1912 with magneto ignition and clutch.
Tag: 1912
8XE finished
After reading the last post I realised that I haven’t put up any photos of the completed 8XE. I‘m pleased with the outcome. She is an up and running motorcycle now, some six or seven years after I got her.
The paint finish is with broad black striping, edged in carmine, and with a gold centre pinstripe. I just need to find a source for some white rubber pedal blocks.
8XE finally running
The magneto came back from the painter and we have installed it on the bike. Some time spent making adjustments and she is now finally up and running.
When the Coronavirus lockdown is over we will take her out for a few miles and get her dialled in and sort out any other niggles. For sure we need to look at the rim on the rear wheel.
Stay safe everyone.
Gas tank preparation
Next on are the tanks. All the hardware is here so the first job will be to chase all the threads before anything is mounted to the bike. After that it will be the bars and control linkages.
Front end
The front end is now all together. We needed to adjust the springs in the forks but everything else was spot on. I have determined that the rear fender stays will need some more work before they can be considered completed but that will be done as part of the final snagging.
1912 Forks
The forks also came from Dewey Rice at Antique Harley. They have a great shape and profile and with a little more work in the rust department will match the frame well.
The internals came from Comp Dist and I have a nice set of original rockers and top caps. The grease (Alemite) fittings are 1914 on but they will suffice for the time being.
Plating update.
The plating has also taken far longer than I had hoped for but the quality is great. The delay is not so important as the painted parts are also not ready yet. Some parts of the motor need to be plated and then the motor re-assembled, the wheels need building and then the full assembly can begin. I am really pleased with the plating, it’s nickle but looks almost like chrome, but it will dull down.
The polishing and preparation are so important and the Eclipse front hub and Ful-Floteing seat bar engravings are clearly visible. These are great original parts which could have easily been spoiled with excessive plate.
Paint update
Well the summer is near over now and I was hoping to have had all the painted and plated parts back by now so I could start the build on the 8XE.
The paint went off some six months ago but when the painter applied the lacquer to the decals everything blistered and they had to be removed. I ordered more decals from Rick Simpson, who is extremely knowledgeable and always offers great service, and they hit the UK within the week. I am now waiting for an update from the painter.
If you click on the image you can see the blistering. The two images below are before the lacquer was applied.
1912 8D wheels and small parts
This original rear hub has been fully rebuilt and came from Mike at Antique bike in Sweden. He has also supplied the rear rim. The two belt sheaves shown will be cut and welded together to create the wider 2″ version I need. I will have the spares sides if anyone needs them although the remaining narrower pieces will need a section welding in between them, a slightly more difficult job.
Original seat posts, pedals and other small parts collected over time.
The exhaust is all original apart from one end section. Some nice linkages and pipes.
1912 8D Frame
This lovely frame also came from Dewey Rice. It hasn’t been drilled for the motor yet and one or two other jobs will need attending when it is matched to the rest of the bike. It’s been rusting away over the last few months and will need some oiling to match the original parts being used.
I went to the Davenport meet a couple of years ago to collect these repo bars that Tom Faber had made for me. They are lovely. But before I had even collected them I found these original bars complete with spirals, internals and cables. What a find! The new bars join my pile of parts for sale…later.
