front wheel off centre

[Signboy]

Hi Guys,
i have a 1953 a7 plunger, whilst im stripping her down for a restoration i removed the front mudguard and noticed the front wheel is sitting off center by about 8 mm !   i bought the bike over a year ago and have been thousands of miles on her, never noticed a thing
any ideas on a solution ? the wheels were rebuilt in 1985 along with the rest of the bike
atb

signboy

[morris]

A bit of work but the only solution is to loosen the spokes and pull the rim 8mm over. It can be done with the wheel in the frame, but you'll need a magnetic dial gauge to clock the rim as straight as possible. Once you get the hang of it, it's very straightforward. Plenty posts on that subject.

[muskrat]

G'day signboy.
As morris said loosen one side, tighten the other. It won't take much but do it in stages. Loosen the close to the fork leg 2 flats of the nipple then tighten the other side the same. Then remeasure the distance. If your real careful it will stay true and hopefully the spoke ends won't poke through the rim tape and puncture the tube.
Cheers

[Triton Thrasher]

Is it 8 mm out of line with the back wheel?

[Joolstacho]

Good question... what's out with what?
Obviously the wheels should be in line, but they may appear offset from the frame.
I've heard there are bikes with wheels slightly offset in relation to the frame centreline to 'balance' an offset weight distribution of the engine.

[duTch]

 I was told by a renowned A10 specialist that they (Plungers at least)  should have some front wheel offset. ....I found that hard to swallow because I reckon it'd mess up the steering geometry, so centred it (Conical F-end) up between the forks (tyre  off) anyway.
 I was also told that(some) HD's have rear wheel offset for something along the lines like Jools mentioned; a bit more plausible.