This article is about the Earles forks from late 1955 through 1969 and related issues.
This photo is of a sidecar rig with a 900 cc /6 engine and transmission. Totally stock Earles forks will look a bit different. It matters none for our purposes here.
This photo shows the left side of the Earles forks. The swing arm is shown in the sidecar position. This cross piece has been removed and welded back on an inch higher to give more clearance for the later engine.
This shows the right side. About the only thing different from the left side is the brake backing plate. Click for front brake adjustments.
Since we have a question about the cross piece on the Earles fork, I thought I would mention what I remember. When the Earles fork came out in late 55 the cross piece was round. In 63 with the addition of the engine harmonic balancer, they sort of flattened it to give clearance room for the engine cover. About that same time, or a bit earlier they changed the casting on that cover for all models. The early rough and thick casting was replaced by one that was lighter and made by a different process. In about 66-67 they changed it again. Now the engine cover was very thin and light. The fork cross piece was flattened even more and now was only about 1/2 as thick (front to rear) as it was high. The flat part was extreme. I have pictures of the three types of the cross piece but just haven’t found them so that I can add them.
An example of the flattest cross piece that I call the “extreme cross piece.”
The bolts that held the cover on had 4 varieties over the same years; slot, 14 mm, 13 mm and 10 mm.