werwer2012

Here is a picture of the front hub off a 1967 Raleigh Sport bike that I'm redoing. I have never seen anything like this before. If you look close at the spindle you will see that there are no locknuts on the hub. The same goes for the rear wheel. Is this right or has someone taken this bike apart before. The old lady that gave it to me said it had been in the barn for over thirty years. I thought that all bike wheels needed locknuts on them.

JohnDThompson 

That's not unusual for Raleigh front hubs:

"Raleigh front hubs usually don't have cone locknuts. Instead, they have one cone with wrench flats, the adjustable cone. The other cone is round, with no place for a wrench. The non-adjustable cone is supposed to screw down all the way on the axle until it runs out of threads (there is a raised shoulder on the axle for this purpose). All adjustments are to be made with the adjustable cone. The fixed cone must go on the bicycle's right, the adjustable cone must go on the bicycle's left. On the left side, the axle nut will keep the left cone from loosening up. If the wheel is accidentally reversed, so that the adjustable cone is on the right, it can tighten itself up and ruin the hub."

Retro Grouch 

Cool! Only 8:51 in the morning and already I've learned something new today.

Thanks to both of you.

werwer2012

Thanks for the information. I to have now learned something. Just one more question? The right and left is that when you are looking at it from the front, or is the drive side always considered the right side.

JohnDThompson 

Drive side is the right side.

werwer2012

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

FBinNY 

Bicycle right and left sides are ALWAYS referenced based on the riders right and left when sitting on the bike. Like the rider on it, the bike has a distinct right and left side regardless of the frame of reference.

werwer2012

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Another valuable piece of need to know information.

werwer2012

For others who aren't aware of how the Raleigh front hub works, I found this online.

Front hubs on many older English bicycles
Unlike most modern front wheels which can be installed without much regard for which side is left and which is for right, most Raleigh and some other old English three speed style bicycles had a front hub that had to be inserted with a particular orientation. This was because they only utilized cones without locknuts, an adjustable cone and a fixed cone and without a locknut to secure the adjustable cone in place there was a chance of this cone moving. The adjustable cone should always be mounted on the left side (non drive side) of the bicycle and the fixed cone should always be mounted on the right side (drive side) of the bicycle. When oriented this way, as the wheel moves it could only theoretically loosen the adjustable cone, held in place by friction from the inside of the fork and tightened up against it by the axle nut. Whereas if the adjustable cone was incorrectly installed on the right side (drive side) it could theoretically tighten itself up into the hub and bearings and destroy the hub. Since the fixed cone was tightened to its full extent to the end of the threads it cannot tighten up any more and this is a non issue.

The adjustable cone has wrench flats to allow for adjustment and the fixed cone has no flats to adjust it, it is round. This fixed cone should always be tightened all the way down the axle to the end of the threads to the raised shoulder and adjustment is made only to the adjustable cone.
Once the adjustments have been made and the wheel spins freely with no play the wheel should be installed with the adjustable cone on the left side (non drive side) of the bicycle and the fixed cone on the right side of the bicycle (This is a must – see first paragraph). Tighten up the fixed side axle bolt first. Check again to make sure there is no play in the axle, adjust if there is. Then slacken or back off the adjustable cone for half a turn. Tighten the left side axle nut up while making sure the wheel is still centered and you are all done. The following illustration is taken from the 1947 Second Edition of the “Raleigh Cycle Maintenance Handbook”.

IthaDan 

Is be more concerned about the spokes not crossing, but to each their own.

FBinNY 

BTW- something no one mentioned. If you look at the cone faces you'll see that there's a raised collar around the axle. This is a secondary retention system that fits forks made for them. Instead of a plain U-shaped slot, the dropouts have a slot shaped like the old basketball court key.

The fork has to be spread slightly to install and remove the wheel. This feature may not be present in a fork not made for these hubs. The loss of the feature isn't as important as the fact that the collar will be too wide to sit properly in the dropouts, and will either jam, or shift sideways and cause the axle to bend.

So check the fit of the wheel into the fork, and if necessary use a rat tail file to prepare the dropout for the wheel.

werwer2012

Wow, thanks for that excellent information. I noticed the ridge on the cone but wasn't sure what it was for. But I do remember having a heck of a time getting the front wheel off and I couldn't figure out why. I was going to post a question asking why I was having so much trouble getting the wheel off but thought that It would sound like a stupid question.