Ryan's A.M.C.A. Giveaway bike build!

[Ohio-Rider]

Yes,Yes... Welcome home Ryan. I'll bet it will feel good sleeping in your own bed tonight.

[Paps]

Ditto what Mike said Ryan. And welcome back home to Ohio. Paps

[schmittm]

After a day of flying yesterday, I am now home in Ohio.
In my inexperience lacing wheels, I see I made a mistake. I apologize and will be sure to fix it as soon as I get back in July.

Ryan,
Glad to hear that you made it home safe.

There is absolutely no need to apologize. All of us have made far more, and much worse, mistakes. It is part of the learning experience. Just be glad it is not one of those costly mistakes, all of us have made those too, they just make the “lesson” sink in a little deeper. Your spoke lesson is easily reversible and will only cost you a little time.

The reason I pointed it out is because the front wheel on a springer should be as perfect as you can get it, it should be true and balanced and have a properly inflated tire mounted. The old springers were prone to a condition known as high speed wobble and believe me when I say that you DON’T want to experience it. Lots of things can lead to the violent shaking that suddenly occurs at highway speed, seemingly for no reason, and throws you in the ditch. Its usually a combination of things like worn rockers, weak springs, bent fork, bad bearings, etc., etc., but it can also be triggered by a front wheel that is not round anymore because the spokes loosened up.
Keep up the great work on your project, don’t lose any of the enthusiasm you have demonstrated to all of us, and by all means don’t forget to write. We love following your progress on this project.
Mike

[1945UL]

one of the wheels wouldn't fit in your carryon?

[Ryan Mackey]

After a day of flying yesterday, I am now home in Ohio.
In my inexperience lacing wheels, I see I made a mistake. I apologize and will be sure to fix it as soon as I get back in July.

[schmittm]

It was an NOS WLA front rim that I donated to the project.
Here is how the MoCo laced them. Outside spokes goung left and inside going right.

Well, there ya are, that pretty much confirms it. You don't even need Palmer's book when you have a good clear photo of an original wheel still in the shipping crate from the factory.

I have 2 unmolested original front wheels and they are both laced exactly like that.

Thanks for posting that Chris!

mike

[Paquette]

Ryan--I have sent you a PM--Michael--6671

[Chris Haynes]

Is that an OEM rim, or a repop?

It was an NOS WLA front rim that I donated to the project.
Here is how the MoCo laced them. Outside spokes goung left and inside going right.

[Paps]

Mike is correct Ryan and Matt... Those spokes are laced incorrectly. Though the rim and hub pictured below are 16" oem components, 18" lace up the same direction. Look closely at the inner spokes on this wheel. The inners are opposite each other. Paps

[Ryan Mackey]

Matt and I spent the rest of the night just getting things finished up. Matt gave me some wheel rings that he makes. They are normally chrome, but we got them powder coated black to match the bike. I think they will look really cool. Here is what the front wheel looks like stock


And here it is with the wheel ring.


We ran out of gas for the welder so there are still some things that need to be done when I get back like finishing up that killer exhaust and a few other small things. We were able to get a lot done on the brake pedal though.


I have had a blast on this project and can't wait to come back to finish it up. Luckily I have things to do still while I am gone like working with Larry on the paint and going to the Wheels Through Time museum and building the transmission. It's been a crazy fast five weeks but keep checking in here as I will try to post periodically on the status of everything.

[schmittm]

WLA Front Wheel

Matt,
Trust me on this one, get Palmer's book back out and reread page 101. The lacing is the same for both 16" and 18" wheels and the front wheel is opposite the back wheel.

I've been down this road too many times fighting the curse of repop rims, NONE of the repops have the correct nipple angle for lacing a brake drum into a front wheel. If Ryan had problems trying to lace that front wheel into an OEM rim it is because he was trying to lace it in the wrong direction (but, the pictures show he had the brake drum side laced in the correct direction, the spool side is going the wrong way). Is that an OEM rim, or a repop? If you got the repop from AAOK it probably is bad, they will be the first to admit (when you hold their feet to the fire) that nobody makes a decent repop front rim for a WL or WLA, either 16" or 18".

Next thing, the Buchanan spokes and nipples will work just fine in a repop rim if you tweek the nipple hole in the rim with a long taper bar and bend the opening for the short spokes a little flatter and aim it towards the brake drum. You shouldn't have to drill out the holes, just adjust them a little so they point in the right direction.

Ryan's wheel is laced wrong, but it looks good. Usually the short spokes will bow a little when installing stainless spokes in a repop rim but Ryan's spokes look straight. As you said, inspect it closely after truing it and keep an eye on it after it has been in service for a while.

mike

[Matthew N. Olse]

Mike,
Both of the wheels on Ryan's bike are laced up to 18 inch rims, not sixteen inch rims as per your advice. Ryan reffered to the palmers book for instructions on lacing his front wheel, and double checked with an old original wheel that I have had forever.

We had to make the holes in the rim bigger by .020 of an inch, because the repro nipples were a little to big. I appreciate your input, but if I thought it wasn't safe I wouldn't have let him do it. With your advice in mind, I will check the nipple holes for cracks after they are trued up.

[schmittm]

WL 16" Front Wheel Spokes

Ryan,
You didn't read the head's up I posted earlier about lacing that front wheel. You laced the wheel the wrong way. On a 16" front wheel the outside row of spokes go in opposite directions, just the opposite of a star-hub wheel. Instead of drilling or wallowing out the nipple holes (dangerous in my opinion) you should have used a long taper bar to tweek or bend the nipple holes to a flatter angle so that the short spokes would line up better with the spoke holes in the brake drum. I guess its a done deal now, but it ain't right.

mike

oops, I forgot to mention that the upswept scalloped fishtail IS cool, go with it!

[Ryan Mackey]

I appreciate all the feedback on making my decision. I am leaning more towards diamond. After all diamonds are forever, right? Since you guys really didn't think it flowed with the bike, I also dug up this pretty little piece to put on the end. You can't say that doesn't scream cool!


Inbetween working on the exhaust, this morning we got the air cleaner cut down. A stock one is on the left and the right is mine. It helped to narrow everything up so that the clutch could be tighter to the bike while still being comfortable for me to use.


Here it is on the bike.


I got the front wheel all laced up. It took a few hours of work to finally figure out that the repo nipples are slightly bigger than stock and do not have enough clearance to lace the spokes properly. After I drilled the holes out a little bit, it only took about 15 minutes to lace it. Now I know for next time!
Here is the brake side laced.


And here it is all done


I have about 9 hours left to work before I have to head to the airport. Its crunch time!

[Chris Haynes]

oh, I forgot to mention that the girl on the WL has your muffler, you should ask her where she got it.....

She got it from a K model. Like the one I am putting on my Knuck Bobber.