Homemade wood rims

[Imlach]

Doubt they're going to be used on a frame with rim breaks

 

[Nabeaquam]

I love the look of these, but that is alot of work.
This might be a stupid question, but is the braking surface ok?

There going on an 1890s fixed gear path racer. No brakes on the bike. Here is a photo of a Chicago Monarch. My bike is a Monarch 1892 to 1899. Rim brakes would destroy the fake wood. I have four other bikes with wood wheels. They need constant truing as the nipple washers sink into the wood from tension and tension becomes soft. I have another bike with fake wood wheels and it has a coaster brake. Here in the USA you don’t need a front brake, only a rear brake is required.

 

[Gtpulse]

There going on an 1890s fixed gear path racer. No brakes on the bike. Here is a photo of a Chicago Monarch. My bike is a Monarch 1892 to 1899. Rim brakes would destroy the fake wood. I have four other bikes with wood wheels. They need constant truing as the nipple washers sink into the wood from tension and tension becomes soft. I have another bike with fake wood wheels and it has a coaster brake. Here in the USA you don’t need a front brake, only a rear brake is required.View attachment 630925

That’s super cool!

I used to ride an 1897 Rudge Roadster which I guess could also have been described as a path racer. It looked very similar to the bike in your image but with less sweep on the bars. Lots of nickel plating looked awesome. That had a rod operated spoon brake with a leather pad which acted on the top of the front tyre.

 

[M_Chavez]

@Nabeaquam
Apologies - what adhesive did you use for the first layer to the alloy? Was it just titebond? (!!!)

There is a laminating technique where you can iron a veneer onto another surface - this should sort out the cracking issue.
But the base layer needs to be able to accept titebond as an adhesive.

 

[Nabeaquam]

@Nabeaquam
Apologies - what adhesive did you use for the first layer to the alloy? Was it just titebond? (!!!)

There is a laminating technique where you can iron a veneer onto another surface - this should sort out the cracking issue.
But the base layer needs to be able to accept titebond as an adhesive.

I used outdoor water proof carpenters glue. It makes for a soft surface that after applying the other ingredients looks like wood but is not as durable as real wood. The iron on veneer is kiln dried so steaming doesn’t make it flexible enough to form to the rim. The veneer pulls away. I tried many ways to get it to conform to just the inside diameter. It just warps.

 

[M_Chavez]

Bending on a hot iron will definitely get the veneer to conform - I can bend a 90mm circle!
Thank you - I'll see what I can come up with once I get my hands on a spare rim.

 

[Nabeaquam]

Bending on a hot iron will definitely get the veneer to conform - I can bend a 90mm circle!
Thank you - I'll see what I can come up with once I get my hands on a spare rim.

Let me know how it works. I’m getting a set of wood rims from an Amish wheel maker. They have no internet, so it’s word of mouth or blogs. They are good about using the mail. He is sending me an invoice. In about 6 weeks I should have my rims. You have to figure out the ERD, sand, oil, stain and varnish them. I’ll have to get wood spoke nipples and washers. I like to support these old craft shops. They make wood wagon wheels, automotive wheels, bicycle wheels and steering wheels, all custom to your requirements. His sons go out in the woods to select and cut the wood for his rims. I’m going to try to use the original hubs from my Victorian bicycle but probably not the rear hub as the cog is worn out. I have some inch pitch cogs with a variety of threaded hole size and perhaps one will fit, but I doubt it. Might as well dig them out of my junk and try. Otherwise I’ll use a modern flip flop. I have at least two 1900 armless coaster brake hubs with one inch pitch cogs. They look like fixed gear hubs. The problem is that the tolerances are very tight and the steel pie slice conical piece that is forced against the hub to provide stopping power is always worn down so the brakes don’t work. People hand form these from pipe but when I tried that I couldn’t get it to fit well enough. I’m not a good enough craftsman. I’m going to see if I can get one to work by using aluminum flashing as a shim to fit under the conical piece. If I can get one to work I’ll build a fake wood wheel and lace the armless coaster brake to it. I would be able to play musical wheels and use this on all of my fixed gear wood wheeled bicycles.