Dick Allen wheel.......

So, one trip to Long Beach, I stop and see Pat Leahy, as I always do. As we're talking, I happen to glance down the "hall" that leads to the mills, and I see a solid wheel with an old Semperit radial tire mounted on it. I asked Pat where it came from, and Pat says: "I dunno....I forget who that wheel was for. I rolled it out when I was looking for something the other day. Dick made that one there, I know that....."

Now, when Pat says "Dick", he's talking about Dick Allen. Pat and Dick were longtime buddies, and hardy party partners together. Now, if Pat says this is one of Dick's wheels, it's one of Dick's wheels. I asked Pat what he wanted for it, and we struck up a deal.

It's a strange wheel for a Dick Allen wheel. For one thing, it's a Centerline, and it's a 15 x 3 1/2". The sealed bearings are gone (Pat couldn't remember if it ever had the bearings installed), and it had a full polish on it, vs the usual spun finish.

I've found some dual roller sealed bearings for it, and some additional machine work on the hubs will be necessary to fit them, but they're better bearings. I'll need to have some inner sleeves made to stack everything up right in the hub, and then I'm going to give everything a super polish job.

I'm thinking that it will make a pretty nice rear wheel to use with the VL frame.

Like the sprocket, the rotor has never been used. It's an original iron Grimica with an aluminum center carrier. Strange part is the Grimica rotor is 10 1/4" in dia. The rotor surface has slight pitting in some areas of the face, but is completely run-able. Eventually I'll look around for another Grimica rotor, to replace this one, and keep this one for a spare.

The Circle Industries aluminum 51t sprocket has never had a chain on it. It does have a few nicks in the face from kicking around Pat's shop all those years - minor stuff. I plan on engine turning this sprocket, and looking for a 48t in this bolt pattern.