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Morris mags

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:46 pm
by Chuey
Well, today I had quite an adventure. It started by riding my bicycle to the train station in Oceanside and hopping on Amtrak Northbound to Anaheim. There I picked up my '64 bug which has a freshened engine. From there I drove to Long Beach and picked up some Morris Mags for a BMW. They are the same style that is on that Rob North framed bike that was the subject of a post a month or so ago when it was for sale on ebay.

So now I have some Morris Mags. Thing is, they don't seem like any magic at all. It's not like they are noticeably light but they may be lighter than others, I don't know. After I remove the tires I'll weigh them so we'll all know. There will be a lot of fabricating needed to get a brake to work on the rear wheel. I can say that I like fabricating stuff. I can also say that on my Cafe Racer I learned that my average to make a working part is three times. That's right. Most of the parts on the Cafe Racer took three iterations before they worked well, or so it seemed. Sometimes it was just an issue of modifying the part and other times, three separate parts were made.

I sure wish the wheels seemed to be more magical. It would make the adventure ahead seem more worthwhile.

Chuey

Re: Morris mags

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:34 pm
by mattcfish
pictures?

Re: Morris mags

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:21 am
by Garnet
Chuey mused:
"I sure wish the wheels seemed to be more magical. It would make the adventure ahead seem more worthwhile."

Powder coat them bright red, maybe that'll inspire you.

Re: Morris mags

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:24 am
by vanzen
For those who appreciated the road-holding and handling benefits of increased lateral stiffness
of a cast wheel vs a wire wheel ...
Lester mags were plebeian, Morris was THE premier choice, both lighter and stiffer.
These two options were the sum total of what was readily available on the market to fit a BMW at that time.

As technology made them lighter,
and with the singular exception of some nostalgic retrograde marketing considerations,
cast wheels eventually rendered wire wheels obsolete on road-going motorcycles.

However:
The Morris cast wheel is a product of thirty year old design, technology, and engineering,
and can only be evaluated within that temporal context.

Re: Morris mags

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:07 am
by Major Softie
Chuey wrote:I can say that I like fabricating stuff. I can also say that on my Cafe Racer I learned that my average to make a working part is three times. That's right. Most of the parts on the Cafe Racer took three iterations before they worked well, or so it seemed.
Chuey
Just think how well they'd work if you made them SIX times! :mrgreen:

vanzen@rockerboxer.com wrote:The Morris cast wheel is a product of thirty year old design, technology, and engineering,
and can only be evaluated within that temporal context.
Wow, I can't remember you ever displaying such command of the language. Nice quote, Vanzen.

Re: Morris mags

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:10 am
by dougie
Garnet wrote:Powder coat them bright red, maybe that'll inspire you.
And faster too :D

Re: Morris mags

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 10:08 am
by pkboxer
Chuey, were these the ones advertised by Joshua Buck?

If so, he sure gets a lot of bad postings on different forums.

Could be the same guy(s) just bithcin a lot of times about the same bad experience.

Re: Morris mags

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 10:41 am
by melville
But you're a bicycle guy. Where's your tension-spoked pride?

















:mrgreen: Nice score. Pix when ya got them, please.

Re: Morris mags

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:12 am
by Chuey
pkboxer wrote:Chuey, were these the ones advertised by Joshua Buck?

If so, he sure gets a lot of bad postings on different forums.

Could be the same guy(s) just bithcin a lot of times about the same bad experience.
Yes, I've heard some bad things about him. From (someone who posts here), he doesn't like Joshua. However, I bought a short block from (someone who posts here) that wasn't as represented and what I've bought from Joshua has always been straight ahead deals. So much of how we perceive the honesty of others is brought to the table by us.

Yes, they are the wheels advertised by Joshua Buck.

Chuey

PS That someone who posts here had a burr under his saddle about Duane not visiting him when he was in the area and complains when people don't want to pay him way too much money for his very worn out or unusable parts. Yet, he has posted here on this forum negative reviews of Joshua. My luck has been the opposite of what he says.

Re: Morris mags

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:08 pm
by enigmaT120
How did you get your bicycle back home?