AirHead Drag Bike

After a mix up with the spokes (19 plays 18 front wheel ) my fault entirely those good guys at Moto-Bins delivered the replacement front spokes. Now I had read several people saying have a go yourself at building the wheel and so far very therapeutic it was, something very satisfying in putting new / refurbed parts back together.
Not finished yet but an experimental spin up and looks to be running true and concentric - lets see how good it is after a proper spoke tightening session...

Anyway photos....

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Good job:thumb2 the spokes on the front wheel of my G/S are a disgrace, I have been girding my loins/putting it off from doing it myself, but you have inspired me - was it as straightforward as it would seem to be? any tips?
 
Solidstate

Not sure i am qualified to advise others yet so this should be treated with a health warning...

I started by threading all the spokes onto the hub with the hub on its side then turned it over threded the other side in - careful not the let the spokes fall out when turning over.. with my series 5 hubs the spokes are held in a 15/20mm drilling in the hub so the spokes once pushed through are held at the correct angle and they overlap each other in the correct pattern ( no swinging about like the spokes with a hocky stick ends ) so they line up with the rim.
Then line the spokes up with the rim hole and thread on the nipple by hand and work your way round the rim till all are nipples are secured. I then went round again tightening each nipple by hand trying the get the same amount of thread left visable on the spoke say 2/3mm.

This is the stage I am at now - things to note take lots of pictures as they are before you start as referance and so you can put up before and after photos on your web site of choice ;) my rim had a direction arrow stamped inside with a width dimension and manufactures stamp so the rim needs to go back on to keep the rotation correct, also bear in mind that if you are getting rims powder coated these marks may not be so easy to see afterwards......

Hope this helps also check out some of the wheel builder websites as these have some helpful notes - which I have probally ignored......

Give it a shot if you have a play and not happy just remove the spokes and nothing lost but as bit of time - it took me no more that 20/30 mins from start to finish to the stage i am at.

Keep me posted if you give it a go.
 
Fran Farringtons book - 'The Vintagents Workshop' is online and has a chapter on wheelbuilding, including details of a jig which helps a lot if it is your first attempt.
 
Ok so ist not true I can find the garage keys.... and I got to ride the Harley after 4 years building - A good day

Todays project was to make the bevel box strut mount, could go on but lets let the pics do the talking.

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Re the bevel strut mount - as standard, did the bike climb at the rear under acceleration (IIRC most boxers did before paralever)

If so, then the forces will put a pulling load on the narrow weld under the u-bracket.

Or not (if I'm wrong).

If I am wrong it will push on the weld and not matter IYSWIM.

Thanks for posting - fascinating work.
 
Andysdad

You could be right and in which case the weld you have pointed out will be given some extra treatment and some gussets to the underside.

Kenny

As above but don't for get there is another strut attached to the swingarm on the otherside so this will take 50% of the load.

Thanks for the heads up guys always happy to here other opinions all part of the fun / learning.
 
Just doesn't look strong enough to me. Great thread :)

Looking good, but Im with Kenny on both points. I know when I mentioned it prevously you said you liked the look of the plunger frame which is fine of course, but..........I cant help thinking that some kind of triangulated plate off the rear loops would be so much more stronger, simple, maybe a bit more of an elegent solution, more fit for purpose, and removing the couple of kilos of metal plunger towers can only be a good thing in the inertia stakes

Just my 2p of course.
 
Hi Solidstate

So spoke to RM today to ask about this torque action of lifting the bike, he explained it as the pinion wheel trying to climb the crown wheel with the resultant lifting force being applied in an upward direction.

Happy with your 2p but the plunger tubes were one of the main features of the bike that got me into this just love the whole frame style, so the tubes are staying gussets will be added to my bracket and lets see what if anything breaks.

Hope to get the rear drum offered up this weekend and look to check out the offset of the rim and how much more action the grinder may see if the swingarm pivot gussets need some more attention when the tyre comes into play - then its off to the wheel builder....
 
Part 2 of the swingarm mounts, cut up some more plate and added a gusset and walked the welds fully underneath and round over the top as well.



Had enough of groveling about on the floor so to aid the setup of the swingarm etc the bike now sits on a new B & Q bench thing that father Christmas left.....





Next up was sorting the rim to hub offset break out the string line and straight edge....





Ended up with a 10mm rim offset to get the tyre in the center of the swingarm, this should still have clearance to the plunger tube but this is sort of dependant in how much the rear tyre grows when inflated, the bits of BMW gussets will now need to all be removed from the inside of the swingarm but thats a mega grinding job so need to work up some enthusiasm.....

Last part was the sorting out the swingarm side strut mount, we wanted to reuse the BMW bracket so some careful cutting with a thin disc then a reposition - the the new location around 15/20mm further back and weld into position.





Making a long weekend over the BH so hope to get the rear hub and rim off the the wheel builder .... could be on 2 wheels soon.....
 
Hi Angus

Thanks for the kind words, hope to have some further updates over the next month.......
 
Not much to report rear hub dropped off at the wheels builders, not to sure how keen he was to build it up with my offset requirement but when i previously spoke to RM on this it was the norm for him so will have to wait and see 3 weeks was quoted.


Been out with the grinder cutting off unwanted gusset material and maybe get this finished soon, guess i could drag this out for at leat 3 weeks as above...
 
In swingarm news the gussets were removed not the best job for a hot Sunday however needs must final weding of the pivot tube is still outstanding though.......

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So bit of an update while we wait for the rear wheel, started to look at mounting the mangement box and then the coil pack.
Wanted to fing a place to hide its location as this should be a fit and forget so easy access was not the first priority. Ended up finding a space so its hidden inside the tank used some thin mild steel plate and made some folds to give it some more strenght have a look at the photos this may help..
Oh and yes that is 9000 on the box guess the engine will sound good at those revs :rob

 
Back in the garage finally found some time and the lack of good weather helped, not sure what happen to the the photos above so here's another try :beer:

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Ok so next up was the coil bracket
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Then it was on to some rubber action but first set up the forks and using a cable tie as a marker finished off the final true up of the front wheel and tightening of the spokes.
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Ok so about that rubber... fitted the new rim tape then lubed up the tyre and managed to get this over the first part of the rim, threaded in the new tube then the difficult bit or it was for me... again bit more lube got the valve through then with some home made levers the tyre slipped into place well not really slipped but you get the idea. Popped up to the local garage and pumped it up, tyre came up nice on the bead - jobs a good un.

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Final job was to drill off some air holes in the front drum casting...
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Next up need to make up a drum steady and the drum casing has a sleeve pressed in for spindle location but it's 14mm and I am running a 17mm spindle so be on teh phone to moto-bins Monday see if they can help
 


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