The 1952 and 1953 came with the "cowbells". Take a look at all the factory literature (in our literature section) - all the 1952-1953 bike have cowbells.
The boots appeared in 1954, and the 1954 Spare Parts Catalog lists a "kit" which contained everything you needed to adapt the boots to the 1952-1953 bikes.
- 1954 Spare Parts Catalog
- kit.jpg (32.2 KiB) Viewed 10955 times
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When we look at KR factory racers and other non-production bikes, we find a few oddities. Take a look at the Literature page, in the 1953 section, the image "Enthusiast May 1953". Things to notice are the two Ks in the middle - they are obviously racers - both are missing the fork tins and headlights (the one on the left has some funky aftermarket headlight), and they both have fork boots. Are they KRs? Or just dealer-modified bikes? Other things to notice is that the Model 165 on the right has the 1954 Spring Special paint job. And the KK poster on the wall - outlined in red.
More KRs with fork boots? The Enthusiast for April, May, July 1953 show KR racers with fork boots (see the Literature: Enthusiast section). This is not unusual - many new ideas were developed for or tested on the factory racing bikes. Some ideas eventually found their way onto production bikes.