lil indian 4" steel wheels

markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
I'm trying to get a verification if these were the steel wheels that L I used on the Carlisle tired pre mag wheel bikes. I'm looking at pics and its really hard to find any close ups. And were they the same front/rear. Far as knew they were always spacers off the wheel bolts but I think a saw a supposed set where the back wheel was a separate hub version :shrug:

Its the one sitting in the tire, the white on is a MW stamped and I believe is the ones still available from like Oldschoolminibike and places like that. you really have to fight to get an OG Carlisle indian head on them compared to the old wheels though!!!
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#5
#5
Not so mini bike said:
That's a nice looking tire!!! :wink:
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Thanks, there is actually nicer one that just came in the mail from PA (thank you very much), just gotta clean off the waxy/mold release or whatever the hell that coating is on new tires.


Is there a "mousehole" cutout in your wheel for the valve stem or is it just through one of the wheel halves?
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#8
#8
bandit 40 said:
Didn't ruttman use the same 4"steel wheel?
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bandit, I just got done doing some searching and I am pretty confident that you are correct (and thank you!!) I found a good pic from Karen in the photos section showing a taken apart wheel she redid on her ruttman that is in fact a match to mine, and also looking at some pretty decent sized brochure photos of the vulture and toad I see the mousehole in there as well.

So they are correct for the Ruttman, but that of course would have been later than the LI steelies so I dunno how long this design was around :shrug:

I compared them to my General wheels and they are pretty close, but of course I think they would have only came with General tires...


I did pull a General wheel and tire off a Lil indian years ago, but...well lets just say that bike was a bit of a hodge podge of parts so I dont know if it was actual LIL indian!



No. And I only have one grease fitting.
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Hey Karl, I got one more question for ya, If its clean enough do you see M W stamped on them anywhere, and does it have the inset and hole to center the wheel halves when put together. or at your leisure could you take a pic and either send it to me or to Danbadgley (they guy looking for one in the classifieds), I may have found a set of those as well, but they will cost alot to get and would like to verify they would be the real deal for his bike, if not, Might just be fine to modify the newer wheels he already has and just be done with it!

thanks everyone
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#10
#10
manchester1 said:
I might have a NOS set of those, I will have to check. Glad you found that photo I had posted.:thumbsup:
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if you do and want to get rid of them let me or Dan know, I am getting the feeling that they (lil indian) might have been taking whatever they could get from manufactures as they built. So far I am seeing like 3 or 4 different styles of the steelies being listed as what they were using. If they were chronologic and not random it would be cool to figure out the order, Dans bike is the first version disc brake 65-66 or something like that so hes shooting for the most correct for that bike.
 
Not so mini bike

Not so mini bike

#11
#11
markus said:
bandit, I just got done doing some searching and I am pretty confident that you are correct (and thank you!!) I found a good pic from Karen in the photos section showing a taken apart wheel she redid on her ruttman that is in fact a match to mine, and also looking at some pretty decent sized brochure photos of the vulture and toad I see the mousehole in there as well.

So they are correct for the Ruttman, but that of course would have been later than the LI steelies so I dunno how long this design was around :shrug:

I compared them to my General wheels and they are pretty close, but of course I think they would have only came with General tires...


I did pull a General wheel and tire off a Lil indian years ago, but...well lets just say that bike was a bit of a hodge podge of parts so I dont know if it was actual LIL indian!





Hey Karl, I got one more question for ya, If its clean enough do you see M W stamped on them anywhere, and does it have the inset and hole to center the wheel halves when put together. or at your leisure could you take a pic and either send it to me or to Danbadgley (they guy looking for one in the classifieds), I may have found a set of those as well, but they will cost alot to get and would like to verify they would be the real deal for his bike, if not, Might just be fine to modify the newer wheels he already has and just be done with it!

thanks everyone
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There is a M W stamped in. No extra holes to line it up. Just the grease fitting on one side. Same side of the rim the hole for the valve stem comes out on. What's the M W?
 
manchester1

manchester1

#18
#18
Hope I'm in the right place. There is like 3 threads going with lil indian wheels:laugh: I bought these wheels from Allied leisure a few years ago.

These wheels I bought from somebody, I can't remember. Lil indian or Ruttman.
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#20
#20
well so far all I a have managed to learn is there is ALOT of different 4" steel wheels out there!! First glance they truly all do look the same but start comparing and they are all very different! Mini bikes and karts were an afterthought for something like this-they were being used because they worked, and I bet easy to get, (still are :thumbsup:)

SO here are the ones I have seen on here actually marked as being original Lil Indian (all info found here on OldMiniBikes)

4 centering indent version:



2 centering indent....couple of versions here so far

exibit A:



Exibit B Note the straight hub and no grease fitting (these are possible LI)


This one???? I cant figure it out



and this one, which as far as I know is what is available still today, when or if they were actually used back in the day I do not know.



Now there was also a set recently for sale and the rear wheel was a 3 piece/separate hub, but appeared to be the 2 centering hole style and appeared to match the front wheels being sold which was a built in hub.

 
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