"Correct" finish?

[T. Cotten]

Folks,

Usually the hair is split at "gloss" or "semi-gloss", but the prevailing dogma is that all post-War Linkert bodies were black.

A gentleman who actually worked at H-D in 1965 stopped in this weekend on his way to the Springfield Races, and declared them bare bronze.

Perhaps a batch got washed;
The bottom line is that "correct" is a mythical ideal, and a great deal of History is lost in search of it.

....Cotten

[koanes]

The first 65 I bought in 1979 was a 19,000 mile machine that showed no signs of being worked on had a bare bronze carb. At the time, I was unaware of the black paint as I had never seen a Linkert with the paint on it. As I was detailing the bike after a motor overhaul a friend said my carb body should be black. I told him he was nuts and should go away. First carb I saw with a painted body was an OD M88, then I bought a NOS M45A. The paint was close to flat black, not glossy. The only other NOS Linkert I have is a M55, came bare. It always seemed silly to paint such a beautiful casting.

[duffeycycles]

I've seen a lot of NOS black M74 Bs-all from police departments-i've rebuilt many Linkerts and few have had any trace of black

[T. Cotten]

Well, Folks,

I have had '65 carbs across my benches with flecks of black, so at least some were painted. It is more common on earlier barnfinds.

One L&L spec sheet for an earlier model cites "lacquer", which needs a careful application and often a buff to be "gloss", and usually dulls further with time.
And apparently not resistant to even mid-60s fuels, much less the Gunk Hydro-Seal found in every shop.

Indian models seemed to have retained their paint and gloss much better, and late potmetal Scheblers the best.

....Cotten

[cdndewey]

A buddy of mine bought a 47 FL. He's the second owner and it was ridden hard and put away wet. He was tearing it apart to do an overhaul and I was looking at the pile of parts. I commented that his carb should be black and he said he thought somebody painted it and he bead blasted it to look like all the other Linkerts he had seen.