SP: Spring Boxes (Rear) AVO coil overs..
- Thread starter Bazlerker
- Start date
I have supplied well over ten now to people who are going for the full upgrade to their suspension. Provided that the rear of the seat is fully sprung everyone seems delighted.
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Are the struts to make the seat fully suspended available from the spares company - are they Series “D” struts?
I have one on my Rapide. I have a fully sprung seat. My bikes suspension is almost like a modern bike. I ride a lot two up. I have put about 10,000 miles on it. All I had to do is give one or two more clicks when the shock got a bit softer after a few years.
Hi,
The easiest way is to get some 3/4 ally bar and run rose/heim joints at each end.
This make setting the seat height fully adjustable.
Remember to remove the original rear set support/ friction dampers
The lower end goes to the pillion footrest plates
The upper end goes to the forked rear set support where the friction dampers go
Neil
By coincidence I was discussing this yesterday at the John Lumley Pie and Pint meeting of the North Kent section. From my understanding the Spares Company has thought about providing supports but this has not happened yet. It is not a series 'D' style support. As Comet rider above says most people make their own but I do have a design. I don't have ACAD on this PC but I could draw something up tomorrow. I will try to describe what I see as a solution. One can do just as CR describes but the problem then is that a lot of strain is placed on the two supports at the front of the standard seat and occasionally one will see them starting to give way as the seat tries to move backwards. One solution is to weld another piece of tube from the front of the main support forwards where it can be supported either in the sidecar tube or the front of the seat support stud. Vibrac has a very neat version of this on his Comet wherein he has a rose joint at the front of each of the extra forward facing struts, which are only in tension.
What I was trying to describe yesterday is an alternative to this forward tensioning tubes. If one looks at the standard pillion footrest plates there are several holes at the rear end of these. The upper ones are there to support the pillion footrest and the lower ones seem not to be used. Perhaps not all bikes have the lower holes but if they do, or you are prepared to make the holes then there is a ready solution. Imagine a flat piece of steel bar which will bolt to the vertically separated two rear holes. Now weld or braze the support tube which goes up to the rear of the seat to the top of that steel bar. If that steel bar and the weld/braze are strong enough then the support tube for the rear of the seat cannot pivot backwards. Instead any turning force is passed to the pillion footrest plate.
If you do not still have the original pillion footrest plates but instead have a Dave Hills centre stand then the plates are different but the bike we were looking at yesterday had two vertically seperated holes about an inch forwards of the rear or the plates. Those holes could be used but the design of the plate/support tube combination would have to be slightly different.
What I was trying to describe yesterday is an alternative to this forward tensioning tubes. If one looks at the standard pillion footrest plates there are several holes at the rear end of these. The upper ones are there to support the pillion footrest and the lower ones seem not to be used. Perhaps not all bikes have the lower holes but if they do, or you are prepared to make the holes then there is a ready solution. Imagine a flat piece of steel bar which will bolt to the vertically separated two rear holes. Now weld or braze the support tube which goes up to the rear of the seat to the top of that steel bar. If that steel bar and the weld/braze are strong enough then the support tube for the rear of the seat cannot pivot backwards. Instead any turning force is passed to the pillion footrest plate.
If you do not still have the original pillion footrest plates but instead have a Dave Hills centre stand then the plates are different but the bike we were looking at yesterday had two vertically seperated holes about an inch forwards of the rear or the plates. Those holes could be used but the design of the plate/support tube combination would have to be slightly different.
In 1988 when I had to be out of the country for tax reasons I took Christine with me and nearly the whole wardrobe until she realised that we couldn't carry so much on a solo machine having offered to fit the sidecar, no way was she going in a sidecar. We reduced things to a manageable level and set off for France after visiting my mother in hospital having been fitted with her first hip replacement. Fourth of fifth day up through the Dadoyn and got back to our friends Farm I refitted my s/s seat supports to footrest plate as I had fitted them after my first TT in1966 then removed them a year later. She was suffering from the poor ride, I made a link to the original friction seat damper and left slack but at the 1995. international my hydraulic damper failed so hardened up the friction until Christchurch and fitted a new Koni in the cattle market before the John Britten talk with "the worlds fastest Indian" as a prop, great rally. So don't discard things that might come in useful at some point. Not normally seen with panniers on, the fixed paddock stand is so Christine can put it on the rear stand with me still aboard fully loaded with camping gear and the side stand I use when solo then release the rear stand on then put weight right leg which makes it stand upright then stand on the left strut and pull it upright. It's only a question of leverage. Thank goodness for the Dave Hills stand as I do have two in operation on my daughter & grand daughter machines.
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The problem with fully floating seat is you have to allow for more clearance to the mudguard,
I fitted a standard AVO on my special "C", Which at one time was a "D",
Feels good to me, Much like the "D", But I have a funny seat on the special,
Which gives more clearance.
Cheers Bill.
I fitted a fully floating seat to another "C" Twin, With a standard seat and springs,
Using the standard top fittings at both ends on a bit of Stainless steel,
But it has to have a bend in it to clear the rear frame + I tweaked the rear seat
Fittings at an angle !,
Also to stop the seat fittings on the seat bending I made where it bolts up , Solid, Not a Pivot !!!.
I said standard springs on the "C", But I think they are long pettiford springs ?.
I fitted a standard AVO on my special "C", Which at one time was a "D",
Feels good to me, Much like the "D", But I have a funny seat on the special,
Which gives more clearance.
Cheers Bill.
I fitted a fully floating seat to another "C" Twin, With a standard seat and springs,
Using the standard top fittings at both ends on a bit of Stainless steel,
But it has to have a bend in it to clear the rear frame + I tweaked the rear seat
Fittings at an angle !,
Also to stop the seat fittings on the seat bending I made where it bolts up , Solid, Not a Pivot !!!.
I said standard springs on the "C", But I think they are long pettiford springs ?.
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I know this is a bit parochial but AVO are only 15 miles away and we are using a single coil over on the twin racer Ben said it was a little too soft ( we had a tie wrap on the central piston rod and it closed right up) so I popped into AVO and asked them to revalve it so the softest setting was where it was set then (the hardest setting) a few days later and a very fair price and we were away. The front end was also soft (new headstock version) so we replace one 30lb spring with a heavier standard one
Here is the road comet seat support TT mentioned and the light alloy stays on the racer
Here is the road comet seat support TT mentioned and the light alloy stays on the racer