1911 Indian

[cobrafreak]

Cobra,Any problems with spoke length when switching front hub out?

No, I just needed to lace it in a spoke pattern that allowed for longer spokes.

I did this last night after I came home from work. I took the rim apart, laced my new 90mm drum/dynamo brake, and trued it up. I have laced up wheels before but never built a complete wheel from parts to finish before. It really wasn't that hard. It took me about 2.5 hours and the only special tool I had was a spoke wrench. I put my Son's bike upside down and used his forks as a truing stand. It's perfectly trued, dished, and tensioned. Now All I need it to paint them and order the Sportsman sprocket adapter for the rear wheel. I am glad I didn't paint the wheels before I put them together. I would have scratched them up for sure. I will need to get a box of drinking straws. I am going to use the coaster brake to see how it works with the bike. It will give the peddles something to do other than rest my feet . I'm going to make an adapter and run both my left and right brake handles to the front hub for double braking force. This should work good.

 

[cobrafreak]

You may have wondered why bother moving from a 70mm to a 90mm drum brake. It's only 20mm of difference, right? It gets apparent when you look at the brake shoe sizes of both at the same time. There is going to be a lot more braking power going on.

 

[harry76]

Cool progress CF.... ive been meaning to ask how your lathe is going? Are you still playing with it? Any plans for any other parts anytime soon?

 

[cobrafreak]

Nothing new on the lathe. I just know it's there if I need it. A couple of weeks ago I needed washers with a perfectly sized center hole for the Comet transmission. The lathe made it easy. Before the lathe I would have needed to hand file the hole.

 

[cobrafreak]

I ordered Pat's of Sportsman flyers rear super heavy duty rear hub with drum brake. I'm thinking it's the only thing that is going to survive the hp my engine puts out over the long run with the sealed bearings and solid sprocket attachment points. And it will make the bike closer to an older bikes specs with double drums. I'll get it next week sometime. I'm going to have some serious frakin bullet proof wheels.

 

[The_Aleman]

Your spoke pattern isn't going to work. I have seen someone else attempt that bastardization of a 5-cross, and they ended up with the most horribly unbalanced dangerous wheel. Seriously? Get proper spokes and do 2-4 cross. I recommend 4-cross.

 

[sportscarpat]

Worksman has two length spokes for the 26" wheels that I know of. Short drum hub spokes, and the longer coaster brake hub spokes. I am guessing they use the longer coaster brake spokes for the non drum front hub. I have not been able to use the longer spokes on the drum hubs.

 

[cobrafreak]

I don't think I will have any problems.

 

[MotoMagz]

Will replacing a spoke be a problem?I Know it can be done but looks like it might be a pain.Keep us posted on the wheel with this spoke pattern.

 

[cobrafreak]

People, this is the very same spoke pattern that are on my former Indian wheels. 3500 miles so far. Nothing has changed. Spoke replacement is not extraordinary. On my older front wheel I have never broke a spoke. Nor has it gone out of true. On the rear I never did until i moved to the 8hp motor, thus a spoke thickness problem, never a lacing problem. Investigate motorcycle spoke patterns vs. bicycle spoke patters and you will see that the two vehicles have very different needs. The more crosses = the stronger wheel. You will never see a bicycle with this pattern because they are all about building as strong a wheel while keeping the spokes as short as possible for weight savings. Motorcycle wheels are about having the strongest wheels period regardless of weight.

 

[Kris Blake]

Cobrafreak,
It has been a long time since I've thoroughly visited the site. I came across your thread and saw all the progress. just wanted to add to all the other comments and say BAD A**! It really looks good. Better yet, looks and "runs" good!
I know a lot of posters have followed your progress to see how the motor worked out.
Thanks for laying the path. I am in the middle of my second build but teetering on the motor choice. I am 95% sure I will go your route.
Thanks for all the good info and pics!
Kris

 

[cobrafreak]

Thanks Kris. It is a very reliable engine if you put the heavy duty billet con rod on. My odometer just hit 1600 miles with this engine. Some things I learned are, the engine takes 3/4 of a quart of oil at the angle it is installed at. The drive belts last 600 miles if you use the Kevlar ones. Change the rear jack shaft bearings during every other belt replacement. Use only Worksman wheels with 11 gauge spokes and lace them in a cross 3 or 4 or 5 motorcycle spoke lace pattern. It needs the strength to last. The heavy duty Sportsman Flyer rear drum brake hub is about the best I've seen in regards to strength and ease of use. The Simplex Servicycle tires are the best there is for this build. A little expensive but they will last and be safe.

 

[harry76]

Have you finished building your new wheels? Did you paint the rims red? If so id love to see a picture of them on the bike!!!

Also are you still tinkering with your lathe? Have you made anything else or plans to make anything yet?

 

[cobrafreak]

I'm going to post some pics latter today, I'm out riding on the new wheels

 

[The_Aleman]

Cool story, but I'm still chuckling about a 5-cross pattern on a 36-spoke wheel.

36 is not divisible by 5, but 3 and 4 are.

 

[harry76]

I'm going to post some pics latter today, I'm out riding on the new wheels

HAHA dont blame you.... if i had your bike i know what id be doing: out riding the wheels off it.

I will eagerly await to see your ride with red rims

 

[cobrafreak]

No Red

Not Red (yet). I wanted to make sure everything was strong and working properly before I did any paint. (if I end up liking chrome then I'll keep it this way). Things to note, remember how I was mentioning that the tires were very very hard to mount on my bike rims? Well, on these rims they are almost so easy they just pop in without any effort at all. I think the reason I was having **** was that my other rims have a special groove for downhill racing that won't let the tire fly off when you are screaming down a mountain. I don't recommend those kind of rims for this tire, or screaming down a mountain for that matter....
The wheels are simply fantastic. They are very ridged. I misspoke when I said my tire was cross five earlier. I actually counted it with the lights on this time, the front spokes are laced cross 3, and the rear is laced cross 4, both very common in the motorcycle world. These wheels are going to last forever. Worksman wheels rock. The front 90mm Sturmey/Archer dyno hub is a really FANTASTIC brake! I could just have this front drum on with nothing else and it would brake just fine, it's that good. Much better braking than my old 70mm drum. The rear Sportsman Flyer extra heavy duty drum brake hub is bulletproof. It looks fantastic, the workmanship is PERFECT, and it looks at home on the bike. The tolerances of Pats work is fantastic. CNC is the way to go.

 

[cobrafreak]

Cool story, but I'm still chuckling about a 5-cross pattern on a 36-spoke wheel.

36 is not divisible by 5, but 3 and 4 are.

You are right, 36 spoke wheels cannot be cross 5 unless you skip some nipples.
My mistake, my front is cross 3 and my rear is cross 4. I turned the lights on when I counted crosses, Lol. At further studying spoke theory I found that cross five is no better than cross 3 in the strength department due to the spoke tangents being beyond 90 degrees. With the torque of my engine I needed all the rotational strength I could come up with. Cross 4 was the answer. Every spoke I ever broke was on the engine drive side of the rear wheel.

 

[Lurker]

Cobra you are killin me with these photos. The bike looks so good. I'm still waiting on my tires but its nice to see some teaser photos of the simplex tires on the worksman rims. Thanks for posting them.

 

[Kris Blake]

Thanks Kris. It is a very reliable engine if you put the heavy duty billet con rod on. My odometer just hit 1600 miles with this engine. Some things I learned are, the engine takes 3/4 of a quart of oil at the angle it is installed at. The drive belts last 600 miles if you use the Kevlar ones. Change the rear jack shaft bearings during every other belt replacement. Use only Worksman wheels with 11 gauge spokes and lace them in a cross 3 or 4 or 5 motorcycle spoke lace pattern. It needs the strength to last. The heavy duty Sportsman Flyer rear drum brake hub is about the best I've seen in regards to strength and ease of use. The Simplex Servicycle tires are the best there is for this build. A little expensive but they will last and be safe.

Good info, thank you!