What are your Indian parts experiences?

I am responding to John Park’s letter in the January issue relating to repro girder forks from India not being up to scratch. I too would be interested to know if any readers have had good – or bad – experiences with the reproduction items available from India.

Like John, I find myself in the difficult position of trying to source girder fork components; in my case to replace original items for my late father’s 1938 Triumph Speed Twin, which were stolen from my workshop, along with other parts, a few years ago. Since then I have lost count of the number of ‘specialists’ I have contacted in an attempt to find replacements for the stolen items, without success.

Almost as a last resort, I have been considering buying a complete girder fork assembly from India. I am fortunate to still have the original blades in excellent condition, but I need all the other parts and would be prepared to buy a complete assembly in order to get them. In my case, twisted blades would not matter so long as the other parts were serviceable.

However, John’s point about safety critical items is well made, as it would be unwise to buy and fit shoddy components. As a retired mechanical engineer, I am well aware that poorly welded up defects in forgings and castings can lead to failure. I wonder if John found all the parts to be poorly made, or just the blades themselves?

There are several Speed Twin girder fork assemblies advertised on the well-known internet auction site, some looking very shiny in black and chrome, some just black, and some described as ‘raw’, which appear to be coated only with red oxide paint.

Also, although there seems to be a few suppliers, the pictures in the different adverts look similar to each other, so I wonder if the assemblies are in fact all made in the same place.

Some of the ‘buyer feedback’ suggests that some customers have been pleased with the items, but, bearing in mind, John’s poor experience, I wonder if the quality is variable.

It’s an interesting subject and, if the items are of an acceptable quality, they would be greatly appreciated by restorers like myself because they are otherwise difficult to find. However, as they say – buyer beware, and India is a long way away!

David Joule, Preston, Lancashire