Wheel Type 3 – Front, 1946-55 Half Width, Cast iron, Telescopic Fork

A completely new front wheel was designed for the new telescopic fork introduced during 1946. It was still ‘a half width hub’, which means that the brake drum side is much larger than the other side. Initially the brake plate was painted black but by 1948 was in chrome. The plate was a steel pressing with a thin steel dust cover spot welded to it; many of these plates are bent and the chrome on the dust cover deteriorates as it gets the worst of the muck off the road, all deficiencies that are cured by our exchange brake plates.  At some point the lug on the plate that attaches to the back of the right fork leg was changed from a fork to a full circle. The 1946-48 hub looks much more like the girder hub than the later ones in the area of the brake drum spoke flange and as the forks were widened in 1949 the wheel spindle length was altered to suit. Although the later spindle will happily fit the earlier forks the early version is a bit short in the later forks. The right hand wheel bearing started out as a narrow bearing with a top hat spacer fitted and a support ring inside the hub, the later version, that we sell, is a wider bearing with only the top hat spacer, the flange of which fits to the inside of the hub. Anoraks please note that the brake side spokes were 10 gauge 1946-48 changing to 8 butted 10 in 1949.

For more information on wheel rims & spokes please click here