1912 Excelsior Tribute

sportscarpat said:
Hi guys,
I have been through a lot of the Worksman hubs. Very tough but not the best performers. They are essentially an Atom design. Picked up a real nice set of original wheels off a Lawwill Pro Cruiser which is a vintage mountain bike made by Mert Lawwill the flat track guy. Anyway, the wheels had a perfect set of original Atom hubs the have the exact same drum body as the Worksman, but use a different backing plate and work VERY well. I have long suspected the problem with lack of performance in the Worksman version is the rather long and flexible lever arm the connects to the brake cable. Cable stretch is also an issue so use fatter motorcycle cables and bicycle cables. Better cables and maybe a true atom backing plate or beefed up Worksman lever arm should help. Finally, regardless of looks I much prefer the disc brakes now. Like anything new on your bike you just have to get used to looking at it.
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Good info thanks Pat. I will look at the plate and see what I can do there. I just want to ride..ya know!
 
Among those who've responded to the current conversation about brakes, there's a lot of fabrication experience, individually and collectively, and not just when it involves brakes and motorized bicycles. It doesn't surprise me that there's not a single comment made that I take issue with. Each of you have built bikes that are truly amazing yet still quite different. It's this diversity which holds my interest in this hobby. The eye wants what it wants and the mind finds reasons to fulfill our visual requirements accordingly. The same goes for feel as tactile input too varies rider to rider, and we each build accordingly and sense just when we've hit the sweet spot. When it comes to brakes or speed; metrics don't always win out, if they did we'd most likely all be riding the latest super bike from Ducati or name your favorite.

I'll leave auditory input out of braking requirements because none of us likes brake squeal or grind regardless of brake type.

In summation the bikes I put the most miles on all have disc brakes both front and rear. I have others with disc and coaster and drum with coaster combinations. My favorite look is board track style with no brakes. My least favorite, appearance wise, are discs front and rear. So metrics in braking seem to have carried the day with me, but I still don't disagree with any of your divergent preferences...as I have my own.

All the input given has value in our attempts to build better looking and better performing brake setups on our bikes and thanks for that!

Rick C.
 
Hey Motomagz,

You have built another beautiful bike! You should be proud. Sorry I’m coming to this late, but in regards to brakes for these higher powered machines, I can not recommend more highly the use of a small motorcycle front hub. I learned this a long time ago from the guys at BigBoy Cycles. They had a bike at the race track and they were using a Honda C110 front drum brake. I bought one about 5 years ago and have never looked back.
Using my stock spokes with a worksman rim, I laced in the hub as you would a regular bicycle hub. Geometrically the spokes work even though the hub is much larger. I did have to fabricate a lobe to keep the hub plate stationary, but other than that, use a motorcycle brake cable and this brake stops me quickly even when I’m rushing up to a traffic light at 45mph and it suddenly turns yellow. The front brake is so effective that I still use a coaster brake in the back (vintage Morrow Hub).

Looks like you’re already going disc brake, but just thought I would share.

I wish you didn’t live so far away, it would be fun to ride alongside your awesome bike.

Gilbert
 

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Hey Tom,

I’ve only purchased 3 of these hubs in my time, but I got them all on eBay. I got the numbers wrong, it’s a Honda C100 Super Cub front hub. They usually have quite a few on eBay, but annoyingly, they often sell the hub and brakeplate separately. The ones I found were selling both together for around $40 - $50. Also bonus, the hubs have a speedometer function that can be retrofitted to a Honda speedo.
 
Gbrebes said:
Hey Motomagz,

You have built another beautiful bike! You should be proud. Sorry I’m coming to this late, but in regards to brakes for these higher powered machines, I can not recommend more highly the use of a small motorcycle front hub. I learned this a long time ago from the guys at BigBoy Cycles. They had a bike at the race track and they were using a Honda C110 front drum brake. I bought one about 5 years ago and have never looked back.
Using my stock spokes with a worksman rim, I laced in the hub as you would a regular bicycle hub. Geometrically the spokes work even though the hub is much larger. I did have to fabricate a lobe to keep the hub plate stationary, but other than that, use a motorcycle brake cable and this brake stops me quickly even when I’m rushing up to a traffic light at 45mph and it suddenly turns yellow. The front brake is so effective that I still use a coaster brake in the back (vintage Morrow Hub).

Looks like you’re already going disc brake, but just thought I would share.

I wish you didn’t live so far away, it would be fun to ride alongside your awesome bike.

Gilbert
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It would be a honor to ride next to your masterpiece! Maybe meet at the Mississippi one day! Lol You and Tony both suggested these smalller motorcycle hubs... I will be switching once I get ahold of a complete hub. Why is the brake arm plate always missing? I don’t get it.
 
Mags,
Kepspeed offer a great pair of new, front/rear 36 spoke drum brake hubs intended as upgrades for Honda C90 Cubs. At 75 Euros a pair - complete, including brake plate. Great deal. Maybe these are worth considering?
 
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MotoMagz said:
It would be a honor to ride next to your masterpiece! Maybe meet at the Mississippi one day! Lol You and Tony both suggested these smalller motorcycle hubs... I will be switching once I get ahold of a complete hub. Why is the brake arm plate always missing? I don’t get it.
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It’s usually only missing if you buy a hub only. Comes with a wheel... but you have to cut out the hub.
 
I have most of a 1954 T110 Triumph in the herd. The T110 was the hot rod model that year, capable of 110mph, and because of that it had an air cooled front brake that mine doesn't have, which was a one year and only on the T110. It's called a pie crust because of the little dips between the spoke holes and I couldn't hardly believe when one showed up on E-Bay. I don't know if the transaction was ever completed, but the winning bid was $1103.00.
 
My eyeballs were bigger than my wallet when I brought that T110 home for $500. Here's what it looked like ...

DSCF0410.JPG


Would you believe I was so excited I couldn't sleep that night? There must be something wrong with me! :)

But here's what it could look like.

Triumph_T_110_650_cc_1954.jpg


Maybe I'm OK after all.

So far the long forks are gone, I've got a set of 35mm Betors to replace them, and next up is making a new steering stem to adapt the Betors to the Triumph headstock on my lathe, but I haven't touched it in forever. Maybe I'll hit the lottery ....
 
You stole it for $500. & replacing that fork would also have been at the top of my to do list. I've completed many restores and not found an inexpensive way to "accurately" complete one. Like Pat said nothing like 'em and if it's a labor of love worth every bit of the work and $$ spent to complete a dream. Sure brings back memories....

Rick C.
 
Tony01 said:
It’s usually only missing if you buy a hub only. Comes with a wheel... but you have to cut out the hub.
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indian22 said:
You stole it for $500. & replacing that fork would also have been at the top of my to do list. I've completed many restores and not found an inexpensive way to "accurately" complete one. Like Pat said nothing like 'em and if it's a labor of love worth every bit of the work and $$ spent to complete a dream. Sure brings back memories....

Rick C.
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Would a cb175 front hub work?
 

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