# 33 Colson



## SKPC (Feb 2, 2018)

1st post here for me.  I just took custody of, and am restoring a 33 motorbike with unmatched parts. Need more info on crank-set and wheel-set  that were on it.   
The bike as I found it .






 

CRANK- Unknown year Mead-style has "keyed" sprocket. 




WHEELSET-The early/odd 26" clincher wheelset with colson front and ND no-oiler rear may or may not be original to the bike.  Anyone?  14/16 spokes were toast, so I disassembled them. 


 
I will be needing more help on this resto as I discover more about this amalgam..


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## Cowboy in NC (Feb 2, 2018)

Welcome to the Cabe-- `Like your Bike !!!--------Cowboy


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## stezell (Feb 2, 2018)

Sprocket appears to be a Shelby, not so sure it's a Colson. 
V/r
Sean


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## stezell (Feb 2, 2018)

Welcome to thecabe also. There are plenty of knowledgeable people on here that can help you out. Oh fordmike65 where are you at? It appears to be originally a 26" wheeled bike, just saying.
V/r
Sean


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## mike j (Feb 2, 2018)

Welcome, nice bike w/ a lot of potential, really like those motorbikes. I think that it may have had this crankset. This is an earlier model, but I believe that they were used up until 1937. What size tires are on it now? It looks 28" to me. Good luck & have fun w/ it.


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## Herman (Feb 3, 2018)

I don't believe it's a Shelby , on a Shelby the upper and lower bearing cups are the same diameter as the neck


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## tommydale1950 (Feb 3, 2018)

Nice, what is the serial # ? I may have some  the parts you need ...Tom


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## frankster41 (Feb 3, 2018)

SKPC said:


> 1st post here for me.  I just took custody of, and am restoring a 33 motorbike with unmatched parts. Need more info on crank-set and wheel-set  that were on it.
> The bike as I found it .
> View attachment 747294
> View attachment 747287
> ...



Amalgam? Isn't that used for filling teeth? Looks like nickle plating on hubs. Or am I missing something?


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## SKPC (Feb 3, 2018)

Amalgam-"a mixture of different elements"-#2Websters.  A combination of different parts(elements) not original to the bike. There is nickel on the rims/hubs though, yes.


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## SKPC (Feb 3, 2018)

Serial " is 3J6333 on bb shell.   The mystery crank-set that was on the bike has longer arms than the chain-stay history tells.
This pic below is with a shorter length crank I had laying around.  To get this to clear the stay, it had to be spaced waaaay right.
This makes me assume it was a short arm crank with wide arm spacing & the sweetheart sprocket.. pics below..



 The tank came out Tan...frame/fork is black.








The bike has 26" tires on it in the 1st pic.  Comparing this rim to a 559-26" rim, it sits 3/16" taller.  Has anyone here seen a 26" clincher rim like this on a Colson hub?  The Model D rear has no oiler in the shell...


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## SKPC (Feb 4, 2018)

Tan colored Tank with motobike shadow.  No answer on the above 26" wheels?


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## SKPC (Feb 22, 2018)

The crankset is a double D Westfield stamped "K" (1933?), which is incorrect for this bike. A shorter Colson crank&sprocket (straight arm) is now on my find list.



   After getting lower into the paint, I think the bike frame and fork were the same color as the Tank(TAN). Opinions here?   This apparent original color appears pretty shot, so may leave the last of the black on it. This is one of the very few areas of the frame that has any og paint left.




     The nickel plating on the wide 26" clinchers must have looked nice new..



Duckworth chain was on it..



     Three of the four old hub bearing races are not so well, so I will re-surface them.  Cones were ok on both f&b hubs. Looking for new(old correct) axle/cones for the Colson hourglass.


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## bikejunk (Feb 22, 2018)

Often a bent crank arm and a really persistent kid will wear a grove into a frame


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## SKPC (Mar 11, 2018)

Will trade the nice straight Double D Westfield 30's crankset for a correct-for-this-bike 44t Colson motorbike crankset.   Will also trade the Egg Crate rack (see above) for a correct black paint motorbike rack. The OG paint on the rack is RED under two other paint layers...


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## Jay81 (Mar 12, 2018)

I need just the inner bearing cone for a Westfield double d crankset. The one that holds the chainring on the crank. Unfortunately I don't have the Colson crankset you need.


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## SKPC (Mar 17, 2018)

Yea, good luck with that.  By the time I find parts for this depression-era bike I may be 6 feet under. Still looking for crankset, head badge, crossbar and rack for this bike,now I  know it to be a Flyer or Rover badged Colson...

Getting no real success here.. ....Well, not zero, but not much help with the parts.  If someone finds any of the parts here, let me know!!  thanks skpc
Otherwise....build is here..
http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/1933-colson-moto.105512/


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## Freqman1 (Mar 23, 2018)

Here is a pic of a 28" Colson Flyer motorbike that I owned at one time. V/r Shawn


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## Krakatoa (Mar 23, 2018)

Hey there I came up with this....PM'd you... Nate


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## bentwoody66 (Mar 23, 2018)

Krakatoa said:


> Hey there I came up with this....PM'd you... Nate
> 
> View attachment 775741
> 
> View attachment 775742



Peachy, and Colson complete down to the correct washers!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## SKPC (Mar 23, 2018)

Thanks gentlemen!   Convo in process.  I was quickly losing faith in you guys....


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## Krakatoa (Mar 23, 2018)

Couldn't let that happen!


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## SKPC (Mar 23, 2018)

Shout out to K-man.....Crankset sourced. Thank you  Nate!.


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## Krakatoa (Mar 23, 2018)

Love the CABE!





*ALL WELCOME!*


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## SKPC (Mar 27, 2018)

Thank-you to _The Cabe_  members who have so far helped me bring this bike back.  *Nate/Tommy*-thumbs up man. You stepped up and don't even know me!  I continue looking for a few more small items. The Colson/ND-"M" hourglass front hub had the guts replaced with junk, so I do not know what should be there...  Might anyone have photos of the guts for this hub?  If so, please post them. I am on the hunt for the axle set or the cones themselves. I will be having the light pitting in the races machined out..skpc




Also, because of the weak support on the "other" website.......I will finish this bike documentation here..


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## SKPC (Apr 22, 2018)

Got cranked, got badged, got gripped......(Kraka/TommyD/Kraka/)....Rack on the way...


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## tommydale1950 (Apr 22, 2018)

SKPC said:


> Thank-you to _The Cabe_  members who have so far helped me bring this bike back.  *Nate/Tommy*-thumbs up man. You stepped up and don't even know me!  I continue looking for a few more small items. The Colson/ND-"M" hourglass front hub had the guts replaced with junk, so I do not know what should be there...  Might anyone have photos of the guts for this hub?  If so, please post them. I am on the hunt for the axle set or the cones themselves. I will be having the light pitting in the races machined out..skpc
> View attachment 777752
> 
> Also, because of the weak support on the "other" website.......I will finish this bike documentation here..




 Ya, never know ,I might need something from Utah down the  road enjoy..Tom


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## SKPC (Apr 30, 2018)

The bike mocked up with the proposed 28H "rider" wheelset & custom long seat post on it. The bike is missing alot still, and far from done, but wanted to share. Original wheels are in the process of getting put back together with newly ground/polished hub races..


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## SKPC (May 8, 2018)

Working on the original(?) wheels now......  Laced up the 84 yr-old front hub and steel rim yesterday, and this was not an easy true job.  I 1st cold-formed the unlaced rim on a flat surface as well as laying it onto a "true" 26" wheel to see where it was bent or dented. I ended up getting it done, but this is not for the faint-of-heart to re-lace and true a rim like this.   I did manage to re-surface the hub bearing surfaces to smooth, and got it pretty dead-straight running.     I am still LOOKING FOR axle/cones/bearings that are straight and undamaged.   The ND port-less rear hub and rim are next...


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## SKPC (Jun 2, 2018)

Bike is still waiting for the original wheels to be finished and orig. seat to be installed. Probably will miss being ridden as much...




..


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## rickyd (Jun 4, 2018)

Thought this might help


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## SKPC (Jun 4, 2018)

I learned a lot about this bike knowing nothing at first.  Found with no badge, wrong crankset, different stem, missing grip, cheap pedals, no rack, and different stand.
Without a badge you can't say with certainty how the bike began life, but based on the serial number and some digging, I think the Frame/fork/wheelset/seat/tank/bars & fenders were original to this bike, but still can't be certain. Thanks for the great AD above for reference RCYD...


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## GTV (Jun 4, 2018)

I really like what you’ve done with this. It’s got me on the hunt for a similar project.


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## rickyd (Jun 5, 2018)

Technique for grinding and polishing hub?


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## SKPC (Jun 6, 2018)

Yea, I took both hub shells to a machinist...He put them in the lathe chuck and ran the lathe while also running/using a dremel tool with a small, round stone that closely matched the bearing race radius in the hub shells. As the lathe ran, the dremel with bit was carefully run on the old pitted surfaces until the pits were out.  He then polished the cleaned-up race with 600 grade paper afterwards to finish. Worked very nicely.


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## Joseph FINN (Jun 8, 2018)

Nice job cleaning up rims !!







SKPC said:


> Working on the original(?) wheels now......  Laced up the 84 yr-old front hub and steel rim yesterday, and this was not an easy true job.  I 1st cold-formed the unlaced rim on a flat surface as well as laying it onto a "true" 26" wheel to see where it was bent or dented. I ended up getting it done, but this is not for the faint-of-heart to re-lace and true a rim like this.   I did manage to re-surface the hub bearing surfaces to smooth, and got it pretty dead-straight running.     I am still LOOKING FOR axle/cones/bearings that are straight and undamaged.   The ND port-less rear hub and rim are next...
> View attachment 803393
> 
> View attachment 803395
> ...




Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk


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## SKPC (Jun 9, 2018)




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## Balloonoob (Nov 13, 2019)

@SKPC may as well show off the end result on this thread... y'know for documentation purposes. . I'm sure it's well ridden these days. Did the wheels / saddle get finished up? Single speed? Anything you still want to do?


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## SKPC (Nov 14, 2019)

I can do that @Balloonoob, thanks for asking, it has been a journey.   I got stuck on finding front hub cones for the OG wheelset, so I ended up using loose larger bearings and not-correct cones on the front hub in order to try to get the wheels back onto the bike. Worked great.  Yesterday, I went to a welder and had him repair-weld a few key small things on it that were making creaking and snapping noises when I last road it a few days ago.   The steer tube on this fork is a flat sheet of metal that is then bent into a tube shape and pressed into the crown then brazed.   The wedge bolt for the stem was disforming it, pushing the butt joint seam apart, so the stem was never snug. When riding it, it was driving me crazy as the stem was rotating all the time in the steer tube. I had the steer tube tack welded along the butted seam to stop it from deforming.  He also welded the cracks that were beginning to appear at the bottom of the stem at the end of the wedge slot.  The temporary crossbar that I made from a loose truss rod also was lightly tack-welded into the bar slots on the bottom as this was making noise as well. It can easily be cut out if I(or someone else) can find a matching crusty crossbar to replace it with. The bike now runs dead quiet...
Last year in order to ride it I built this wheelset custom for the bike.  Sachs 3-coaster and DT 350 front qr. They really were nice on the bike and quite BA, but at the end of the day, after I figured out the front hub bearings and cones on the original wheelset, so back on they went and it now gets even closer to "done".






The wheelset is really rare.  Fenders nearly dent free.  I believe (I have been wrong before) that this is the earliest 26" Colson ballooner this complete and OG that exists.   I would love to see an earlier one, but maybe not.



     The story behind how I came across this bike is very strange so I have to share it.   Chris, @bikewhorder  came to visit the Cali cartel in 2018 to conspire with Marty and friends, and I was out riding and randomly met him and T-3 on my Hawthorne.  The next morning, I emailed him some contact data before I went out for a ride.   Literally 10 minutes later, I was out in front adjusting something on my Elgin tanker, and two latino dudes pull up in a restored Buick and asked me if I wanted to buy a bike they had...I brushed them off thinking nothing of it, but they insisted that I see it. They happened to live two blocks away, so I followed the Buick over to their house and they pulled this out of the garage...



I really like motos, so I tried to hide my enthusiasm, but it was hard to do so...Long story short, we cut a deal on it later that day.  I am sure that somehow in our synchonistic world, Chris had something to do with it showing up literally on my doorstep.  Don't ask why. No-one knows.  Just go with it.  So here it is almost done from my latest ride on it...









It has been a labor of love on this moto....it really has. As it sits, it only needs a stand, correct straight 6.5" crank, perhaps some colson moto pedals and a crusty crossbar but this is the easy part.  I do have the original beat up seat mat'l remnants and the short 3/4" seatpost.  Perhaps a "collector" some day or even I will find them but for now it's on the road again...thanks Chris..
Oh, and I am thinking of letting it go in order to thin the herd as they say.  I need to follow up on this later....Back to Utah soon...


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## Balloonoob (Nov 14, 2019)

SKPC said:


> I can do that @Balloonoob, thanks for asking, it has been a journey.   I got stuck on finding front hub cones for the OG wheelset, so I ended up using loose larger bearings and not-correct cones on the front hub in order to try to get the wheels back onto the bike. Worked great.  Yesterday, I went to a welder and had him repair-weld a few key small things on it that were making creaking and snapping noises when I last road it a few days ago.   The steer tube on this fork is a flat sheet of metal that is then bent into a tube shape and pressed into the crown then brazed.   The wedge bolt for the stem was disforming it, pushing the butt joint seam apart, so the stem was never snug. When riding it, it was driving me crazy as the stem was rotating all the time in the steer tube. I had the steer tube tack welded along the join along the butted seam to stop it from deforming.  He also welded the cracks that were beginning to appear at the bottom of the stem at the end of the wedge slot.  The temporary crossbar that I made from a loose truss rod also was lightly tack-welded into the bar slots on the bottom as this was making noise as well. It can easily be cut out if I(or someone else) can find a matching crusty crossbar to replace it with. The bike now runs dead quiet...
> Last year in order to ride it I built this wheelset custom for the bike.  Sachs 3-coaster and DT 350 front qr. They really were nice on the bike and quite BA, but at the end of the day, after I figured out the front hub bearings and cones on the original wheelset, so back on they went and it now gets even closer to "done".
> View attachment 1095791
> View attachment 1095794
> ...



Oh wow - I didn't realize it was still being worked on. Thanks for the update. Glad you got the wheels working and the fork/stem situation worked out. Crazy story on how you got it the bike. 
You probably oughta ride it for a little while now.


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