There's a story to the brake lever. My father bought this Shadow new in 1954. It was built in Nov 1952, but didn't leave the works until mid-'53, to Indian Sales, San Francisco. It went to a dealer in Santa Monica (Los Angeles area) where my father lived. I suppose it sat at the dealer unsold until the fall of '54 when my father traded in an AJS and bought it. My father rode it about 17K miles until 1957, at which time it seized a piston. He tore the top end off, and a rod was a little loose, so he pulled the crank out and had an Alpha put in. That was as far as he got, marriage and family life demands occupying his time. As a kid, all I remember seeing of the bike was the front end and UFM hanging on the back wall of the garage, the rest of the parts were buried elsewhere in the garage. But as far back as I can remember, back to the mid-'60s, the brake lever was missing from the handlebar. On a number of occasions, I asked my father where the lever was, and he said someone with a Vin had stopped by and borrowed the lever, of course, never returning it or providing a replacement.
I missed out when the guy in Texas was reproducing Bowden levers, never getting around to ordering one, thinking that he would be making them indefinitely. When I happened to see that
Michael Breeding was tooling up to make some, I monitored his website and emailed him that I was interested in his levers. When the first batch was ready, I ordered 3 levers, two brake and one clutch, one for the Shadow, and two for my Comet. I just love the solid levers, and want to have them on the Comet as well, even though the Comet likely didn't come with Bowden levers. I knew from the pictures on the website that the posts Michael was offering with the levers were not correct for a Bowden lever, but the clips that Michael makes are excellent, the Bowden logo is very clear. The levers themselves are also excellent, identical to the one clutch lever I have, properly 'handed' for brake and clutch, of course. I have since found an old Bowden post to complete the Shadow, but I am still in need of two posts to complete the levers for the Comet. I have a lead on a fellow here in LA that does small casting runs, so I may pursue having some posts made.
