Author Topic: Alternative Hubs  (Read 2736 times)

Offline Lukey

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Alternative Hubs
« on: 03.06. 2011 09:54 »
Anyone got any Ideas for a cheaper and lighter alternative Hubs to fit B33 forks and swinging arm?

Not to keen on ariel Hubs and the original BSA items weigh a tonne  *eek* *eek*

Im after better stopping power but not that it breaks the bank. Doesn't really matter what it looks like as its not an original bike  *smile*

Many Thanks

Luke
1960 BSA A7SS
1960 BSA A10 Police bike - rebuild
1960 BSA A10 Project Caferacer
1957 BSA B31
1957 BSA B33 Scrambler

Offline chaterlea25

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Re: Alternative Hubs
« Reply #1 on: 03.06. 2011 19:55 »
Hi Lukey,
Have a look here, http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/2078454
The "spitfire" has Bultaco hubs and front forks,
This also means that the rear brake can be rod operated
Nowt to do with me, even tho the bike is in my locality????

HTH
John O R
1961 Super Rocket
1963 RGS (ongoing)

Offline t20racerman

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Re: Alternative Hubs
« Reply #2 on: 06.06. 2011 18:41 »
I've fitted the wheels and forks from a 1972 GT750 Suzuki to my BSA. The front brake is the double sided 4LS drum one and the bike stops like you wouldn't believe.
To make the rear wheel fit I just had to shorten the Suzuki spindle and make two Aluminium spacers for the chain adjusters to push against. If memory serves me right, I might have had to open up one side of the swing arm opening a little with a file too (The sprocket side). A really easy conversion. ANY early T or GT Suzuki rear hub would be dirt cheap and fit nicely.

The front one was more difficult, but not too hard, although I won't go into details here as you wanted a 'cheaper' option. There are loads of good Japanese drum brakes that look the part and stop well. The GT500 hub is wonderful, although prone to cracking, but a standard T20/T250/early GT250 Suzuki drum with decent linings is a very good brake. Alternatively, a CB72/77 front hub is a lovely brake too and not too expensive.

You can see my bike in its various stages, but with the Suzuki wheels in particular just here:
http://www.a7a10.net/forum/index.php/topic,3769.msg29428.html#msg29428

1944 WN/G based trials Ariel
1961 A10 - somewhat modified :-)
1967 T20 Suzuki - heavily modified Classic Racer
1967 T20 Suzuki - pretty standard road bike
2007 KTM 660 SMC - fast and furious supermoto
Triumph Tiger (modern one)

"If I had all the money back that I've spent on motorcycles... I'd spend it all on motorcycles!"

Offline Lukey

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Re: Alternative Hubs
« Reply #3 on: 07.06. 2011 12:19 »
Wow T20racerman they look amazing! I think this is the route I will look at going down,

The complete forks look good but I wonder whether I could Just fit the front brake, Im not sure whether fitting the forks will create problems with the handling as the front will be higher, as this is on a Cafe racer??

I suppose I could Lift the back up too as I am 6ft2 so may make it more comfortable  *smile* *smile*

Im gonna have a look around for those hubs  *smile*
1960 BSA A7SS
1960 BSA A10 Police bike - rebuild
1960 BSA A10 Project Caferacer
1957 BSA B31
1957 BSA B33 Scrambler

Offline t20racerman

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Re: Alternative Hubs
« Reply #4 on: 07.06. 2011 18:13 »
Wow T20racerman they look amazing! I think this is the route I will look at going down,

The complete forks look good but I wonder whether I could Just fit the front brake, Im not sure whether fitting the forks will create problems with the handling as the front will be higher, as this is on a Cafe racer??

I suppose I could Lift the back up too as I am 6ft2 so may make it more comfortable  *smile* *smile*

Im gonna have a look around for those hubs  *smile*

Glad you like it - thanks.  *smile*  The GT750 front hubs sell for about £250-£350 or more as us Classic racers use them (back hubs FAR cheaper). They are pretty heavy for racing and the one fitted to my T20 racer has been considerably lightened  - making it look even better! (See 'T20 Racing' page of my website http://www.t20suzuki.com/ for details). I actually have a spare on my shelf... although I'm not sure I want to sell it until I have decided what to fit on the front of the 2nd T20 racer that I'm building.

As for fitting just the hub, I'm not sure if this is a good route. I ride my BSA hard and wanted good brakes. I tried an A65 type big brake first and although it was good, fork twist and chatter under heavy braking was unbearable. I bought new stanchions and bushes... and it made no difference whatsoever. Eventually I'd had enough and fitted the complete front end you can see, albeit with BSA yokes, gaiters, headlamp etc. It transformed it, BUT as you say, made the front end higher as I had to make the forks even longer to fit the BSA yokes. The GT750 forks I had were pinch bolt fitting in the top yoke, the BSA ones are taper fit! So I had made up some new end caps for the GT forks that replaced the fork top bolt with a tapered one that fitted the BSA top yoke. This added an inch and a half in length but as ground clearance on my bike was poor anyway, this helped!
Classic racer guys build all kinds of specials with mismatched forks, hubs, yokes etc and to actually shorten the GT stanchion (and springs) and then make up a fitting like mine is not impossible if you want the low look of a cafe racer.

On my T20 racer the GT750 forks I was originally going to fit were far too long/heavy (Again see my 'T20 Racing' page for details) and so I had to look for alternatives. I picked up cheap some Kawasaki S1C forks (1970s 250 triple - pre KH models) and modified them to fit very easily. I later fitted some RD250 forks and they worked well too and similarly are much shorter. If you want a low front BSA, look at options like that.

On my original post I say that any early T or GT rear hub would fit OK - they are all dimensionally identical - APART from the bigger and heavy GT750 one, which is what I fitted. Having used many Suzuki hubs, if you do go down the road that I did, do try to get the early GT750 rear hub as it is a far superior beast and looks the part too.

All the best
Adrian
1944 WN/G based trials Ariel
1961 A10 - somewhat modified :-)
1967 T20 Suzuki - heavily modified Classic Racer
1967 T20 Suzuki - pretty standard road bike
2007 KTM 660 SMC - fast and furious supermoto
Triumph Tiger (modern one)

"If I had all the money back that I've spent on motorcycles... I'd spend it all on motorcycles!"

Offline t20racerman

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Re: Alternative Hubs
« Reply #5 on: 14.06. 2011 20:53 »
1944 WN/G based trials Ariel
1961 A10 - somewhat modified :-)
1967 T20 Suzuki - heavily modified Classic Racer
1967 T20 Suzuki - pretty standard road bike
2007 KTM 660 SMC - fast and furious supermoto
Triumph Tiger (modern one)

"If I had all the money back that I've spent on motorcycles... I'd spend it all on motorcycles!"

Offline bonny

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Re: Alternative Hubs
« Reply #6 on: 15.06. 2011 23:02 »
I have a gt750 front brake for my triton and it is a lovely brake , very well engineered but they weigh a ton, the ariel hubs i have for my a10 project are very nice too , i have to agree about the cast iron bsa hubs they are very weighty also.