Hi, My name is Ky, I live in Durango South/western colorado. I drive a 54 chevy mild Kustom and have another 54 in the works. I have a sporty chopper and work as a shop hand at a local rod/restoration shop. I enjoy working on old cars and choppers. I've ben reading posts on the HAMB for a wile and have to say this is the most diversely interesting board I've ever seen. I know this question is off topic but this is the only place that I could think of to ask such a wierd question. My buddy just bought a BSA chopper basket case with a rigid frame and long 60's springer. We tryed to swap the front wheel with a old harley 19" that I had laying around didn't work. My question is Do BSA's and Harleys have diffrent sized axels? Does anyone know what the sizes are? Are they the same as triumph?
most all of those old aftermarket springers used standard american dimensions on the axles. 5/8 , 1/2 , 3/4 etc. Unless you used one of the wheels they specified or sold with it you were pretty much on your own for bearings and spacers. "back in the day" we didn't have all these gawddamn catalogs and vendors where you could build an entire bike by choosing parts from column "a" or column "b". (histronic rant deleted)
not sure about the front axle on a bsa, but you might be suprised and it will be american....... for example, the neck bearings many triumphs are one inch just like american... but as for nortons, oh my god. my rear axle is 9/16......... ? what the fuc* is that? and the neck bearings are not one inch but 7/8 like the handle bars or something. but i made my own frame and converted everything except i kept the original rear hub and so i still have a 9/16 rear axle but turned my own... I suggest you get a catalop of triumph/bsa parts, order one for 5 bucks or 10 and it will pay for itself when your friends needs something from british only, etc.
1)Yes. 2) H-D uses mostly 3/4" and 1" 3) I suspect yes.....but I only have a BSA. I'm mostly a H-D kinda guy.. Likely your friend has a non-OEM springer with a 5/8" axle. Got pics? I'm building a long bike too. mid-tenn mike
earle, for harleys, isn't 3/4 and one inch only for the rear axles? front axles are that big? just curious, i never owned a harley, but I worked at a machine shop where we build harley frames and i remember the rear axles were for 3/4. but i would never think a front axle would be that big.
i don't know what size axle the springer would have, 'cause it prolly isn't necessarily the same as anything in particular. that said, however, if you don't have your answers by the time i get home from work i can measure the front axles on a '66 BSA and a '80 or '00 H-D for you. b-t-w, welcome. i rode the '80 shovelhead to colorado several years ago and rode it over all 23 paved mountain passes over 10,000 feet high in colorado in seven days. that, of course, put us in durango, siverton, ouray, etc. pretty country, but that road just south of ouray scared the p!$$ outta me. i don't like high places (with no guardrails). somewhere down around cumbres pass or la manga pass we were putzing along at about 45 mph in a misting rain when we met about a dozen rice rockets coming over a hill, around a curve, and leaning into the curve to where their inside knees were about scraping the ground. obviously locals. are you guys all NUTS out there or what? sliding on two wheels (and maybe off the side of a mountain) ain't my kind of fun.
Harley hubs are pretty inter changable. I'm running theREAR spoke rim from a 98 heritage on the FRONT of my shovelhead!
Cool Thanks guys I'll just have to measure it. The only way to be sure and then hope I can find bearings for it. Shoud be sick. He picked it up at the Swap meat in Denver last weekend. All complete (compleatly in pieces) minus a gas tank. I gave him an old sporty tank. I get pictures next time I can.
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