One of the greatest challenges of riding antique motorcycles in modern traffic is managing shifting and stopping. This is particularly true if you ride bikes which pre-date standardized controls. For example, my 1930 Indian Scout has left-hand throttle, right hand tank shift, left-foot clutch (with heel on rocker to engage) and right-hand advance/retard for the ignition. This is quite different than our 1945 Harley knucklehead. The Milwaukee bike has right-hand throttle, left hand tank shift, toe down to engage clutch and left-hand advance/retard. This requires concentration! I also have reminder messages to help keep things straight:
The Henderson Deluxe has a non-rocker clutch which is closer to an automobile clutch. It is spring loaded so that the clutch is disengaged only when you are holding the pedal down. This means that it will suddenly engage if you mistakenly lift your foot off the pedal to place your foot on the ground for balance…major surprise at a slippery intersection! My technique is to put the sift lever in neutral before coming to a stop with the Henderson.
Speaking of stopping, old bikes don’t have very good brakes! For the 2018 Cannonball, we adapted a small Honda front hub so that we had a front brake. Most pre-1928 bikes had only a rear brake with friction material wrapping around a drum. For the 1928 Henderson, the factory front brake provided modest slowing until it got warm, then virtually no stopping. The solution? Adapt a 1960s era Norton hub and drum brake to fit. (The Cannonball allows such modifications for safety.) I machined a sleeve on the lathe that would fit in the hub with a 3/4” O.D. and a 1/2” I.D. to accept the Henderson axle. I needed to also machine spacers to center the hub in the forks. The biggest challenge was to make a strong brake arm to resist the rotational forces of braking but to allow up and down motion as the fork rockers move to respond to bumps in the road. The solution was to machine a bronze bushing to fit within the arm and over the stud in the backing plate. Add some grease to the bushing and drill/safety wire the retaining nut.
This arrangement provides much better stopping and should give me better control and safety on the ride. I will let you know once we have a few Stages of riding under my belt. Off to Michigan now!