Vintage Lace

Finally had the parts and the time to try lacing my rims.  Original Indian hubs and rims that came with the bike, and Buchanon stainless spokes. 

There were two different lengths of spokes, 6" and 6 1/8"  The longer length go to the non-brake side, to achieve the offset.  There are also different bends in the spoke heads, from 80 degrees to 95 degrees.  Inner spokes have less bend.  These spokes seem to be very high quality, and exactly match the OEM Indian spokes I took out.

 I had good pictures of the original lacing to go from, and some guidance from the Virtual Indian Mailing List on how to proceed.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared, and I am quite happy with the way they look.  The powdercoating was thin enough I didn't have to drill out the rims or hubs.

Because of the difference in spoke length, the offset came out very close even before truing...

I did the 2nd wheel in about half the time it took to do the first.

I'm not sure I'm confident enough to true them myself.  The Wheel Master in Auburn comes highly recommended, but I wish I could find someone who was willing to teach me.

I have a little more work to do to sort out hub and drum bearing components before I can get the truing done anyway...  The chief has a very strange wheel bearing setup: one bearing is in the hub, and the other bearing is in the drum, so you need the drums to mount the wheel for truing.