US back in the early sixties, a subsequent owner took one look at the ugly (sorry, MM fans!) Redditch front end and found some other RE/Indian parts that looked better and retro-fitted them, or else the original front end was damaged in an accident and the bike had to be repaired with whatever parts were available.

The REOC could help with frame and engine numbers, my apologies if that has already been mentioned.

A.

[vince]

Hi, my understanding was the entire range was exported to usa, the specs may have differed from home market. Vince