Wheels

davidd

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
If you wish to have someone else do the work or re-spoke the wheels you may wish to contact Buchanan as they are quite well-known and they have a lot of experience with Vincent wheels :

http://www.buchananspokes.net/

You may have lost some balance weights so you could check the wheel for balance.

David
 
Last edited:

A_HRD

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Kurt,

David is right on both counts.

But first jack-up the engine near the front (or use your 2 propstands as a front engine centre-stand by removing the 5/16 BSF bolt on the left side of the front engine plate).

Having got the wheel clear of the ground, simply rotate it and check visually for up-and-down or side-to-side run-out at the rim. If there is nothing more than about 15-20 thou, its unlikely to be that causing the severe sensation you describe.

Now look at the rim and establish whether there is a tyre-clamp fitted. There will likely be one of them 4 spokes away from the schraeder valve and two protruding bolts to hold wheel-weights further around the rim. Originally the 2 bolts held lead weights of variable size to balance-out the effect of the clamp and valve. This is likely to be the area of your problem. A simple static balance of the wheel (best with the brake-plates removed) is all you need to do.

If this is all OK, I would then turn my attention to the front hydraulic damper which is simple to remove. If it is a std Vincent one - it likely has no oil left in it!! And the seals are probably shot. It might be worth sending off to exchange for a refurbished one.... or you could try to do the work yourself. There is a mod out there for improving the sealing arrangement.....

Hope this helps.

Peter B
Bristol, UK.
 

Bill Thomas

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Hello Kurt, Sometimes the tyres are not round, ie a bad mold, Or gone out of round because of standing in one position for years, Is it an old tyre? The Vincent front forks can do Bad things if they are not right !! The hand book says you should USE the steering damper ! I think you should have the wheel checked by a top man, Good Luck, Bill.
 

kurtflys

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Thanks. I use to build my own bicycle wheels so I get the concept but you do have to have wheel stand and a truing setup. I would have no way to balance it, so I'll start with getting the front wheel off the ground and spinning it. I should be able to check both round and wobble. Straightening out the left right wobble is pretty easy but if the wheel is not round well the same rules apply but it is harder (no impossible ) to fix. I'll have to look at the front shock and see how big a project that might be.
Thanks
 

bmetcalf

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
True and balance it on the bike. Clean the bearings and oil them for low friction, take the brake plates off and use washers for spacers with shims for bearing preload, then spin the wheel. I've also clamped axles in the vise (with soft jaw protectors!) for truing wheels.
 

chankly bore

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Most Vincents have 09067/09195 or 09074/09196 tapered rollers in the wheels.Some have 30204 metric bearings (if you're lucky). A few had oddball rollers (if you're very unlucky). Clean and lightly oil them, but preload is not desirable- actually the machine is ridden with about 1/32" "shake at the rim which is about .005" loose at the bearing. So for trueing, particularly on a front wheel, you need to remove a .005"shim,as well as adding for the brake plates. Don't forget what I said before about the excellent "NILOS" seals to keep the grease in.They are manufactured for all the above tapered rollers.
 

chankly bore

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Why are the metric bearings better?

Not in any particular order; 1. More readily available, 2.Cheaper, 3. Smaller cup, therefore more "meat" around the perpoofery holding it in. This is particularly important on Twin rear wheels where the hub casting suffers from a little too much feminine grace after 60 years. For you lucky Yankees the bearing 09074/09196 fits a lot of Ford front wheels up to 1946 but in Australia this bearing is getting pretty pricey! Whatever you do, never go into a bearing supplier and say "VINCENT", coz you only get two reactions. They either look puzzled and tell you they don't list it or drive a truck up to carry your money to the bank!
 
Last edited:

davidd

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Interesting analysis. I only have one set of the metric hubs. But, as you say, here in the US the standard bearing goes for about $7 each and they are easily available. I did think that I should save the metric set for a racer. They are still in a box.

There is a good article in MPH on this subject in 276 MPH at page 15.

David
 
Top