The 1916 Excelsior

[exeric]

I went through both wheels, dressed races, replaced balls, re-laced, and trued, and finally stripped, repainted, and re-striped. Wheels can be the most labor intensive element of an old motorcycle.



Brakes

[exeric]

From talking to Gene Harper, I decided to replace all bearings, and bushings in the motor, trans, and clutch. Also a complete valve job with new valves and guides. The pistons are cast iron originals and fit a bit loose but still well within spec.

[exeric]

Some of the miscellaneous things that came up. I had a later muffler so I had to make a reproduction of the earlier style. Again, thanks to Gene Harper for pictures and dimensions of the correct muffler. Mufflers for early motorcycles are probably the rarest parts you’ll ever try to find.





This picture shows all the control parts layed out.

[exeric]

The carburetor, and intake manifold needed much attention. I trued the manifold to accept new PEEK seals.



And made a core drill to minimize waste of the PEEK. . . Very expensive stuff.





For whatever reason, the Schebler body I had did not perform well. Fortunately, I had a beautiful original finish body and it worked like a dream.

[exeric]

More miscellaneous pictures of the Ex. The first pic is of the starter sector gear. There was significant damage to the teeth so I made a new gear out of O1 tool steel.

[exeric]

Here it was at the Silver Sands meet last March. Now it sits in my garage, but I love looking at it during cocktail hour. I rarely ride it because it is not a traffic friendly motorcycle and it would break my heart (and my body) to wrap it around a Prius. I am very happy with how everything worked out. For me, the journey of bringing an old bike to life is the best part. I do all of my own work and I’ve seen it in it’s most disassembled state, particularly, all of it’s tiny little parts that were created in Chicago back in 1916. You do bond with a project when you get personally involved and that is the difference between collecting, and interacting. I recommend you buy as much as you can afford to collect, but make sure you spend most of your time in the shop.

[Steve Swan]

A really beautiful job, Eric ! That's the one thing that kind of concerns me with my 27JD.... when the time comes to ride it, where... ? at least i am on the sort of edge of town. not sure how much stopping power the rear brake on a 27JD has, but i'm guessing not terribly adequate for everyday traffic.

[exeric]

Steve, I think these old girls need our loving and I don't want to subject them to the performance I expect from a modern motorcycle. They deserve to live a life of luxurious lounging with the occasional run around the neighborhood. I live in Florida, and we are being invaded by new citizens on a daily basis; and they are all dangerous, distracted, cell phone addicted drivers.

[Steve Swan]

A really beautiful job, Eric ! That's the one thing that kind of concerns me with my 27JD.... when the time comes to ride it, where... ? at least i am on the sort of edge of town. not sure how much stopping power the rear brake on a 27JD has, but i'm guessing not terribly adequate for everyday traffic.

Agreed. I was just thinking where i could go for road testing and then an occasional joy ride. I live in northern front range Colorado, same issues... ever increasing population and cell phone drivers.

[painterdale]

Eric, that is sweet! Of course, I especially like the pics of your painting process. Very nice job! Dale

[gharper]

Eric,

OUTSTANDING JOB! I'm in awe of your work. Hope my X's turn out that nice some day......

Gene

[Tom Lovejoy]

Fantastic Eric !

[duffeycycles]

Great job Eric,Thanx for all the posts on this fine EX.Here is another Ex Ad from my newly acquired 1915 Iowa City Races program-long sought after piece that I got off Ebay for $10 in a pile of stuff
Iowa City motorcycle races LR Cole.jpg

[panthersteve]

Beautiful job
You should be very pleased with it.

Steve

[exeric]

A few more body work, and paint pictures for painterdale.