# Hoping for help Identifying this fork



## fattommy (Oct 17, 2013)

From reading past posts about features of various manufacturer's forks, I think this might be a Davis fork from about 1915 or 1916.
Please disregard my dumb ass repair job of adding the doublers.  The truss rod stays were both fractured when I got it and so I tried to fix it.  
Carlton, this is from the bike we've been discussing.  Patric, this is what I emailed you about.  
There is what looks like a C or an incomplete 6 impression stamped at the base of the steer tube and it has the little pin which was for the fender hanger fastener.
I'm a dinasour novice about all this and hope I'm not wearing out my welcome here, but I'm totally confused about which manufacturer made what, when.
It is very possible the original paint was green, hard to tell but there are traces.  The bike was covered with red oxide paint when I got it, but the frame and forks look like they were originally together and the frame is green.
Is this the same fork used on Harley bikes?
I would greatly appreciate hearing your comments.  Thanks, Tommy.

http://i.imgur.com/6OjJDsg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/uHq3RjJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iAFpu5A.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2XvnzjW.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fThEPOq.jpg


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## redline1968 (Oct 17, 2013)

Fork pic Davis built


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## fordsnake (Oct 17, 2013)

This particular shoulder was very common introduced by the Schlueter Cycle Mfg. Co., Cincinnati, Ohio., on their 1896 Norwood. The forks below have the same shoulder design pattern; the green one is a Mead, the brown one a Columbia. I think Pierce also offered this fork shoulder style?


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## fattommy (Oct 17, 2013)

The spacers (crowns?) on my forks are curved in, but the forks are narrow like the Columbia ones you're showing.


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## fattommy (Oct 17, 2013)

redline1968 said:


> Fork pic Davis built




Looks like the truss rods are hollow in your picture and the ends are a little different.  Mine appear to be solid steel rods (not totally sure about that, but the welding seems heavier), and at the tip the Davis fork appears to have a sheet metal termination where as I think my fork tips are parent metal at the tip.


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## redline1968 (Oct 17, 2013)

Didn't really look to see mine is thicker. Interesting pic for Davis bike for u.


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## bricycle (Oct 17, 2013)

redline1968 said:


> Didn't really look to see mine is thicker. Interesting pic for Davis bike for u.




No brag.... just fact!?


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## fattommy (Oct 17, 2013)

Thicker but not longer?


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## hoofhearted (Oct 17, 2013)

*Miami-Built Truss Fork ...............*

Paint.Net was used in both of these fotos.  The Miami Truss Fork pictured 
DOES NOT REALLY HAVE two, different truss-rod supports.

...............  patric


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## bricycle (Oct 17, 2013)

hoofhearted said:


> Paint.Net was used in both of these fotos.  The Miami Truss Fork pictured
> DOES NOT REALLY HAVE two, different truss-rod supports.
> 
> ...............  patric
> ...




...man, that's mess'n with my brain (what's left of it).


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## fattommy (Oct 17, 2013)

hoofhearted said:


> Paint.Net was used in both of these fotos.  The Miami Truss Fork pictured
> DOES NOT REALLY HAVE two, different truss-rod supports.
> 
> ...............  patric
> ...




Wow Patric, I never noticed that there were two different supports.  AND--Thanks so much for the insight about the form at the top.  If it's not Davis, it clears up a lot of things.  NOW WERE GETTING SOMEWHERE !  THANK YOU< THANK YOU< THANK YOU !
Look how similar this Harley fork appears.
http://i.imgur.com/90s1H.jpg


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## hoofhearted (Oct 17, 2013)

*WHOA !!! ... fattommy ... !!!*

fattommy ... Dood ...... I used Paint.Net on the truss support to the right (on your fork) .............

YOUR MIAMI Truss FORK DOES NOT REALLY HAVE 2-Different Truss Rod Supports.

Wanted to show the two variations in Miami-Made truss forks that were produced ... could be a third variation ... 
just haven't spotted one (yet).

And .. you are correct .. fattommy .. there is a BIG SIMILARITY between the Davis Truss Fork AND the Miami Truss Fork ... 
when viewed and compared from a side point of view.

..............  patric


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## fattommy (Oct 17, 2013)

hoofhearted said:


> fattommy ... Dood ...... I used Paint.Net on the truss support to the right (on your fork) .............
> 
> YOUR MIAMI Truss FORK DOES NOT REALLY HAVE 2-Different Truss Rod Supports.
> 
> ...




OK got it --Paint.net messes up the picture-  like you said, sort of.  Going back to the part, there ain't 2 different supports.  
OK, good.  Still thanks for clearing up that it's not Davis.  Would very much like to see the other variations.


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## hoofhearted (Oct 17, 2013)

fattommy ... slo' down Dude ... I never said Paint.Net messes up the picture ... somewhere in the last coupla days 
I tried to enlarge a foto using Paint.Net and while the foto did gain some horsepower and was resized .. the foto 
attachment feature here on the CABE would not image it any larger.  

Paint.Net is ACES ... at least for me ... I even started a thread on the Cabe .. (Paint.Net ..... Free Download ...) with many, 
many examples of what a person can do (once they learn, that is). 

To tell ya th' truth .. i'm about as computer literate as a bag o' un-popped popcorn ... but i'm havin' a blast wit' Paint.Net  !!!


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## fattommy (Oct 17, 2013)

Oh-- Patric---sorry.  Now I understand.  You were modifying the picture of the support on the right using paintnet to illustrate that there are different variations.  I feel sort of stupid right about now. Geeeeez !

Anyway, for a while I was thinking the forks might have been made by a third party, supplying forks to various manufacturers, but after I saw chitown's contribution of the Davis factory article describing the manufacturing processes they used including making the forks, I now understand the factories made their own.  Seems logical that if a manufacturer would buy a seat and a chain, they might also buy sprockets and forks.

Very funny.  Maybe I'll give paintnet a shot.


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## hoofhearted (Oct 17, 2013)

fattommy ... don't feel stupid, Tommy ... if you don't understand something I share .. maybe I need to 
teach it from a different direction !!!  I learned this in the first two days of my teaching career working 
with junior high school kids, for thirty years in the same classroom. Each of us has the capacity to learn ... 
and there seems to be more success in the classroom when the teacher acknowledges no two children 
learn in the same manner.  A teacher who values success adapts his / her teaching style to the particular 
needs of each individual student.

And I forgot to tell ya that your frame is a Miami-Built.  You shared off the line that your ride takes banjo 
adjusters at the rear dropouts ... remember this >> not all Miami-Built rides have a lack of adjuster-screw 
technology ... some have the adjuster screws ... I don't know which do and which don't.

I'm open to all possibilities as to whether or not a factory built their own forks.  Miami Cycle produced motor-
cycles .. as did Davis ... they surly had the capacity to make forks ... but saddles, chains, handlebars, tires 
and possibly a few more items were readily available from outside jobbers.

..............  patric


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