40 EL Wheels

[JoeK]

Hello All.

Please bear with me as I am new! I am trying to buy a 40 EL that is offered as a complete bike and not one that is put together from collected parts. In studying the Palmer Book it is apparent that some of the original parts have been replaced with other year and repo parts. However, I want to bid on this bike and my delema is with the wheels. According to Palmer's book the wheels should be 18 inch. However the tires on the bike are marked 400 X 19 with an Avon brand. Does anyone know what I am looking at? The wheels appear to be correct star hub interchangables even though the spokes are chromed and not well done.

Thank you for any information.

JoeK

PS. This will be my first bike project if I buy it.

[AdminGuy]

I'll take a guess --and say it's an older restoration that has 19" rims that were readily avail. at the time of lace up. Common thing to see on an older resto. This may be why the spoke pattern looks funky.

A re-lace w/ correct 18" rims/spokes/tires would be a simple winter project. Ahhhhhh...check which side your valve stem is supposed to be on. Choke-cough.....Get your off-set correct. etc....