1918 Harley Davidson trussed fork

[chitown]

On a 1915 Ranger Superbe Motorbike.

Chris (Fat Tire Trader) was kind enough to scan and post this 1915 Ranger Superbe Motorbike model. It even mentions the sloping angles like a motorcycle.

This is the fork that I said looked like the 1918 Harley trussed fork. In the ad I used (B+W magazine ad) it was hard to decipher if the truss rods were separate or joined to the drop outs like the HD. Opinions?

http://www.fattiretrading.com/images/1915_ranger-superbe.jpg

 

[bricycle]

whose ever lawn the HD is posed on... that mower needs a serious blade sharpening. L@@k at those "split ends" on the grass blades!

 

[Balloontyre]

These forks do...

Make a great research project, I've been studying some Mead and Elgin characteristics that are common, primarily the similarity in the design of the crown fork. So this may apply to Mead and other maker similarities also.

In regard to Mead bikes. I noticed that there are at least 5 different forks that show up on the Mead bikes. The ribbed Truss fork is the one that is the most interesting, the ribbed fork style is found on several other brands, additionally there are 2 variations of the rib style on Mead bikes. The span of use on the truss fork seems to run TOC to early 30's. It seams possible that forks were outsourced by many bike makers??? Just a theory.

Let's dig into this some more

 

[fat tire trader]

1915 may be the first year that truss forks are in a Mead catalog. I don't have 1913 or 14, but 1912 does not show a truss fork.

 

[Balloontyre]

1915 may be the first year that truss forks are in a Mead catalog. I don't have 1913 or 14, but 1912 does not show a truss fork.

Is there a description of the forks in the 1912 catalog? anything with a "rib" on the crown or side of fork blade? Can ya please post some pics of fork details.

 

[sam]

1911 mead catalog

 

[dfa242]

And here's the 1914 Ranger Catalog page.

 

[Balloontyre]

These clips are from 1913 Sears catalog, the Peerless is referred to as the 1914 Model, Master is 1913 model.

 

[Balloontyre]

Chris, it looks to me the drawing is showing the general shape of the Mead truss rod juncture. The Davis truss rod looks to run straight as it meets the fork eye juncture.
Does anyone care to share a pic of a 1915 Ranger Motorbike?
It would be nice to see a photo of a 1915 Ranger. Attached is 1920

 

[chitown]

1915 (no rib, triple crown, fused truss rods that are fussed to triangular dropout

Here are some more Mead pics for comparison:

1918 Ranger Motorbike (no rib, solid crown, fused truss rods that joins at the fork)

View attachment 85809

1918 Pathfinder (no rib, solid crown, fused truss rods that join at fork and that merge on top to a single bolt to headset bracket)

View attachment 85810

1923 Ranger Motorbike (ribbed, triple crown, separate truss rods)

View attachment 85811

1923 Catalog showing NEW separate truss rods:

View attachment 85816

The 1915 model posted looks different from most other Mead forks in the way it looks to be brazed to the dropout plate and not the fork itself. The only other model I've seen this is the 1918 Harley.