Modern rubber-covered tinned motorcycle wiring......a terrific £1.75 per metre......I bought some and it really is good......period wire but with a modern rubber outer that will not crack-up or deteriorate.......
Wartime bike wiring was the same as this...........rubber-coated cable, not braided cloth...............get it while you can......
Done my bike with it, ace stuff just looks like the original thick rubber coated wire. Use colour cable collets with it to make it look correct.
Tim Walker
Still listed as a current item for sale on Ebay.....ends Tuesday 25th......
If you can't find the item number search on "rubber covered wiring" within "Motorcycle Part and Accessories".......
I got my slip-on coloured coding sleeves a few years ago now from "Electrical Engineering Services".......bought enough colours to last me a while......but it is the proper-looking wiring cable that has always been difficult to acquire...
How many 'strands' does it have?...Wire for MC applications had a high number of strands to improve flexibility..Lucas wire was either 24 or 36 I believe...
I'd like to know of a current source for those identification sleeves as well...Ian
Have just been looking at the coloured sleeves, but looks like coloured heat shrink sleeves, nothing else fancy, no numbers or anything, will post some pictures later this afternoon, car needs to be MOT'd!
How many 'strands' does it have?...Wire for MC applications had a high number of strands to improve flexibility..Lucas wire was either 24 or 36 I believe...
I'd like to know of a current source for those identification sleeves as well...Ian
Rik and Ian,
Just go to an electrical shop and ask for coloured cable markers, they come in around 6" lengths. Just cut them to length around 1/8" with a pair of scissors and shrink them on (very little heat is needed). You just need the standard colours green, yellow, red, and brown and you should be OK. Re the cable strand it's the larger stuff tinned and ideal for a 6V system.
Ian sent you a PM about the front brake rod.
Rik, they are plastic but when fitted and cut to length you cannot tell.
Vintage Motorcycle Black Rubber Insulated Wire / Cable
The Cables for Classics rubber insulated cable has been formulated using modern vulcanising techniques and materials, the cable looks and feel just like the rubber cable originally fitted to pre PVC wire 1950's and earlier machines.
The use of modern materials and manufacturing processes make the cable resistant to petrol, oil, heat and the effect of sunlight so it will not crack or perish during use like the original natural rubber wiring did.
Overall diameter of Cable 4mm. Wire size 55 strands of 0.15mm tinned copper wire, Nominal current rating 12A.
Note price is per metre length just purchase the number of metres that you require, maximum continuous single length 25m.
Hi
Just to let you all know, I did go out of stock momentarily but have now had a new batch made here is the link; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Classic-Motorcycle-Rubber-Insulated-Wire-Cable-Rudge-AJS-Norton-/201055532041?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item2ecfd7f409
It's damn good stuff Duncan, and as you say just like the original........thanks for your efforts in making this product available at last.......
The average WD bike (eg - M20, etc) needs on average about 5 meters of wire, possibly slightly more if you are adding dip-switch and stop-light switch............most of the parts lists however only specify the quantity of wire "as required"...........
I'm interested in re-wiring my bike with this wire. One question I have: for example, the large number of wires coming from the headlight shell, are they bundled in some sort of tape to form a wiring harness or are they just all individual wires somehow secured to the frame at various points?
The wires coming out from the headlamp panel were usually encased within a thin-walled length of black-rubber sleeving........this ran to roughly the point beneath the saddle at the rear of the fuel tank and secured to the frame top-tube with sprung-steel clips (although some very late machines used the "strip, aluminium, pliable" as an alternative)............
Thin-walled rubber tubing may be a tad difficult to get nowadays but maybe try modern black PVC non-shrink tubing "dulled-down" with a "Brillo" or "Scotch-Pad" to resemble rubber..............?
The 'thinnest' bicycle inner tube that you can find works well but you'll need to turn it inside out to hide the mounld lines and that's a bugger of a job.
Thin-walled rubber tubing may be a tad difficult to get nowadays but maybe try modern black PVC non-shrink tubing "dulled-down" with a "Brillo" or "Scotch-Pad" to resemble rubber..............?
Instead you can use the smallest dia bicycle inner tube (after turning it inside out to avoid mould lines) and make a perfect replacement as some of the forum experts have said!
I got the wire coming, got the various heat shrink colored tubing, and one more question, does the colored tubing go only on each end of the wire or somewhere along the way?
As far as I know only a little from the ends, on my N.O.S. harness there is also a brass tab on the taillamp wire with a number, prolly identifying the harness.
Have bought some heatshrink stuff too, but was too lazy to cut it off square!
But it does look good! also black was used!! see the Original wiring diagrams for what colour goes where.
I might venture into making some original wiring harnasses for Nortons.
Thanks Lex, I did get the black heat shrink when I noticed on the wiring schematic that the wiring diagram showed black with different colors for the wire identification. The non square cut ends may actually look more original!
Re- turning the inner tube inside out. Try this- once you cut the tube to length, (ADD A COUPLE INCHES EXTRA) find a piece of cord about a foot longer. Pass it through the tube, leaving a few inches extra. Hole punch the end of the tube, then tie off the cord to the end of the tube. Rub some talc or starch on the outside as a lubricant, Start the end inside itself, then pull it through via the cord. A bit awkward until you get it started, but once you get started it usually pulls through quite easily. Turns that sucker inside-out lickety split!
I've been buying the black braided cable for years from "Electrical Engineering Services" I always buy a bunch of his little coloured cable ID rubbers.
info@classic wiring.co.uk
Got my wiring today, great stuff! The 1/4" heat shrink tubing I got works great for the color sleeves. Now all I have to do is figure when I want to take the bike off the road for re-wiring, it was 80 degrees and sunny this weekend!
Nope, sunny north Florida. We were supposed to get rain all weekend but the weatherman did the job he normally does and it turned out nice and sunny for most of the weekend.
['but the weatherman did the job he normally does and it turned out nice and sunny for most of the weekend']...
I think he sent it my way...We had so much rain over Sunday/Monday the river near me looked like it was going to burst its banks...for only the second time in the last 35 years!... ...Ian