dwgriff1 wrote:Are the spindles generally held with a single nut, like a bicycle? And are the forks slotted, again like a bicycle, so the wheel would drop down once the huts were loosened?
Yes, the spindle usually clamps up the bearings with spacers and a single nut on one side - the other end of the spindle often has a round head with a hole through it to use to hold the spindle while undoing the nut. Though if the nut is really stuck on, the hole never seems to be big enough to get a decent size tommy bar though and you end up bending your tommy bar!
Forks are never slotted (well, rarely, if ever). As soon as you go above very light bikes, the spindle will be clamped to the bottom of at least one fork leg with a saddle and two bolts, or some other sort of clamp.
Here are a couple of stolen parts diagrams for the front wheel of a 500cc twin - about the right sort of wheel and tyre for a teardrop, I'd say:
So in this case, the bolt (lower 4) clamps the left fork leg (upper 2), while the right fork leg has a pinch-bolt (upper 16) that grabs hold of the last spacer (lower 6) on the spindle.
Andrew