A10 front forks

[Nomad54]

I am looking to get new forks for my 1963 a10 gold flash as they are to badly pitted to re use. Not sure whether to use the hard chromed or not. Also the spring length quoted is 11 1/4 285mm but the original springs are 11 3/4 300mm. Can anyone tell me the correct forks and spring length. Also best place to get them.
Tom

[muskrat]

G'day Nomad.
Looks like you have extra heavy springs https://draganfly.co.uk/shop/82991/fork-spring-pair-very-heavy-11-34-19-5-coils-212-wire/#H55-56
DF list https://draganfly.co.uk/shop/79120/fork-spring-pair-heavy-10-34-20-5-coils-212-wire/#89-5036
If pockets are short enough spring for hard chrome tubes.
Cheers

[limeyrob]

Do you mean new stanchions and bushes?  Or fork bottoms too?  Water sits in the bottom and its hard to inspect them.  I'm not persuaded by hard chrome, I know its widely used but I currently have an A10 with std bare steel stanchions and they have cleaned up OK.  I've run bikes with hard chrome stanchions (including a BSA) and once they pit they are done for, the hard chrome rips into the seals and bushes.  Its fine if its kept with an oil film as on hydraulic cylinders but on forks it can stay damp.
Where is the corrosion?
Re springs, its both length and rate as you want to get the pre-load right so it settles at the correct ride height, then there's how firm it is which rather depends on how you ride.

[Nomad54]

Hi Rob the bike is an ex police model which I inherited so no idea if the springs are original or not but I definitely
need to renew stanchions and bushes as it had been lying in a damp garage before I got it.
Tom

[limeyrob]

OK so its possible it has a few heavy duty parts.  I too had to recover a bike that had been in a damp shed.  I ended up using long hone down the sliders to get a decent surface and smooth action.  Will the stanchions be fully enclosed - gaiters, cowl etc?  If so I think un-plated ones will be fine.

[JulianS]

Some fork spring information on this factory parts bulletin. I suspect your current springs are 65 5391, sidecar duty ones, but possible the force to which the bike was supplied specified heavy duty springs.

[JulianS]

My experience with hard chromed fork shafts has been positive. Way back in 1991 I needed to replace the shafts. Bought a new pair but I was not happy with the quality. Sent the originals off and had them hard chromed and ground back to size. Since then the bike has covered many miles including a number of years taking me to work in all weathers. When last checked in 2020 on replacing a seal the shafts were still OK no sign of deterioration.

[berger]

my fork legs were hard chromed over 40 years ago and are still perfect, maybe because they were put in with a batch of stuff from work that needed doing properly . no skimping or chinesium finish on mine. the only downside was my instruction not to chrome further down than my taped off point  at bottom yoke level was ignored. they chromed the whole lot and i had lead bronze bushes made to fit the bare forks. these had to be eased out to fit again ,