Rims

[lostinidaho]

I am working a basket case project.  But that means the fun will last longer.   
I am currently working on the frame and forks, but I am gathering information for the wheels.

The rims are perfectly good except for the pieces that have rusty away in to oblivion. 
What rims do you guys use to replace old, missing or unsafe rims?  I was thinking about re-lacing the front wheel with a drum brake for added stopping power.  Is this a good idea?

[Ricks]

  What year is the bike?  Different years use different size wheels.  Depends if you want to go stock or not.  Stock wheels can be found, they are usually pretty rusty and take work to fix, and run from $50-200 each.  New spokes can be had from Wayne Mahaffey, around $40 per wheel.  Having rims blasted and powder coated run around $100-125 per wheel.  A front brake setup is another $300 or so.  Put this all together and it gets expensive fast but looks great when done.  Look at the photos below for a pair I did recently.

If you want to adapt something, look at Worksman wheels.  These are really well built, heavy duty bike wheels that approach motorcycle wheels.  They can be had with a front drum brake for about $100 and look pretty decent.  Check the replica bike in the last photo of a worksman wheel with drum brake.

[lostinidaho]

Thanks for the help.  That will get me started.

I am not sure what year the bike is.  Like I say it is a basket case. 

The rims appear to be close to a 26 inch bicycle rim.  I have to admit I like the profile of the original rim.  But mine are swiss cheese.

[Ricks]

All the rims are the same diameter, the difference is the type of rim or width.  The earliest 1" rims were bicycle wheels, the later 1" are simplex built drop center rims, and the last rims are 2" wide.  These are the most desirable and therefore the most expensive to buy.  IIRC,  the simplex  tires will fit all 3 rims properly.

Post some pictures of your bike!

[bill marcum]

Does anybody know if the Corker tire 74778 fit on the Workman wheel.

[Ricks]

If that is the simplex 26 x 2.5 tire, then yes.

Rick

[bill marcum]

I was cleaning up my rear wheel pully, the more I wire wheeled the pully the more rust holes did I see. Looks like I am going have to get a rear wheel pully from Wayne. Here is a picture of it I do not think it is worth saving. If any one is interested in it let me know. Bill Marcum

[Mike Sal]

Bill, is that the only area of rust thru?  If so, I'd say it's very fixable.  Might need to tig it rather than mig to keep down the warpage.  I wouldn't be afraid of it.
Mike Sal

[mywaymfg]

Better shape then the one I took off ,  LOL

[bill marcum]

there is holes all around might be fixable , but not me. I will try the earlier model that wayne is selling.  Bill Marcum

[Ricks]

The earlier one will bolt right on.  I read that simplex changed to the clip on model as it was much easier to R&R.

Rick

[mywaymfg]

I to am going to have to go with an earlier style from Wayne,mine was so far gone it folded in half when I tried prying it off.

[Mike Sal]

I pulled the front wheel off & took the bolt cutter to the spokes tonight.  I'll pull the back wheel off tomorrow for the same.  I did notice that the clip on pulley on my rear wheel had some pitting on the surface (where crap had accumulated years ago & caused rust).  The former owner just sanded it down & painted over most of the rust (including the spokes).  I hope I don't find any holes in mine when I strip it down.  I'll know more tomorrow (If my concrete guy shows up to finish my garage floor, it may be later tomorrow).  The rims themselves seem to be in pretty good shape and they ran really true.....time will tell if I can get them trued up as good.
Mike Sal

[Mike Sal]

As much as I wanted to resist taking the whole bike apart before I heard it run......well I'm down to a bare frame now....

I took the back wheel apart today (after loading a 16 foot trailer full of scrap metal, which has my back aching) & found that rusty clip on sheaves must be the norm.  take a look at mine.  Hopefully you'll be able to see in the photos the yellow braze material in one area where the guy had patched up the holes in it.  He did a decent job on the other side, but left this side looking crappy.  Other than this 8 inch wide area, the rest of the sheave is in good condition.  You can tell the bike set somewhere a long time with water & crap setting in that spot. I'm going to use filler to smooth out this side & put it back on.  It (and the wheel) had virtually no runout.

The brake drum has a lot of rust pitting also.  I wish now I would have bid on that rear hub that was on ebay a few weeks ago....

Also is a shot of how I removed the old rusty spokes.
Mike Sal

[bill marcum]

Mike
 If you see a front hub and brake assembly let me know. I would like to put one on my bike instead of buying a workman wheel, if the price is right. Looks like your bike is coming along pretty good. Got my old sand blaster working , just going to take me a while to do it with a small compressor. Seams to work ok just a little slow building up the pressure. Bill Marcum