At 10:58 AM +1100 1/6/09, Ben Kamenjas wrote:
>Coolio's,
>
>Santa brought me some Harden bacon slicer's for X-mas except he
>didn't check the front bearings and they likely need replacing.
>Anybody know offhand what type/size bearing I'll be asking for?
>
>BTW, these are 36/36 hole variants that I'll be building them up
>with modern-ish rims. Any tips/tricks/surprises?
According to the Harden article in a recent V-CC Boneshaker, you should keep replacement bearings on hand... The bearings were undersized, and Harden made more money replacing bearings than they did making hubs! Beautiful hubs, though. There is a great Rebour drawing of a set, which often is mistaken for a Maxi-Car. (Rebour never seems to have drawn a standard Maxi-Car.)
I don't know the bearing size, but once you have them removed, it'll be obvious - bearings usually are spec'd by ID, OD and thickness. Tables are available online. Get the highest quality bearings you can find (SKF or similar), in the hope to get a bit more life out of them.
An important "trick" is to make sure you use washers under the spoke heads if you use modern spokes with longer elbows (made for thicker hub flanges), otherwise, your spokes won't last long.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com