Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Getting My Bearings

 


I've decided to go with the Rickman rear wheel. I'd prefer an aluminum rim and a hub that didn't require any machine work but since I'm cheap and I enjoy a challenge, Rickman wheel it is. Besides, the only other Rickman parts on the bike are the neck and the forks. The front wheel is off of something else. If it's going to be a Rickati, there needs to be at least a few parts from the Rickman.

I took what little there was in the hub out of it and cleaned everything up. The bearing on the sprocket side is supposed to have a snap ring on both sides of it. There was one on the inside of the bearing but nothing on the outside. There is nothing to hold the bearing in place on the opposite side by design. I would assume there should be a spacer between the two bearings but there was nothing there. That being the case, there is no way you could tighten up the axle without the axle spacers on the outside of the wheel pushing the bearing on the opposite side inward creating a gap and allowing the wheel to walk back and forth. I went to the parts store to see about a snap ring and some new bearings - they'll be in tomorrow. When those come in I'll machine up a spacer for inside the hub and get the bearings installed properly. 

I need to find a place that will re-line the brake shoes. The drum looks pretty good. I sent an e-mail to a sprocket outfit to see about new front and rear sprockets. I should hear back from them today about availability and price. I found a chain length calculator online, so I can get a chain ordered in. I still need to fab up the brake pedal. Now that I've decided on the Rickman wheel, I can get started on that. Since I moved the footpegs, I've got a couple of options. I'll decide on how I want to tackle that and then get something made up. That and the rear axle spacers and adjusters should just about have all the fab work wrapped up.   

2 comments:

Surly said...

I sent you an email with a tutorial on how to reline the brakes yourself and a link to a place that does them. Also, I think your pegs are going to be real slippery based on when I trod upon them last. If you stick with these, perhaps drill and tap some small holes and insert set screws for grip. It works very effectively on BMX pedals. A wider platform may be a better option, however. Remember you will be standing on the pegs pretty much the entire time you're on the bike. Narrow pegs will hurt your feet fairly quickly.

Shop Teacher Bob said...

That place in the UK with the shocks also has some nice footpegs that would work well. The website says they ship world wide.