Article By: Lucas Joyner – www.thefactorymetalworks.com
Originally Published In The January 2013 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine
This is the second half of an article started by Paul at Bare Knuckle Choppers on spinning fork covers. BKC and TFMW have teamed up in production, and this small run of covers is just the beginning of a slew of new items to come in the new year. Paul strongly believes in products made in the USA and we wholeheartedly agree. Product quality should not be compromised for a cheaper bottom line, so let’s keep manufactured parts here in the States and made by knowledgeable, experienced people.
Once the covers arrive from BKC, we examine each one to make sure that each set will be identical. Handmade items can vary in size and that is expected, so we try and keep the i.d.s the same on sets. We then place the mild steel cover in our fixture to mark the slice lines to cut at.
Next, we carefully cut the cover in the cold saw and slice the remainder in the middle so we can bend the ears of the cover out. With the cover in the jig, and the ears clamped to the fixture, we can drill precise holes for the mounts to the bottom of the triple trees.
Once the covers are drilled and the ears are rounded, the cover is pretty much complete. Sometimes we will add some spinoffs to them by cutting them just below the tree for exposed springs like on this unit Triumph frontend.
We have also made some rippled fork covers (which is another new TFMW product coming soon). We tried these out for the first time on our Mooneyes’ bike and they came out awesome, so we are adding them to the lineup of parts coming out in 2013.
We currently make these covers for Triumph unit frontends and will have more models and brands of bikes coming out soon. Currently, we are working on fork covers for the XS 650s; a product that has been long awaited. You can find these covers in raw steel form at www.thefactorymetalworks. com/ for $119.99 plus shipping. Be sure to like us on Facebook along with Bare Knuckle Choppers and Cycle Source, and support your local custom builders — right here in the USA.
