F: Frame Rear seat stays friction

Peter Holmes

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Is that a mock up, I can see the Bentley Draper friction damper arrangement and the lowered damper, but I cannot see any method of supporting the seat at the rear.
 

greg brillus

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I know it's been mentioned before, but those seat stays that had like a shock absorber shroud with internal springs with a telescopic arrangement........Did they work ok, or not long enough to make much difference. I'd love to fully spring the rear of my bike but I don't want to change the standard look ........It's a hard one to sort out easily.
 

Peter Holmes

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Greg, You could try the Paul Packman mod, not quite standard but sort of retains the original seat stays, he replicated the original brackets but with a tube clamp built into them, he then clamped the device further up the frame tubes towards the top casting, now I have not seen this experiment in operation but Paul recons that if you remove the spring boxes and damper so the rear frame is free to pivot you will find a position for the clamp on ears where the frame will travel through its arc but the seat will stay more or less stationary, Paul is no fool and I have taken his word for it. You would have to decide whether to remove the existing ears or leave them in situ, which I guess would defeat the object of the exercise somewhat.
 

davidd

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There are no seat stays...it is a cantilever seat attached only to the UFM. It is not a mock up. Raced by Phil Heath and It blew up at the Curragh circuit in Ireland, if I remember correctly. The racers had to return the machines to the Factory and this one had the RFM built into the Vincent three wheeler.

David
 

Oldhaven

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I keep the seat stay dampers on the B just tight enough to not go adrift and use loctite, but another area that I like to check is the Craven rack with all its rotating bushed joints moving with the suspension. That is like having lots of additional mini friction dampers. I use nylock nuts so there is no binding, and check for free movement but I assume there is still a lot of friction contribution, especially when carrying a load. Still, I have no complaints with compliance when it is added to the Thornton rear damper.
 

Peter Holmes

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I seem to remember Carl Hungness coming up with a neat solution to going fully sprung without the need for an additional frame or supports off the rear footrest plates, I think he used the the footrest hanger through bolt and a modified battery carrier to support the seat using flat supports coming up between the rear spring boxes, it looked very neat but not sure how strong it would be for a rider and pillion passenger of reasonable proportions, anyone know if the mod was widely used?
 
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Bill Thomas

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I know it's been mentioned before, but those seat stays that had like a shock absorber shroud with internal springs with a telescopic arrangement........Did they work ok, or not long enough to make much difference. I'd love to fully spring the rear of my bike but I don't want to change the standard look ........It's a hard one to sort out easily.
Just to show Greg what Peter is talking about, I too think Paul is very clever, But I think he had had a drink when he came up with this !. Cheers Bill.
RIMG1625.JPG
 

Peter Holmes

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Bill, I have never seen Paul with a pillion passenger, so most of the weight the seat is carrying is at the front mounts, I can't help but feel that with the suspension on full bump with moderately heavy pillion passenger, that something might give/collapse.
 
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