Hitchcocks Forum

The restoration of my 1960 350 Bullet is coming to completion however as normal with most of my projects ( 3rd bike since retirement ) there is always a little snag near the end.

I purchased the bike in December 2016 and prior to my ownership had been half converted into a trials bike and my plan was to turn it back to a standard bike , thanks to our hosts parts manual, stores and e-bay I have almost achieved my goal.In January we managed to get the bike to start using easy start, it ran with no rattles so it was decided to leave the engine and box and concentrate on the running gear, the frame and running gear was stripped, blasted and repainted, the forks were stripped and internal springs fitted, wheels stripped , powder coated and rebuilt with new shoes, bearings and new tyres,new ( old ) mudguards sourced, persuaded to fit and painted. Rewiring commenced and all electricals work in a 6 volt kind of way. Front wheel no problem rear wheel problem.

The rear wheel was assembled with the washers and spacers that came with the wheel in the same order. First problem was the gap between the wheel and the swinging arm , measured at about 0.25 of a inch. Checked parts manual big collar needed , so made one on lathe , result more accurate alignment, tightened the part 16 spindle only for the speedo drive to lock against the wheel and turn with the wheel. in further strip down the speedo drive was missing something ( or I was )which later I found to be part 7 on the speedo drive.

My next job is to either to make or buy the stepped bush, but the the parts list indicates that the stepped bush part 7 passes through the felt oil seal and rests on the wheel bearing as well as passing through the speedo drive and locking the outer of the speedo drive to the wheel distance collar . Can any one confirm this or tell me where I am going wrong Thanks

Art, you are correct, the "bush" (I'd call it a spacer,) sits between the inner face of the speedo drive case and the outer race of the wheel bearing. It is also recessed on the inner (bearing side) to accommodate a felt washer. I usually replace wheel bearings with sealed ones which means the felt washer is no longer needed but then belt and braces, I usually leave the felt seal in there anyway!

REgards, Mark

I just looked at the Parts Book for your bike, the illustration of the spacer on the speedo page is wrong, in reality it is more of a top hat shape which I think you'll understand from my previous post. The spacer does not pass through the speedo drive, the drive is sandwiched between the spacer and the outer spindle to swing-arm spacer. I can send you a pic if you like?

REgards, Mark

Thanks Mark a illustration would be great

Give me a while to take a pic and I'll upload it to this message, hopefully tomorrow.

REgards, Mark

REgards, Mark

Thanks Mark ,just what I need off to the lathe in the morning ,one final question what's the overall length I should be aiming for the plan is to measure the depth with vernier before but a rough length would be a guide . Again thanks for your advise.

When I get my head around loading pictures ( or find a 12 year old kid to help) I will load some before and after shots of the project.

Art, the length will be specific to that model, I have come across at least 4 different ones. It is related to the length of the outer spacer obviously. In fact, the 2 spacers in the picture are different lengths although you can't see it. I suggest you assemble the rear wheel in the swing arm with all the components fitted except the speedo drive itself, measure the gap and deduct the thickness of the speedo drive casing. Bear in mind that the assembly is usually a tight fit into the axle plates and you should be about right. The finished length will be in 16ths of an inch, I do know that! What you should also be able to see in the photo is the groove for the felt seal. Good luck,

Thanks to the advice will report back after the lathe work.

Hi Mark, Back after a few hours lathe work , still not quite fixed, followed your advise measured the gap made bush,assembled it up, fitted wheel distance collar ( part 27) and two washers, nice snug fit, bolted up wheel spindle spedo drive stopped in place, but last half turn to fully tighten spindle locks the back wheel solid half a turn back wheel is free. The spindle looks to be cycle thread so full turn is about 1/ 26th of a inch ,about 40 thou locks the wheel. I disconnected the chain to make sure that was not the problem .

My other thought was to check the brake side to make sure the spacer ( part 38 )was was not stopping the wheel or causing some additional friction.

Clutching at straws at the moment