Rearing to go (Rear Wheel)

Hi Unfortunately this blog is a little out of order, but i have received some questions on what has been done to the rear wheel, so here it is.   Hub Prepared.  An original Royal Enfield 8 " hub was obtained thanks to the evils of Ebay (Gary thanks for this) This happened to be an original Brough Superior Rear hub that had a pressed steel brake drum and has suffered some over use. The cush drive assembly was serviceable, however the brake drum and spoke flanges had been pulled, and deemed unsatisfactory. This was not a major concern as the brake and flanges were in the wrong location, so it would have required re-work anyway. I still have the spun brake drum and this is serviciable, and should  go back on to a Brough if anyone can trade me something for this. Bearings being Fitted. The bearings had also spun on the inside of the hub and been rectified with a centre punch. The quill was turned to accept Timkin Taper bearings, and a new brake drum was machined along with a spoke flange plate     The photos above show the Hub assembly.  The alignment was obtained both it the sprocket and the brake drum. Rubber shock cush drive rubbers were purchased from India (as they still make them) for the sprocket. The next step involved brazing the hub together, and for this help was obtained by a John. John is a wizzard and welding and wheel construction, so the task was undertaken. The rims used were second hand WM 3 x 19 and these were pressed back in to uniformity and concentric prior to building the wheel. The smile on Johns face says it all, he is quite a specialised wheel builder, and knows his stuff backwards. We used 9 Gauge spokes, for strength with zero offset  for the technical minded folk. The spokes were new , being custom cut and rolled for the application. With the rear wheel built the brakes and sprocket needs to be closed out along with th speedometer set up. The spokes were ground down on the inside and POR anti rust paint placed in the inside of the rim. A quick squirt of colour to the spokes, to provide some uniformity, and the tyre was fitted. This is quite a large task, and one that i am happy to have completed. Hopefully this will provide reliability for the rear wheel, and eliminate some of the tyre and gear box issues, or at least reduce the loading on both.

Be Caned in Wicker

After months of waiting the Wicker sidecar body is finished.  I always intended to fit a wicker body, however this is not the designed body i had in mind, but as time is growing short and this body is on hand it was decided to fit this and continue. These bodies are built by a local craftsman that specialises in period restoration and wicker work, and it is a work of love, and cannot be hurried. The materials and workmanship is second to none, and the work is done by traditional methods by hand. It is pleasure to watch these come together, however i can confirm that that there is no hurry in any of his work, as the material basically dictates the time it takes, and this how long it takes. They are made wet and built in layers similar in construction to a boat, with ribs or bucks holding the form / shape. I am pleased with the shape and design of this sidecar and i trust that the consensus is that this compliments the Invincible Jap. I intend to coat this with a shellac, and tone down the patina slightly to make this look not quite so new, and blend in with the Invincible Jap. Traditionally the Wicker sidecars lost favour after the first world war, due to fact that the skill levels learnt during the war were large, and the typical coach built bodies were superior in weather protection and simplicity of manufacture. These coach building skill were in large supply just after the first world war, and the wicker sidecars were deemed inferior due to the poor weather protection and this skill set went the way of the Blacksmith and were lost.  There are many photos of Wicker sidecars being used for racing into an up to the late 1920's. These wicker bodies are available in limited supply and i would be pleased to pass on the details if any reader is interested. They can be supplied in L/H or R/H configuration, however are made to order.

WIlliamstown Bikes By the Bay (Preview)

The local Williamstown Motorcycle Club ran the annual show and shine on the 18th March 2012. The theme this year was the celebration of the Vee-Twin and these were displayed in force. We decided that this would be a good place to show the Invincible for the first time in public. With a lot of work still required, the bike was starting to take shape, and with the supply of the wicker sidecar body it was decided to make this show. We worked day and night to get this prepared for the show and while there are many areas that will need to revisited the end result was a very positive response from those who attended. Oz People were there in force and took many photos, as did local and interested parties. There were several machines that were in the public eye, and the Invincible was certainly one of them. http://ozpeople.com/photos/photo?albumid=115&groupid=31#photoid=1045 Many of the public asked for photos to be taken with them astride the machine, and we accommodated them. It is beginning to look like a bike. Just needs some more TLC, and some late nights and it will be running on Love.  Steve's 1919 2 owner Harley Davidson with is Son ready to go.  (Steve is the Second Owner)  A good pal who also owns an invincible decided to bring his 1919 Harley down for display. His son is shown astride this with a firm grin of yesteryear. It is good to see the younger generation interested. I would like to thank the WIlliamstown Motorcycle Club for another great Bikes by the Bay and this is an event that i would recommend all clubs put in to the calander for next year. It is well run, and very very family friendly and couldnt be run any better.

Tyres To Bead or Not to Bead.

With the front hub nearly finished a serious decision was needed on what tyres to run. Should we run Beaded Edge (Clincher Tyres) or go for Well -Based (Modern tyres). Again what size and what profile should be selected. This question was asked from several notable sidecar riders and former racers, and the replies were to fit modern sidecar tyres that are designated for the task. 19" tyres are fairly close to the 26 x 3 rolling diameter, and will not look out of place fitted. We are planning on fitting WM 3 rims, and these will also suit the tyres selected. It is obvious that the sidecar adds much load to any machine, and that any problems seem to show in the tyres and wheels. We contacted several suppliers, and found that we had little choice, as these are available in one size only. (19 x 3.5 Sidecar) The dollars are starting to mount, and any sponsors would be welcome. Something new !

Front Wheel Construction

 Please note that this Blog is slightly technical and is more a show and tell of the modification of the front hub. If you are interested there are enough details to see how this has been achieved, but basically we modified a 7" Web hub and fitted Timkin bearings to suit.  The problem we have with the original set of wheels for the Invincible Jap is lack of functional brakes. Wheel as found    There are absolutely no brakes on the original front wheel and only one band on the external of the rear wheel. While these were  functional in 1925, it was decided to modify these to a functional specifications for 2012 and retain the originals. Please note that the forks on the Invincible Jap are an Australian copy of the Henderson set up so might help another Henderson owner somewhere. I obtained a Webb 7" front wheel less bearings, lased to rim at the last swap meet from a vendor for sensible dollars along with brake shoes and plate. The wheel is shown opposite. This hub is far to wide but will provide the base and brake drum for the front wheel. It was decided that we would fit Timkin Taper bearings, modern rubber seals and narrow the flange down to obtain the width required. With the spokes remove (Bolt Cutters) the hub was narrowed and the smaller spoke flange bored to slip back on the centre of the existing hub's spool. The bearings and seal diameters were turned in the same set up and the brake drum face skimmed to ensure concentricity. Hub modified Indian 741 scout front wheel bearings were chosen and these were on the shelf so were suitable for the task. As it worked out we only required 0.035 " to be bored out of the diameter to fit. A custom inner axle quill was made to fill in the gaps with new lock nuts and seal bearing surface nuts also machined. Once all this was machined, we assembled the front hub and checked for uniformity (central latitude) between the front forks. This is important as ideally we wanted the rim to be laced with Zero offset. (ie central to the flanges)  Quill Details  The three photos below show the hub in position and fitted. The hub flanges were made to be central to the fork blades and this hub is basically finished with the exception of the brakes and rim. This will be the basis of another blog.