Quarantine – How I deal with the Lonesome Blues

Well, we are entering a new World right now, times are hard and quite scary to be honest, most of us have been Quarantined and have to stay at home, in Isolation from the world, but keeping safe, Healthy and away from that nasty Virus.

But, I am getting many orders for parts this month as so many people are at home and have decided to pull up their sleeves and got into their Garage, Shed or Cave etc and start or finish off their project they had started a while ago and ran out of time to complete.  And now we only seem to have time on your hands, you may as well tick some of those jobs to do off the list and make this time in isolation a rewarding one.

I just received an order for a drilled rear brake hub assembly, I have made quite a few for Customers over the years and to be honest, I find it quite therapeutic doing the drilling on the hub and thought I would share some of my experiences with you lot and maybe you will want to have a go your self??????????

I’m about to go out to get a few parts as I had orders today, wont see anyone but I have to go to storage and grab some stuff so will be back in a tick.

Right, I am now ready to get myself situated to get some drilling done on a hub that a Customer has ordered from me and you too can do this if you have some time, a drill and some patience, as it really pays off in the and and gives a unique Custom look on your machine. So, have a look here, I have three hubs to create for Customers and I will show you what I do ok?

Strip your old hub down, just have to remove the 2 springs that hold brake shoes and the split pins that hold the swivel, remove brake actuator and arm and you will be left with a bare plate, once you have completed that task, which only really needs a pair of long nosed pliers, you will then need to secure the hub onto something sturdy, so the plate doesn’t move when you start to drill your lightning holes. I always use a piece of old plywood and secure the plate on top it by using a washer and a wood screw, easy as that.

I use an array of drill bits and to be honest, I just go for it, no set pattern, what ever I think looks good I just drill and change bits as and when I see fit, that way, not one hub is ever drilled the same.

I always have a shop vac at hand, as you are going to get a lot of swarf from the Aluminum and it gets everywhere to be honest, so every now and again, I vacuum the mess it leaves, else you will be feet deep in alloy shavings.

So here you go, this is the pattern that I like the look of and I can still add or make a few holes bigger to give a different pattern.

Looks a lot different when its polished eh? Also, I add New brake shoes and actuator arms etc to make this really look like a Custom piece and so easy to fit too.

So as I have plenty of home time, I thought I would show you how I make these great pieces out of old tired brake hubs for the CB500-CB550 and CB750 Honda’s.

I am sure that you may want to have a go and see how you fare? Its such a great feeling when you bolt it all back together and its therapeutic for me thats for certain.

See, the Patterns are always different, that way, each one is unique to any other out there, its a neat old school look and cools the brake too as it aerates as you ride.

A trifecta of hubs I am doing and this does take some time to complete , but I really like doing these and they come out looking very cool indeed, as you can see below.

So, once all together you can fit right away to your wheel, or, if you are building a Custom rim, just plop in into the hub, it sure dresses that part up so well.

I have built so many that I have lost count over these last 20 years but always fun to create and I still get orders for the custom hubs all the time and glad that you lot like what I do.

Thank you for reading my little Blog today, I have fun writing these and its always cool hearing from you all to see and hear what you lot are creating in your sheds or garages etc.

Drop me a line if I can help you at all, even if its just for advice, my Number is 714-598-8392, you can also TEXT me on that as well for a faster response.

Stay safe everyone and we shall all get through this and be back on the tarmac having fun with our creations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vesco Bike, bit more done on parts today.

Well, the weather has been pretty unkind over here in California, the Rain has been hammering down and as much as 3 inches a day, so that has restricted what I can do in the garage as I need to pull the bikes outside to be able to work in the area.

Rain was due this afternoon, so I went out in the garage and started by pulling the old rear brake hub out and then cleaning it in Vinegar and then lightly polishing it, I then secured the Brake hub to a piece of Old ply wood and then set about drilling a hole display, as I like that old school speed air cooling look and thats what I wanted to do to this hub.

Took quite a while but am happy with the result, I still have to Polish to a chrome finish but got it done just in time as the rain was beginning to fall.

So, I went into the garage and got the old brake Rotor from the Vesco bike and as it had seen better days, I thought I would give it the Old style Swiss Cheese style and drill 185 Holes into the Rotor, thus allowing heat Dissipation and it is also good for dispersing water like rain etc and lastly it is lighter too.

These Rotors are arguably, softer than an Italian Soccer club and drilling using a carbide tip was pretty easy but, it is time consuming drilling 185 Holes, and as you look at the Rotor, it does indeed look as though I have drilled them in a curve, but on closer inspection, you will see they really are a straight line of 3 then 2 holes and fun to drill and, for me its really therapeutic.

I love doing these and over the 19 years, I have drilled over 500 Rotors and they are still on the road today, testament that these really are a great set up for the Honda Four.

There you go, the tough part is, once you have drilled the 185 Holes you then have to counter sink them, Both sides, so thats 370 times, but as I said, to me its therapeutic and do the whole job in 90 minutes and what a great outcome, once I get to this stage, I shall remove the paint and then polish it to a chrome looking finish.

Still loads to do but wanted to share what I had done today, I used to offer these Rotors and may do again but need to collect about 50 of them so I can bang them out in a week etc.

but fun doing all this and hope you are enjoying my blog on the recreation of this old Vesco Honda time machine that I am turning into a Custom Brat bike to the La Custom show in March.