1914 excelsior belt drive single

[aka HAWG]

ive been asked to share the rustoration of my 1914 excelsior single belt drive - so here it starts

I purchased this from dave lietner AWAY back in 1989 while at the oley meet
it was original paint and about 85 % complete. unfortunately only 1 photo remains and currenly my scanners down - will post it when available

it was put into storage for 18 years, and a few years ago brought it out to begin looking for the still missing parts, today its almost 100% complete with only a few things missing.

over the last few years there are a few people who need praises for there help, these include rick wolfe, lonnie isam, tim thoele, bill campbell, mike terry, hope to add more to this list as this goes on.

let the journey begin

aka HAWG

[aka HAWG]

the first purchase I made for parts was about 2 months after oley.
was at the canadian vintage motorcycle groups main meet ( paris) and a fellow approched my spot and memtioned he had a set of original tires for my bike. story went that his grandfather had purchased a 1913 pope in 1918, his mother ( great-great gramma ) did not want him owning a murdercycle, so he removed the rims and tires from the pope, hide the pope in the bush and the tires in the basement of the farmhouse, hoping mom would forget and be able to ride next summer. in spring returned to bush only to find pope gone.
in 1920 he went to war and forgot about the rims/tires.

in 1991 they were tearing down the old farmhouse and found the rims/tires hidden in the basement

2 weeks after the paris show i owned the rims/tires here are first few pics others need to be resized to post
tire reads dunlop anti-skid traction tread motorcycle tire 28 x 2 3/4

tire 6.jpgtire 8.jpgtire 4.jpgtire 5.jpgtire 7.jpg

aka HAWG

[aka HAWG]

rest of the tire pics

tire 10.jpgtire 9.jpgtire 2.jpg

last pic shows the tread pattern

aka HAWG

[Robert Luland]

Those lugs must have been perfect back then with the roads. Talk about mudders. Think Great grandma found the bike and pulled a fast one with it?

[aka HAWG]

here is earliest pic of the excelsior, taken in the fall of 1989.
just after this it went into a 18 year hibernation. i was restoring a 1913 indian at the time

those tires looked perfect on the bike

1914 excelsior.jpg

aka HAWG

[c.o.]

Ah.... early bike thread.... I'll be following along.... how far away are you from making it go "pop"? Cool tire story... bummer about the missing Pope!

[aka HAWG]

well cory it will not be as exciting as joe and your posts but hope to keep everyone interested.

had motor appart a few years ago and every thing looked fine, will re-disassemble this winter to verify bore and ring gap. need to make gas and oil lines and re-assemble clutch to get motor to turn over - hope running by oley

worked on putting troxel seat together ( parts from original and parts from carcuss that I bought last summer ) and un-seized the wheel adjusters.


aka HAWG

[c.o.]

Interesting all the same. It's kinda cool once in awhile to have an early bike thread on a machine that isn't from Milwaukee...

[aka HAWG]

fast forward to 2008, the excelsior is out of hibernation and starting to aquire missing parts
the bike is missing the clutch, belt tensioner, pedal cranks, brake parts, seat parts, and linkage for throttle and cluch and many other smalls
the first purchase is the pedal cranks and pedal crank sprocket.
the pedal cranks are raw castings so they need to be fitted. machine shop did the threads and I did the rest with a hand file and emmery cloth - thank god I was working at a job I could do this at work
following pics show the pedal crank work


aka HAWG

[aka HAWG]

today looks at belt tensioner, this was purchased from tim theole
000_0151_1.jpg000_0154.jpg000_0152.jpg000_0153.jpg

aka HAWG

[aka HAWG]

the pivot bolt was never drilled. this was a issue that needed attention but would have to wait till case seperation
test fitting the tensioner

000_0169.jpg000_0170.jpg000_0177.jpg

aka HAWG

[aka HAWG]

not much progress this week - too cold in garage due to "arctic vortex"

did try looking at oil and gas lines when I could - my oil dripper is a female thread and the check valve at the cam cover id a male thread, anyone have an extra oil line or at least the fittings any leads needed

here are some pics of the gas tank that needed work. its a copper tank

100_0591.jpg000_0161.jpg100_0592.jpg100_0486.jpg100_0476.jpg

at some time someone removed the lower fitting, unsoldered the tank to repair the wall between the oil and gas sides, removed the tabs for the belt rachet and removed the "bung" for the tank strap bolts to screw into. all things that need attention

more on tank work soon

aka HAWG

[aka HAWG]

here are pics of tank re-soldered and fittings attached

june 49 cover 013.jpgjune 49 cover 010.jpgjune 49 cover 011.jpg

aka HAWG

[aka HAWG]

tank after rusteration process. tool box is original ( i think it was repainted in the mid teens to this green colour, inside tool box is still original grey coulour)
ex tank 001.jpgex tank 002.jpgex tank 003.jpg

aka hawg