original vs repro fenders

[dommi7]

I am wondering how to tell if a fender is original or reproduction.
I read the thread on '47-'48 rear fenders - and see mention of the open wire channel.
Does this mean that any 3 piece fender with open wire channel is original and not repro?
How does a guy tell the difference between repro and orginal on earlier fenders?
I know the rivets are often wrong, but what else gives it away?
I see the rib for the skirt has sharp definition on the original front fenders and is not so well defined on repro - is this true on rear as well?

Thanks in advance for any tips,

[Chris Haynes]

Ya don't need to look very hard to tell the difference. Rivits, fender brace material, Alignment of rear flap.

[46WL]

Walk up to a bike and look at the rear fender hinge. That's by far the simplest and easiest way of knowing. Most aftermarket fenders have 5 "rings" that are equal size. The real ones have 2 wide "rings" and 3 narrower "rings".

[Paps]

Many repo braces are the incorrect width and they don't have the correct edge contour either. Two many repo fenders [front and rear] just don't fit. Many of the skirts are flared out instead of being square to the top skin. I've had to disassemble braces from the skins, just to straighten out the skin itself. I've also had to correct the braces before reassembly of the braces to the skins. Paps

[Sargehere]

Easiest way I've found is to look at the side seams. Repop fenders (cheapest) are mostly one piece. The overlap joint that goes all the way along both sides between the fender top and the skirt is just an embossing, top and bottom. On a real fender, the top of the joint is a bend, offset, the skirt fitted in underneath, leaving a kind-of sharp edge. As in, early WWII army models UA, WLA just left the skirts off, and left the business part of the fender.

[dommi7]

Thanks guys - I had forgotten about the "1 piece" fanders.
I sure didn't know about the hinge spacing, that's a great tip.

So how about the bead for the valence (skirt) overlap?
I have 1 certain wide brace repro, 1 suspected narrow brace repro and what appears to be 2 original 47/48 (All of the "3 piece" construction)

The 47/48 I have that is not mounted has a better defined bead than the repros, but not anywhere near as sharp as my early front fender.
Did HD make a change to the bead profile sometime in the '40's?
The front has two sharply defined bends at the top edge of the bead (inside 90 degree, outside 90 degree).
But the 47/48 rear has only an inside radius followed by the outside bend.
And the repros have a sharp inside bend followed by a soft outside radius.
Hopefully this is clear in the attached drawing.
I'm pretty sure 1937 rear fenders had the same profile as I have drawn labeled Narrow Brace Front, but I don't know when the transition was.

Is there a source for original-style hinges? Does anyone make a repro?

btw - the braces are ~0.160" thick on originals (including narrow brace front) and ~0.180" thick on the repros I have.

[vph-d]

I don't think the fake fenders have countersunk holes in the triangular area at the front of the rear fender.
VPH-D

[flthead]

is this it ?

Walk up to a bike and look at the rear fender hinge. That's by far the simplest and easiest way of knowing. Most aftermarket fenders have 5 "rings" that are equal size. The real ones have 2 wide "rings" and 3 narrower "rings".

[46WL]

Yes, that's what I was referring to.

[dommi7]

How about it? Can anyone tell me the answer?
- What year did the valence bead change from sharp top edge to rounded edge

(see previous post for profile examples)

[billpedalino]

I purchased what appeared to be a fairly close front fender for my '47 FL a couple of years ago. Most likely a foreign re-pop. Our plan was to replace the braces with NOS braces and rivets. Luckily, we mocked it up on the front fork and found that the fender radius (across the fender- left to right/side to side) was significantly off.

One must wonder how these guy can spend the money to tool up and not take the time to get the basic geometry correct !! This is so prevalent with so very many knock-off products.

[Sargehere]

Rivets

Don't mean to butt in here, OT, but does anyone have any of those 3/16"x 1/2" Roundhead rivets (or a source for them) that connect the Harley braces to their brackets? I only need a couple to replace one rear fender brace of the two that hold the nuts/bolts at the fender tip. Have NOS fender top rivets, the shallow kind, but haven't come across any for the other end of the fender brackets. Thanks!

[Sargehere]

Thanks!

I have had generous responses to my post asking for leads to the rivets, above. I just want to thank everyone here. I just love this Antique Motorcycling community. It's got to be the greatest bunch of people in the world God bless you all!

With two in a row,
One on the side,
And all on the ground,
Most of the time,
--Sarge, Fla.

[Paps]

Pass those leads onto me Sarge !


As luck may have it, my buddy took the liberty of sending me an aftermarket fender he needs repaired. I came home the other day, and low and behold !!! A big UPS box was a sittin on me porch ! He is such a stinker some times ! I only had to take a quick taping of the skirting to know why he sent it. 7-3/4" from edge to edge. 7" is what you need. Tried re-shaping these without removing braces before. No luck though. I will end up removing all of the brace rivets, including the mounting ones. I hope this one will go easier than the ones I have done in the past. Several of the past ones needed ground after re-shaping. The tip eagle stamping was off when the fender was in correct alignment. When this becomes the case, fender tip emblems are the only fix. If you can't go with emblems, it is either fender after fender or oem. Paps

[40 Nuck]

Hey Bill ... found a similar problem on a rear fender (repop) except the problem was with the circumference, I think. I had to add spacers where the front of the rear fender bolts to the battery box tray, and also noticed that an OEM military luggage rack wouldn't quite reach the mounting hole near the rear axle. I'd like to get an original and compare the diameter/radius ... I bet they are off.