Lil Indian forks
- Thread starter hotrodricky
- Start date
- Tags forks indian lil
There was a flat spot across the back and I think maybe the space around where the tubes go through was fatter around 1965-ish? I dunno about what the really early ones had. The height where the handle bar bend sat above the tree varied a bit as well between years. earlier adds show right above the tree, 67-68- early69 show sitting pretty high, Tecumseh era they drop back down again to right above tree. Problaby going along with frame dimension changes they made.
I've been told by a few people, including by someone at Allied Leisure Corp., that the number stamped on the frame has no relation to build date or model. If that's incorrect, I'd sure like to know the details of the number stamped on my bike.
I've been told by a few people, including by someone at Allied Leisure Corp., that the number stamped on the frame has no relation to build date or model. If that's incorrect, I'd sure like to know the details of the number stamped on my bike.
Just at a quick glance your frame jives with it being a pretty late 68-69, big headtube, 4 spoke mag handlebar bend higher off the bars. You would want to look at if it has a hole in the engine plate or not, which for the most part signifies the changes that had to be made during 69 to adapt the Tecumseh during that year. You can figure that those axle mounts were stamped well in advance and problaby thrown in a big bin so they weren't coming off the line on order by any means or something to that nature, but from what I have seen the numbers do usually match up pretty close to what was found on the for that model year.
You would want to look at the long skinny brochures for best reference for your bike, The red one is what was to be the 1969 bikes with briggs and mag wheels, the blue catalog was for 1970...which basically what the lineup morphed into during 1969 becuase of the engine change.
Red catalog I believe can be found in the "vintage karting archives" (think thats what that site is), Blue, I am not real sure if there is anything online currently from that one.
Ricky, I can give you measurements of mine, of course its one of the bikes you didn't name specifically :laugh: Its an early 1968 600 with no corrections/repairs done to it. Let me know if you want em and I will PM you the specs.
Hey Hotrodricky,
I have a take off set of 68' Lil Indian forks that you can have if you want them. I am tripping over them
and they have to go. Someone did a hack job weld repair job on them so I am not sure if they will be of any use to you.
I have the original spring for them too. Just let me know and they are yours free, just pay for shipping...
Stitch
I have a take off set of 68' Lil Indian forks that you can have if you want them. I am tripping over them
and they have to go. Someone did a hack job weld repair job on them so I am not sure if they will be of any use to you.
I have the original spring for them too. Just let me know and they are yours free, just pay for shipping...
Stitch
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mine show 8 5/8" from bottom of tree to axle centerline, The bike is an early 1968 600 and forks are not altered-was still in factory paint before blasting. They definitely did seem to play around with height/where they put the plates, On the earlier bikes the frames themselves are physically smaller, another member here near me has a 65/66 first disc brake version, a 69, and a 1970. The 65 is like an inch shorter between top and bottom of the frame and you can see quite a difference in angle in the rear of the frame. Its not really noticeable until you put the bikes side by side so it may have alot to do with frame dimensions and size placement of headtube.
I will note also that the 1968 lineup catalog seems to show the lower models having the bend closer to the top plate, where the 600 and 700 show sitting higher, I have never seen a better cleaner photo than this one that Joe51 had posted up years ago though and cant see the dimension info to see if that jives with that.
One thing I remember is someone on here had bought lil indian kickstand from me which ended up being too tall, he said he had a 700 4" wheel frame and his measurements (bottom of frame to ground) did come in lower than any other bike I owned. My current 600 should in theory measure the same as his, but I haven't ever gotten as far as actually bolting the wheels back on it to take measurements to make a stand for it yet.
the 1969 brochure seems to show the bikes as all the same frame, even the dimensional info shows the same. the variances noted are for the due to tire sizes (4.10 4" on 400-500, 10.5 4" for 600, and 4.10 6" on 700)
Looks like 1967 is when the strap was added for a front fender bracket, then they seemed to be standard on all the models regardless if it had fenders or not. 1964 was the stated year they started to offer fenders but they mounted them to the bottom of the lower tree, then briefly they had some conduit strap type setup in 66 timeframe area, so if it has the strap is pretty safe to say 67-up.
I will note also that the 1968 lineup catalog seems to show the lower models having the bend closer to the top plate, where the 600 and 700 show sitting higher, I have never seen a better cleaner photo than this one that Joe51 had posted up years ago though and cant see the dimension info to see if that jives with that.
One thing I remember is someone on here had bought lil indian kickstand from me which ended up being too tall, he said he had a 700 4" wheel frame and his measurements (bottom of frame to ground) did come in lower than any other bike I owned. My current 600 should in theory measure the same as his, but I haven't ever gotten as far as actually bolting the wheels back on it to take measurements to make a stand for it yet.
the 1969 brochure seems to show the bikes as all the same frame, even the dimensional info shows the same. the variances noted are for the due to tire sizes (4.10 4" on 400-500, 10.5 4" for 600, and 4.10 6" on 700)
Looks like 1967 is when the strap was added for a front fender bracket, then they seemed to be standard on all the models regardless if it had fenders or not. 1964 was the stated year they started to offer fenders but they mounted them to the bottom of the lower tree, then briefly they had some conduit strap type setup in 66 timeframe area, so if it has the strap is pretty safe to say 67-up.
