People who aren’t familiar with the world of BMW motorcycles ask me all the time, “what year are the bikes with that front?” It’s such a common question that I know exactly what they’re talking about with zero further details. It’s the iconic Earls Fork. It’s striking without overtaking the visuals of the rest of the motorcycle. It’s beefy without being clunky. It is synonymous with that era of BMW motorcycles like the square grill on an American muscle car or the fins of a 1950's Cadillac.
The problem of the Earls fork front end are the brakes. Trying to stop a heavy motorcycle as quickly as needed in modern traffic with a drum brake from the 1950’s is not easy. It’s more dangerous than functional.
Not only does Nathan's Double Disk Brake solve the problem of how to stop the motorcycle it also solves the problem of how to add usable brakes without destroying the visuals of a classic. It’s a piece that adds to the natural beauty of the Earls Fork. A perfect example of the term “resto-mod.”
A big reason Nathan’s design is visually so appealing is that it uses as few aftermarket parts as possible. It borrows the best parts of later BMW Motorcycles, two piston Brembo calipers from early K-bikes , and a handlebar mounted master cylinder from later BMW Airhead models. Not only does this help the visuals of the modification but adds to the ease of repair and longevity. In ten years if something goes wrong with the master cylinder, there won’t be a hunt to find some aftermarket part no longer in production, it could just be replaced by another BMW master cylinder.
