Dimension compare
What is the downside to converting the stock twin hubs to ball bearings ?
Are the current hubs not 47mm? require machine work?
so 09067/09195 is currently 1.938OD=49.22mm
No sleeve to allow 47mm?
Last edited:
H: Hubs, Wheels and Tyres Wheel bearings.
- Thread starter Chris Launders
- Start date
What is the downside to converting the stock twin hubs to ball bearings ?
Are the current hubs not 47mm? require machine work?
so 09067/09195 is currently 1.938OD=49.22mm
No sleeve to allow 47mm?
These days I am busy with my new hubs to overcome the 5 hole / 10 hole calamities. The rear hub will have one alu brake drum plus sprocket all riveted/ bolted up. At the front wheel both drums riveted to the hub and spoke holes in the drums.
For bearings after some considerations I kept the metric Timken bearings, a lot more load factor and easy enough for setting up end play. You´d have to fabricate a spacer for inner races with either type, ball or roller bearing. When having taper rollers have the spacer a tad longer, bolt both bearings up and test axial play with clock. Put spacer in lathe and face spacer by same amount from test. Try again for feel and do another skim in lathe to your liking, no shims on plan for me.
The bearing carriers in my photos are not planned for the hubs but for rear frame pivots, x-rings will seal here , sitting in a small alu ring that is secured in the rear pivot bore with a tiny o-ring for easy disassembling in case.
After having done axial setting get REAL seals, no felt shit, and assemble the lot after greasing the bearings. I have fabricated alu grease retainers at the inner side in the hub - or rear frame pivot bearings, no grease nipples at all. Just keep water and dirt out with twin lipped seals and that was that - for decades. Did you ever regrease your car wheel bearings ??? My guess, not really, so why on bikes ? I did not like any nuts for setting bearing floats anywhere, just have correct spacers made and no more worry about this in decades.
Vic
For bearings after some considerations I kept the metric Timken bearings, a lot more load factor and easy enough for setting up end play. You´d have to fabricate a spacer for inner races with either type, ball or roller bearing. When having taper rollers have the spacer a tad longer, bolt both bearings up and test axial play with clock. Put spacer in lathe and face spacer by same amount from test. Try again for feel and do another skim in lathe to your liking, no shims on plan for me.
The bearing carriers in my photos are not planned for the hubs but for rear frame pivots, x-rings will seal here , sitting in a small alu ring that is secured in the rear pivot bore with a tiny o-ring for easy disassembling in case.
After having done axial setting get REAL seals, no felt shit, and assemble the lot after greasing the bearings. I have fabricated alu grease retainers at the inner side in the hub - or rear frame pivot bearings, no grease nipples at all. Just keep water and dirt out with twin lipped seals and that was that - for decades. Did you ever regrease your car wheel bearings ??? My guess, not really, so why on bikes ? I did not like any nuts for setting bearing floats anywhere, just have correct spacers made and no more worry about this in decades.
Vic
Toooooooo Much......
Vic.
Toooooooo MUCH.
Tooo much.
Haha
Vic.
Toooooooo MUCH.
Tooo much.
Haha
Next week he will reinvent the Wheel !.
Yeah, sort of . I got a genuine big Fontana on the shelf since decades but this would look out of place on the B Rapide. So I am trying my best to produce a wheel avoiding any old flaws but with good stoppers that keeps the spirit of early fifties, no disc brakes or some such for me definitely.
Vic
Vic
The biggest downside is that there is not much of an upside. As Greg points out, it is a lot of work to convert and shim a Vincent because it has not been commonly done.
For me, the upside was running ceramic bearing on a machine that needed every edge to get a record at Bonneville. It was worth the effort because it was easier to lower the rolling resistance than increase the BHP even a small amount.
I would consider the imperial Timken bearings, narrow and wide, to be the stock bearing set-up. However, there seem to be a lot of metric wheel bearings in service. The metric hubs were machined to 47 mm to accommodate the smaller diameter metric bearing. When the race is installed it often looks like there is a spacer behind the bearing race, but there is not. I have not measured the separation of the bearing pockets, but, the metric bearing required a spacer to hold the brake plate out a bit, so I don't think the pockets were moved out very far, if at all.
The metric hubs used a metric hollow axle for the 20 mm bearing ID, which would still allow the use of the 1/2" steel axle and the E80 nuts.
David
Isn´t Timken bearing the short expression for taper roller bearings in English ? I certainly used the metric size 30204 for the hub specials and made adapters in the rear frame pivot for same size bearings. No hollow axle here, in the photo the 14 mm wheel bolt of front hub, no hexagon yet and no thread machined - but made of titanium.
Vic
Vic
I´d love to see concours judges faint and go off in a huge black cloud but that will never happen, don´t care the least about concours follies. I do just as I myself like my bikes, in the spirit of their times but not necessarily original factory state. I believe some here will remember times long gone when they personalized their bikes while both were young, with goodies that could be just available these days and just enough money at hand as well.
Pity that I never got a look in the Timken calendars you remember, my guess they were a bit like the Castrol or Pirelli kind ??
Vic
Pity that I never got a look in the Timken calendars you remember, my guess they were a bit like the Castrol or Pirelli kind ??
Vic
There is plenty choise arround these days, even perfect german made!!!.
dutch not so many anymore.
sorry to have picked on you Vic, sometimes i type while having a wine in the head...