SWB0 1948 Triumph

[twojs.bike]

I have been talking to him on and off for a few years and been to his shop a few times. He has never shown off any of his work. Next time I am there I need to probe a little bit and get more info on his work. Too cool.

Here is another link.

https://bikerumor.com/closeup-look-at-cycles-ed-unique-custom-bi-planar-bicycle-hubs/

 

[twojs.bike]

So I went ahead and installed the original fork. Now I am working on the rod brakes. I have no experience with this.

I did figure out that the left and right brake levers are reversed. I was really stumped on that for awhile.

Finally decided to do some research. There arent lot of tutorials on rod brakes that I have found. A few, but not many.

One thing I learned is that the rods should be straight. It is common problem for someone to bend the rods to make them fit. Problem with bends in rods is you lose power when braking as some of the force goes into straightening the rods.

Pictures and maybe video to come. My next step is to straighten the rods. I did find some instructions on a musical instrument repair site that may work.

More to come

 

[Wildcat]

This might help:

 

[twojs.bike]

While I like that channel and am a subscriber, he kind of puts me to sleep.

The saxophone repair method to straighten rods didn’t work out for me. I did get them fairly straight using channel locks and an adjustable wrench.

Spent some time getting the brakes set up. It was real trial and error experience. I think I actually got them pretty close.

Went out for a test ride in the dark. And……

The bike pulls extremely hard to the right!! Unrideable.

This has been the most challenging bike I have ever touched! I’m not quitting on this thing. I’ve come too far!!

So back to the forks. I believe they are still bent. See pics below. Ignore the fact that the handlebars aren’t straight.

I truly wish I could figure out how to get those replaced forks to work. They are so dang close!

Another option is to take these forks into a bike shop in Richmond that does a good job straightening and aligning forks.

 

[twojs.bike]

 

[SwissGuy]

While I like that channel and am a subscriber, he kind of puts me to sleep.

The saxophone repair method to straighten rods didn’t work out for me. I did get them fairly straight using channel locks and an adjustable wrench.

Spent some time getting the brakes set up. It was real trial and error experience. I think I actually got them pretty close.

Went out for a test ride in the dark. And……

The bike pulls extremely hard to the right!! Unrideable.

This has been the most challenging bike I have ever touched! I’m not quitting on this thing. I’ve come too far!!

So back to the forks. I believe they are still bent. See pics below. Ignore the fact that the handlebars aren’t straight.

View attachment 284087View attachment 284088

I truly wish I could figure out how to get those replaced forks to work. They are so dang close!

Another option is to take these forks into a bike shop in Richmond that does a good job straightening and aligning forks.

I would let the pros handle the fork. But remembering having the same issue (bike pulling to one side) before: did you check if the rear triangle is straight?

 

[idiotboy]

The renaissance man shared this method of tube straightening when I posted I had bent truss rods, might be helpful to you

These truss rods were very wobbly. Let's get them straight!

Because they are hollow tubes, I had to be very careful with straightening them. Clamping them in the vice was out of the question. I decided to make a wooden buck to sandwich over the tube to avoid crushing it in the vice.

A second buck was used outside of the vice. The gap between the two bucks served as an alignment gauge. By rotating the tube inside the bucks, the gap would open or close revealing the direction of the bends. It worked very similarly to truing a wheel.

Once the bend was located, the outside buck was gently used to push and pull the bends back to straight.

This was a rinse-and-repeat process up and down the tube until all the bends were gone.

Several hours later...

 

[twojs.bike]

Made some progress on the fork. I used a pipe, brute force, and crude measurements. I think I made progress. Went for a test ride and it is no longer pulling right. But something felt wonky and it is pitch black out. Need another ride in the morning.

You can see the difference from left side to right

Now left and right are much closer

 

[Pondo]

Made some progress on the fork. I used a pipe, brute force, and crude measurements. I think I made progress. Went for a test ride and it is no longer pulling right. But something felt wonky and it is pitch black out. Need another ride in the morning.

View attachment 284524View attachment 284525View attachment 284526
You can see the difference from left side to right
View attachment 284527View attachment 284528View attachment 284529View attachment 284530View attachment 284531
Now left and right are much closer

Nice job on straightening that fork. It was really wacked out of line.

 

[twojs.bike]