Need help from a Knucklehead expert

[Jerry Wieland]

I think it is bogus.

Thoughts?

[Jdiesel25]

And that’s the problem I’m having some say it’s good others say no. Very hard to determine if it’s a legit 43 or not unfortunately

[Jerry Wieland]

This whole area of the case has been massively reworked. Look at the surface texture in the 'V' marked in yellow vs the area outside of the 'V'.

1943.jpg

Thoughts?

[pisten-bully]

comparing the number pads on the two they're different, because the bottom corners of the pad are raised and actually form corners on the one Chris posted while the '43 pad doesn't have bottom corners on the pad.

[Jdiesel25]

This whole area of the case has been massively reworked. Look at the surface texture in the 'V' marked in yellow vs the area outside of the 'V'.

1943.jpg

Thanks for your time and help

[Speeding Big Twin]

Joe, did you get photos of the BNs? Thanks.
Eric

[Speeding Big Twin]

SNs for 43 Knuckles began at 1000. I don’t know exactly how high they went but 1158 may be within range. However it doesn’t look consistent with factory stamping. The centre stroke of the E is noticeably shorter than the other two horizontal strokes and I think that is a concern. In the few 43s I have that appear authentic the centre stroke of the E is about the same length as the other two horizontal strokes and you’ll see it in the photo below.
Also notice the bottom half of the 8 is wider than the upper half whereas the 8 in my example is about the same width top and bottom.
The 3 appears to have a longer diagonal than my example. And the curved section goes higher up at the left than in my 3. H-D used a 3 similar to that and the earliest I’ve seen it is 1935. It continued thru 36 and early-37 but they stopped using it at some stage during the 37 model year.

For early-43 the 4 had a closed top like my example. It changed to open top about mid-43 but I don’t know exactly when as far as SNs are concerned. And I’m not sure if that open 4 is H-D anyway. An extreme close-up may have revealed more.

In my example there are minor striations in the number boss and what looks like an indent below the 4. These appear to be flaws in the casting and they are common to 42–43. Similar flaws are also found in late-41 bosses which was when that style of boss and case were introduced. But I don’t see those flaws in that boss. Is that case even H-D? Or is it AM? Photos of the BNs may have shed some light on that but we don’t have them.
Eric

[Jdiesel25]

[Speeding Big Twin]

Thanks for the photos. Not consistent with factory stamping for 43. I’m not surprised by the characters, especially the 4 and 3. I’m wondering if someone started with unnumbered cases and then applied the SN and BN with the same stamps. I’ve seen it happen before but it’s a bad idea, especially when trying to imitate H-D numbering for certain years including 1943.

As I mentioned above, two 4s were used in 43 SNs. But I wouldn’t expect to see either of them in the year portion of a 43 BN. Instead I’d expect a sans serif, open-back 4 as shown below. In BNs it was used in this position for 41–46. NB: my examples are on Flathead cases because I don’t have examples of 43 Knuck BNs but the characters were the same for both types of engines.

The 3 in the above BN looks the same type as the 3 in the SN and that is not good. Compare it with the 3s below. Also notice the 3s in my examples are sans serif.
Notice in the above BN the 0s are rounded but the 0s in my examples are oblong in shape.
Eric

[Jdiesel25]

The bike is now on eBay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/38439479992...b2ce%7Ciid%3A1

[Jdiesel25]

Now the bike is headed to mecum auction in January

https://www.mecum.com/lots/LV0122-50...e-knucklehead/