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1890's 'Huseby' Timber & Iron Frame Survivor

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I debated with myself a bit whether or not to start a new post ... but since it is highly unlikely that much more Husebies are going to show up in the near future, I figured it would be the best to keep it neat in one place ...

So, first: Congrats to you Jesse for this truely unique bicycle.
After dreaming about a pre-1900-wood-machine for some time, earlier last year it was my time: US-Ebay enabled me to enter this exquisite club :)
The machine I'm going to post now, and which might serve as a reference to your frame, is Huseby

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Some of you might have seen this offer ... later, while researching this bike, I found out that it already had been sold a few months earlier, presumably to the person I bought it off.

After arrival at home I took some pictures to document the initial state... and was quite happy - seeing this old man, 100+ years of age, being in such great condition after crossing the great pond, was really pleasing to see.
This was especially rewarding, since the costs for bringing him here ended up tripling (initial quote was 400$.) .. but no bad feelings, it is a great bike and next time I will be smarter and chose other shipping options /another carrier.

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The only flaws I could identify at this state was a long split of the upper frame "tube" and a "cowboy-style" replacement of the seat post ;)


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and a bend drop out of the rear fork ,with the sleeve being lose.
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So nothing to be too concerned :)
 
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Some cleaning ...
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As you can see, the fork shaft has been extended. I can only assume the original Huseby front fork, with the wooden sheath broke at some point and was replaced by a steel version- The repair is nicely done and the used hardware is period correct - very hard to say when it was made....
The cones and cups seem to be original and there is no wobble, slack etc.

I guess now it is time to paste in the known catalog copies...

Huseby (2).jpg
 
The third Huseby which is known to the internet, is in MSI-Chicago museum, and it seems to be the only one with the original wood hubs -


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although the photo (just the front hub, no rear) differs form the image on the catalog - I emailed and telephoned them quite a few times, inquiring about the hubs- if they were on the bike when they purchased it, but no answer yet.



Here is the OG-fork , NICE ! :)
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By the way: Here is the link to pictures of Sterbas Huseby in Praha:

and actually, sorry for duplicating, please refer to this link on our forum here: most of the stuff above has been posted already, sorry for that...



So now, lets see something new, since plenty of parts were missing I had to refabricate them...
 
I started with the chain: my chainwheel dictated the inner width of the chain, and a 9,35mm thick block chain was next to impossible to get my hands on - and I wanted a "solid Block", not a few plates riveted together to look like a block. ;)

So after figuring out the design

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it was time for milling the blocks (CNC) , heating up to 800°C with a torch and quenching them with cold water to be hard as glas, afterwards heating up to 200° (tempering).


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Surface grinding to precise thickness:

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After heat threatment a carbide reamer was necessary to achieve accurate hole dimension and smooth bore surface again.


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The outer plates were conveniently lasered by an online-service provider - just like toothing of the sprocket (just upload DXF to website).

But the easy part, producing the pins to exact shoulder distance (to not squeeze the blocks together) was actually challenging, since I have no access to centerless grinding or CNC turning...

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I made a little fixture to help the assembly process... putting the chain together were really a long shot ;) 130 rivets had to pressed in and the head hammered flat.
But in the end I got it done, with help of some beer :)


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Chain Lock via screw
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As always, weekend was too short.. another working week is calling bedtime ;)

Tommorow I will post some pics from making the hubs and the complete bike...

Good night

Jochen
 
I started with the chain: my chainwheel dictated the inner width of the chain, and a 9,35mm thick block chain was next to impossible to get my hands on - and I wanted a "solid Block", not a few plates riveted together to look like a block. ;)

So after figuring out the design

View attachment 1565549




it was time for milling the blocks (CNC) , heating up to 800°C with a torch and quenching them with cold water to be hard as glas, afterwards heating up to 200° (tempering).


View attachment 1565551

View attachment 1565552

View attachment 1565553


Surface grinding to precise thickness:

View attachment 1565550



After heat threatment a carbide reamer was necessary to achieve accurate hole dimension and smooth bore surface again.


View attachment 1565554




The outer plates were conveniently lasered by an online-service provider - just like toothing of the sprocket (just upload DXF to website).

But the easy part, producing the pins to exact shoulder distance (to not squeeze the blocks together) was actually challenging, since I have no access to centerless grinding or CNC turning...

View attachment 1565556

View attachment 1565555

I made a little fixture to help the assembly process... putting the chain together were really a long shot ;) 130 rivets had to pressed in and the head hammered flat.
But in the end I got it done, with help of some beer :)


View attachment 1565575

Chain Lock via screw
View attachment 1565576




As always, weekend was too short.. another working week is calling bedtime ;)

Tommorow I will post some pics from making the hubs and the complete bike...

Good night

Jochen
😍 great work Wowzers
 
Already late at night over here... but I said I'd post some more pictures...
Getting back to that chain:
Here is some of the clutter I needed to prep and assemble it:
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As mentioned, getting the outer plates laser cut by an online supplier was an easy and quite inexpensive task, and of course I did try to have the blocks cut as well , so you can see two examples of laser cut blocks in the center (riveted together)....
At first the company was a bit reluctant about my order but ended up doing it- afterwards I knew why they stalled- the thickness to mass-ration was too high so the blocks ended up burning up- they could not convey the high temperature caused by the thick cut some were else and therefore melted away:
In the foreground you see milled blocks, behind are two lasered blocks - and these were the better ones, which I already trued up a little bit - most of them looked much worse.

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I had to pay for the order anyways, oh well, and the company told me I might try a water jet service... After contacting a few folks that provide such a service they rejected, mainly because the parts could not be secured and would fly away during the cutting process - also the bore size was a concern...
So thats why I ended up milling them.
 
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