Stainless steel spokes and wheels vs. original?

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Ted Lang

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I am going to try to bring my 1970 S back to life this Winter -- getting parts now. The original wheels are not in terrible shape, but the spokes are dull, wheels could use a little truing, and the wheels have some rust. Not terrible, but not what i would like to see.

When I relace the wheels, I have some choices. It would seem that stainless spokes and wheels would be the best choice -- are there any drawbacks? What source is recommended?

After I polish the hubs, should i clear-coat them?

Also, I recall at one time that wanted a bigger rear tire than the 4.10 size K81 on a wm-2 rim. Is there a problem going to a wm-3, or should I keep the 4.10 size tire anyway?

My 30 year old k-81s look brand new, (tempted to re-use if I keep the same rim size) but I suppose thats tempting disaster. What tires are you guys running these days?

Thanks

Ted LAng
 
There are lots of threads on tires and wheel/spoke selection. Do some searching and you are likely to find lots of information, but here are a few things I have gleaned. The following what I have taken away from various discussions:

1.) Don't run the old rubber unless it is just around the block to get the old bike out for a test. It has likely age hardened and will not give you the grip or the flex of a new tire.

2.) Avon AM26 is one of the favorite tires now available.

3.) Rims...yikes! If you want the original look then chrome or stainless. Otherwise lots of alloy rims exist. I have decided to only buy my rims from well known sources like Buchanan or Walridge. Part of that bias is that I want them to be drilled correctly for my application. I see all sorts of stuff on the web that makes me scratch my head and wonder if some of the sellers know anything about British bikes. Unless you are an expert, I would go to one. Just my opinion.

4.) Lot of people are running WM3 rims on the rear in 18 or 19". The front seems to be a bigger problem due to clearance. The debate on whether it improves handling, degrades handling, looks better, etc, etc is on going and will probably never be solved.

Good luck with the resto...
Russ
 
Ted,
I just finished my S last Oct. If you don't mind what is the number on your bike? I have a list of about 16 or so S's here on the forum.

I bought stainless spokes and chrome UK made WM2 rims from Walridge. Note that there are single gauge and double gauge spokes, single are half the price of the double. I think I saw a stainless WM2 somewhere and it wasn't much more if it even was than the chrome one. Everything from Mike went together without any problems. I just cleaned up my hubs, with a steel brush on the inside ribs, but polished what I could around the spoke hole areas. I would be leery of coatings. I laced and trued my rims myself, never did it before and didn't think it was too far out of my league. Depends if you want to spend the time or money. I think I got them within true less than 1/2mm without too much work, and I did the truing on the bike so they sit true with respect to the center tube. Mike usually has a fall sale and quite often the rims and spokes are in the sale.

I went with the original Avon Speedmaster 300-19 on the front and avon roadrunner on rear, but I know there are lots better tires out there, I wanted the original look and the way I ride, it doesn't much matter to me.

You might want to look into the RGM high friction front shoes (Commando Specialties has them too, same ones) and get the shoes arched for a better front brake. I only arched my originals and it made a big difference, but it's still not a great brake.

Good Luck, make a thread on your project and pictures are needed.

Dave
69S
 
Ted,

Since you want to rebuild the wheels (and replace the bearings, no doubt), remove the tires. You will likely find what I did when I dismounted good-looking 40-year-old tires from my Victor; they disintegrated into a cloud of dust and small hard black pebbles that used to be rubber. Do yourself and your family a favor and get some new rubber; Roadriders are available on-line for under 100 bucks.

Once the hubs are removed from the wheel, they will clean up and polish up beautifully. Polished metal makes a poor surface for paint of any type; you would need to degrade the metal surface to 200 grit or so to allow paint adhesion, which seems counter to the look you're aiming for.

Rick
 
Thanks for all the inputs! -- It's great when people actually take the time to say things that i should know, but didn't know to ask. I think the SS spokes and chrome will be just fine, and I'll skip the clear-coat. I had heard of Buchanan, but not Walridge; good to have another source. Improving the front brake is probably worthwhile too. As for the wm-3, if it was common wisdom to change, I would, but that doesn't seem to be the case. So I'll just keep it closer to a real Norton on a wm-2.

Dave:
The number on my "S" is 20M3S/134059. I think I gave you that number earlier in the Summer, but I haven't been on the forum for awhile since then. Unfortunately, even though I have owned this bike since about 1973 or 1974, the ID plate is missing. I never knew it was missing until you asked me about it. Is there a way to fill in the blanks from factory records? Frame and engine numbers match though.

I want to clean off the dust, and then I will send you a "before" photo, maybe next week. I am not sure it will look a lot different when I am done (in photos), unless it is up close enough to see the rust specks, etc. Except for the roadster pipes I changed to in about 1975, it's blue and used to look like your photo. (Still have the S pipes)

Ted Lang
1970 "S"
 
Ted,
Sorry, I just forgot. You're on my list. There's a fella in FL that has 134078 and his plate says SEP 1969, so I bet yours would be the same. You can get the plates from Old Brits or any of the Norton dealers, they have the rivets too. I think they're less than $10. I tried stamping the dates in a new one with a stamp set, it didn't turn out very good, so I took another one to a jeweler and had him engrave it for less than $20 and it looks pro. The original stamping wasn't done with any finesse. Here's my new one,

Stainless steel spokes and wheels vs. original?


Here's my old one.

Stainless steel spokes and wheels vs. original?


Dave
69S
 
Wow. Thanks for the info and for the pictures, too. 134078 must have come over on the same boat -- Maybe they're brothers!

Ted
 
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