XS1 front hub cracking ?

Grewth

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Q. Are XS1/XS1B front hubs (the brake drum) known to crack at high milages ?
My searches of this forum and the web in general suggest not.
But I've just aquired a front wheel with some strange marking on the R/H face of the hub.
Not sure if it's just a casting imperfection, PO damage, corrosion or what.
Sound familiar to anyone ?

I'll get some photos tomorrow
 
Apologies for the photo quality.
Good daylight would be much better.
 

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I've been looking real close at the pattern of the marks.
Seems to be a "blip" every 1/9 of the circular pattern, much in the same way that the spokes are arranged in four groups of nine.
This is what I think caused the marks, possibly galvanic corrosion from a steel or stainless steel item pressed against the hub.
 

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Well apologies for answering my own question, but it just didn't make sense until I spotted the recurring pattern.
I'm still not 100% sure how "bacon slicers" were fitted back in the day.
Some required the drilling (and tapping ?) of a ring of small holes in the spoke flanges.
Others (like in the photo above) used three bolts to sandwich the wheel between the two "slicers"
I also have an idea that some clamped onto the spokes near the hub.
I'm just relieved that it's just an annoying cosmetic blemish, not something potentially dangerous
 
Have not seen a cracked hub, kinda looks like heavy drag marks from some wayward piece of metal. The front fender stays are known to crack where they join near the fork tube. Wouldn't be a bad thing to look inside the hub at some point.
found out some things about adjusting front drum brakes today. need to do a front brake adjust thread someday.
What do you think?
KIMG1268.JPGKIMG1269.JPG
Might paint em satin black.
 
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You're right Gary. Looks like it could very well be from a busted fender stay.
didn't really key into the circular pattern before....
 
I've just had another good look.
Yeah, I can buy the busted fender stay theory.
The nine blips in the circular pattern could be caused by the stay hitting the nine outside spokes on the spoke flange.
Must have done several miles with the stay dragging on the hub, but I suppose forty years ago these bikes were just regarded as old junk.
 
In vintage racing circles there have some efforts made to machine out worn iron liners and press in new ones, the results were um disappointing.
If you can describe a front hub breaking apart at speed as "disappointing". :yikes:
 
Heads up; several of the front brake adjustment how to's floating around are wrong for the XS1, 1B and the factory description is a bit vague. Done correctly the front drum works quite well.
I just did a second round of setting up the one above, and the difference was amazing.
 
Hint; do NOT use the adjustable link between the brake arms to adjust the shoe to drum gap!
Wish I had taken pics while I had this wheel apart to do the set up.
 
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Heads up; several of the front brake adjustment how to's floating around are wrong for the XS1, 1B and the factory description is a bit vague. Done correctly the front drum works quite well.
I just did a second round of setting up the one above, and the difference was amazing.
Possibly not relevant but there's a lot of How To's floating on the web for adjusting RE Bullet tls drum. The one I went with (Tim from NZ) clearly states that most of the guidance is wrong, misguided and will give some short-term improvement at the expense of never working well and long-term not bring able to adjust the brake properly. Other people disagree. I followed Tim's method and am very please with a brake that is transformed and certainly feels like I could lock the wheel at will.

In case it will be helpful, here's a link:

https://redirect.viglink.com/?forma...9/03/tims-front-bake-link-rod-adjustment.html
 
Possibly not relevant but there's a lot of How To's floating on the web for adjusting RE Bullet tls drum. The one I went with (Tim from NZ) clearly states that most of the guidance is wrong, misguided and will give some short-term improvement at the expense of never working well and long-term not bring able to adjust the brake properly. Other people disagree. I followed Tim's method and am very please with a brake that is transformed and certainly feels like I could lock the wheel at will.

In case it will be helpful, here's a link:

https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_165495243186210&key=57794247816f5a0d18aec760cae5766d&libId=l49vy2ph010005ar000DLimjr7913&loc=https://www.xs650.com/threads/2003-royal-enfield-500-deluxe.60842/page-15#post-742854&v=1&out=https://www.royalenfields.com/2019/03/tims-front-bake-link-rod-adjustment.html&ref=https://www.xs650.com/search/187564/?q=tim+from+nz&o=relevance&title=2003 Royal Enfield 500 Deluxe | Page 15 | Yamaha XS650 Forum&txt=https://www.royalenfields.com/2019/03/tims-front-bake-link-rod-adjustment.html
That's pretty good! the freshly patented gggGary method is a just a little different, simpler to do. ;^) and like Tim's is done and locked in before the plate is mounted to the wheel. For my version link setting is done with the shoes installed on the backing plate....
I now have full brake authority with a good gap remaining between the lever end and hand grip and zero drag.
Full confession; first I did it the wrong way based roughly on the "common wisdom" methods and it was very frustrating, a near complete failure. I blamed a less robust aftermarket cable but after a nights sleep, and knowing I had much better brake action on the last XS1, I went back to square one, removed the wheel and worked out the proper method. Rereading the factory manual after I was done, it agrees, but leaves out enough detail to make it difficult to understand, and is perhaps lacking in a nuance or two.
 
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