starting again on my penny farthing build

BOXKARS
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

thom

Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
425
Reaction score
163
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I am trying again to get started for real building a penny farthing. I believe that the front wheel will be the most challenging part, so I will try to build it first. I've read about a couple of builds where two 26" bicycle rims were split and spread to reform a bigger wheel. I tried that with one pair of rims and ruined the first rim. I have another pair of rims and will try again to spread them. Anybody tried it with success and have any tips? thanks.
 
Maybe an old farm equipment or buggy wheel would work?
antique-farm-equipment-sulky-hay-rake_174933.jpg
 
For the rim I have seen people roll a tube in a circle then cut it in half. They used O-ring stock for the tire.
 
Success at last ! I tried again by putting a fresh rim in a vice and squeezing it and moving it a couple of inches at a time. After three passes thru the vice I have one rim spread into a more-or-less perfect half circle. Now I need a round object 48" in diameter to form the wheel around, after I get the other half made. One article I saw showed a round table-top that worked well. Now I feel like I'm making progress.
 
If I can make the other half of my rim, like the first , the hub should not be a big problem. Then I will have to figure out the spoke length. I have looked at the spoke calculator websites. We'll see how that goes.
 
I now have the other half of my wheel formed. I realized that I have used 27" rims instead of 26's. I guess that means my wheel will be a little bigger than 48". No problem. After looking at a couple of the spoke calculator sites I am wondering if two spokes are going to be long enough to make one for my wheel. It appears that they will be less than an inch too short.I know that a bigger diameter hub will mean a shorter spoke but a too-big hub will look terrible. I guess I'll have to draw out a life size diagram and make the hub as big as I can. I will post some pics soon.
 

the second half of my rim in the vise. I found that three passes thru the vise, moving a couple of inches after each "squeeze" did the trick. Now to weld the two halves together and make it round.
 
One build that I have looked at quite a bit , on the Wheelmen site, shows two spokes being welded together to make one long spoke. I believe I will try that.
 
Problem... I can find local sources for DOM tubing but nobody can bend it. Several can bend larger tubing than what I would be using, but they all tell me that the exact size dies must be used and no-one has the right size.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top