Digital’s Rigid – Part VIII (Continued 2)

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Here, the rear wheel is slipped into place, and the axel slipped through. Atlas set this frame up to fit perfectwith the 5.5″ rim. No additional spacers were needed to put the entire system together with the exception of a washerthat was procured at the local hardware store. I’ve been told by some certified mechanics that some pinching of the rearof the frame around the wheel is acceptable, however, I made sure that everything was an exact fit across the rearof the frame to avoid this. My personal opinion is that the frame was made on a jig to be straight – why do I wantto risk hosing it up?

Moving up front – the front wheel was put into place. I don’t have a lot of good photographs in this area, because Iwas doing all the work and shooting all the photos myself – so will describe it in text instead.

You need to be careful to tighten the bolts on the front end in a particular order. If you don’t, you can end up causingleaks in the tubes from bending them improperly. The axel has a shoulder on the right (pipe side) of the bike. Loosenthe fork ends place the axel in from the right, and tighten the axel nut first. Then, tighten down the fork ends.If you slip it into place, tighten the fork ends first, then the axel nut, you can fuck things up.

This wheel setup is a dual disc front end. It required a special hub that was setup for dual discs. Although it lookscool as hell, this was my first experience with dual discs, and it was a pain. I wouldn’t do it again for a couple of reasons.First off – it adds extra weight, and you really only need 2 pistons to lock up the front wheel. I have 8…. Sure,it’ll be more responsive, but it’s costly, and it covers up those nice lookin’ wheels. The good part it, the front endlooks absolutely massive with all that hardware hangin’ off of it. Just a personal preference.Special spacers from Custom Cycle Engineering had to be procured to get the rotor into the right position. A word to thewise – call the shop before ordering any spacers. Buying these out of a catalog for building a custom is damned nearimpossible. The catalogs talk about ‘From Mid Glide To Wide Glide’ type of specs…. Bullshit. You need to know howthick the damned thing really is before you buy it.

Another trick I about front mounting wheels… Don’t think you can align the wheel to center by measuring off the bearingsand spacers before you mount the wheel. Some hubs aren’t right on the money. I found mine were about 1/4″ off whenI mounted the wheel, only to find centerline of the wheel was to far to the left. Get your wheel mounted, then measureit off using hardware spacers (washers). Then order your spacers afterward. It’ll save you some serious time.

The front brakes were put into place, and shims used to insure that the pads are properly centered over the rotors.A feeler gauge can be used to verify placement. Performance Machine (who supplied the calipers) also supplies theshims needed to make sure these end up in the right spot.

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