boulogne racer build

[Douglas Alderson]

Great photos thanks for sharing.  I have seen gear boxes with the fixing bracket on the back of the box but did not realise it was part of the brake mechanism, so thanks for that one bit of info.

[Tony Betts]

hi douglas,

they are for uncoupled brakes.

most people dont realise the ratchet is different for uncoupled brakes, thats probably why the previous owner fitted the coupled brake ratchet.

im having to swap over more than i thought id have to.

tony.

[Chris Garner]

Too true Tony, 
I hadn't realised it until years ago I found two differing ratchet quadrants amongst my spares which led me to investigate.

[Tony Betts]

Tracy kindly done the centre gator me today.

   

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This way it misses the Hartford plate shown.

The damper is next on the list, with a couple of bling bits I'm working on.

Tony

   

[Nick Turley]

Looks like a lot of fun

[Dennis Nicholas]

I would have thought that gaiter looks specially designed to let maximum wet/dirt in and retain it in the sides and especially the bottom?
Will the spring peg still locate in the chassis?
Good looking string whipping.
I will be using the arms off an old leather jacket as a gaiter.

Dennis

[Tony Betts]

hi dennis,

i dont think anything will truely keep water off the springs.

not even modern heat shrink materials, or original leather gators. there are always ends that water can get in.

i think the main point of any gator, is it takes dirrect contact of dirt and water off the grease.

the negative of string rapping is obviously when you need to regrease the springs.

ive used the string purly because i want that vintage look.

the leather gator for the centre of the spring isnt the most tecnicaltenical made thing, but it pulls tight over the end of the string. and the opening at the top is big enough only to fit the hartford. any open edges of the gator at the top will be covered by the chassis.

the leather has two poppers to remove and fit, so i can check it as i need to. remove it easy to get the front spring off, and of course it can be easily changed if needed. as we know, not all ideas work. 

ive checked the peg, and it locates fine.

thanks tony

[Tony Betts]

A quick picture update.

I knew I had alot of items ending on ebay this weekend, so I swapped a couple of days during the week. To get on with the front axle.

Very happy with the axle, didnt really have to do much work on it. I stripped it dont to check, everything had been done well. Kingpins, bushes. Brake parts all new. The shackles had new pins fitted. So just built it back up again And painted it.

The damper took just as long as the axle, 4 hours to find the pressing tools, rivets etc. And 2 hours to do the job. (One day I'll have a tidy workshop ).

I've not rivited the ends yet, as they have to be changed to a ball fitting. But at least I have a measurement to make the two link bars for the damper ends.

   

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[Ruairidh Dunford]

Do you have the correct Hartford taper pins for the axle beam Tony?

[Colin Swinbourne]

That looks very smart.
I’m not to familiar with these early axles, does the shock absorber connect to the axle beam with the normal alloy links?
Also, are those rivet on ends of the blades available to buy anywhere?
...thanks.