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Front wheel alignment

Submitted by tony_wood on Thu, 07/01/2021
Forums
Nortons - General

I’ve never had this issue before, so I’m not sure if it’s even a problem. The other day I did a trial fitting of the front wheel into my project Dommie 99 forks (7 inch forks). The wheel  is a really snug fit between the sliders with absolutely no gap either side when it’s fitted. However, the gap between the rim and fork leg is slightly different on the left-hand and right-hand sides. The difference isn’t huge - it’s just 3mm. The gap is 3mm wider on the brake plate side. The thing is I’m not sure if I should be worried about it or not. I havet yet got the rear wheel in the frame so I can’t yet tell if the front/rear wheel  alignment is ok or not.

Any views and advice gratefully accepted.

Regards

Tony

Submitted by philip_hannam1 on Thu, 07/01/2021

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The rim to slider distance should be equal on both sides. Whether 7" or 7-3/8" Yokes fitted. The only way this can be wrong is if the rim has been off-set in relation to the hub or there is a mix of sliders.....i.e. one from a 7" fork set and the other from a 7-3/8" rig.  

I note you say there is no gap between the sliders (axle bosses) when the wheel is in situ. Which suggests to me your problem is the rim position.

Submitted by tony_wood on Thu, 07/01/2021

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Thanks Philip. The fork sliders are definitely both 7 inch fork type. Is it just a matter of tightening the nipples on one side of the rim and slackening the ones on the other side to ‘pull’ the hub over? If so, I might just have a go at adjusting them all half a turn at a time until I’ve got the hub in the right place. I’m assuming that it won’t take too many turns to move the hub 3mm or am I likely to need new (longer) spokes? If a DIY job doesn’t sound advisable, I guess that I need to get the wheel back to the wheelbuilder.

Thanks again 

Tony

Hi Tony, 

If you have a 3mm gap at one side and zero at the other the rim only requires moving across 1.5mm. Just in case you are doing it off the bike and by pure measurement.

Regards

Dick

 

Submitted by john_holmes on Fri, 08/01/2021

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Slacken one side first 1/4 turn then tighten other side 1/4 turn, repeat until rim is in middle. No need to return to wheelbuilder. Spoke length will not need looking at for 3mm, but do check the spokes inside the rim and file any protrusion.

Submitted by tony_wood on Fri, 08/01/2021

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Hi everyone. Thanks very much for all your advice. I took my time with this (all afternoon in fact) so I didn’t wreck the alignment and ‘true-ness’ of the rim that was there from the Wheelbuilder’s initial work. In the end it took a half turn on each spoke nipple to get the wheel centralised in the forks. I’ve got it to be within 0.25mm - that’s close enough for me. I put a dial gauge on the rim and it’s 0.5mm from ‘perfect’ roundness and there’s no shimmying of the rim as it spins, so I’m happy enough with that. Now I just have to trim off the ends of a couple of spikes where they are protruding above the nipple head, then I can refit the tyre and see how it all looks in the forks.

Thanks again 

Regards

Tony

Submitted by ian_soady on Mon, 11/01/2021

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.. far better than I usually achieve. Within 1/16" (say 1.5mm) is usually good enough for me.

Submitted by paul_nicholls on Mon, 11/01/2021

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Everything sounds a bit close, what size tyre are you using?

Submitted by ian_soady on Tue, 12/01/2021

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... Mitas fits the front of my 1952 ES2 no problem - I assume it's 7" fork centres although I haven't checked.

 



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