Bruce,
You made it into a Series D top link, which was designed for the slightly more rotund Armstrong.
This is on Pat's D, but he used the C damper as it was in better shape.
David
FF: Forks Modified Steering Stem
- Thread starter greg brillus
- Start date
Bruce,
You made it into a Series D top link, which was designed for the slightly more rotund Armstrong.
This is on Pat's D, but he used the C damper as it was in better shape.
David
I finished off and yet another Rapide (49 model) today with the modified stem kit. It had the bearing upgrade, and still its Armstrong shock absorbers front and rear. I also changed the friction damper to a Kawasaki hydraulic type, and fabricated the cylinder head bracket to clear the crash bar. I did have a few issues getting the front guard and lower stay to clear the mag cowl with the forks held hard up, but this was because the bottom rear of the guard was set up higher than it should have been, so I basically rotated the guard rearward and drilled another upper mounting hole. It is also important to check if the mag cowl is sitting as far back as it can....On this one the upper cowl tab is longer than standard and this does not help. Anyway I took it for a blast around the block, up and down the local hills around here, and the suspension performed very well, no surprises and comfortable. This was also the first time I have road tested a bike with the new 45 Lb springs installed.......as they are , no extra spacers. I did play around with the spring box cases to get them as free as possible with no binding over their full travel.......This is very important, as any drag will cause big friction in the front end. I have one more kit to install on a Shadow soon and that is probably about it as far as installations for me. A very worthwhile exercise and truly makes the bikes a pleasure to ride, it has been a very positive outcome.
What did you think about the performance with the Armstrong damper Greg? I always advise people not to use either the original Vincent or Armstrong dampers as they have the same damping on compression and extension. People who have already got a Thornton seem to find that acceptable but the best feedback so far is from the use of the AVO. The standard setting seem to be alright when Oilite bushes are used with 36 lbs/inch springs but we have had to come up with stiffer settings on the AVO when using your mod and 45 lbs/inch springs. The difference is enough that you can't get there by just adjusting the normal AVO. Instead AVO now have new settings and a new code number. Alternatively if any one want to deal directly with AVO mention that it is for the Norman Walker mod. They will know what that is.
Hi there Norman, It seemed to be ok, though it was only a 5 mile test ride around my area. But the roads are quite undulating with a few good bumps here and there. It is semi rural which is ideal for test riding bikes, just have to watch out for the occasional horse rider. It would feel light years better than how the bike was, as it had the original duel front springs which were covered in very old stiff grease, and one of the spring boxes was very sticky. It felt like most all the others I have done, where the ride feels positive and very responsive. If the owner wishes to upgrade the shocks I will be recommending that he does, but he is currently away over in Europe for the next few weeks. The mod definitely improves braking and cornering, the bikes seem to be very willing to tip into corners with ease, and just watching the forks still operate over bumps under light or heavy braking is something almost foreign to Girdraulics in their standard configuration. The 45 Lb springs seem to be about perfect for the twins, though I am around the 75 Kg mark in weight, for a heavier rider perhaps substitute one of these for one of David's red 75 Lb springs would work well.
Thanks for that Greg. Just on the subject of stronger springs; Chris, who has been the test rider here, is about 50 kg heavier than you and finds the 45 lbs/inch springs about right for him so hopefully they will cover a wide range of weights. I would always prefer to try a packing piece if it needed more force, rather than using a totally different spring rate and length. However, it is always good to try different combinations to see how it works out and then to give feedback to the rest of us.
Do you know if Chris used any packers in the spring boxes or just the springs on their own.....?
Hi Greg.
I used packers to get the height right, I had 1"of sag with me on it when I fitted the 45lb springs, I fitted 11mm packers and that brought it back to the 1/2" I had been using all along.
I used packers to get the height right, I had 1"of sag with me on it when I fitted the 45lb springs, I fitted 11mm packers and that brought it back to the 1/2" I had been using all along.
Hi Greg. I've just read through ten pages of personal messages between me and Chris to make sure that I was getting the correct answer to your question. That should give people some idea of just how much time and effort Chris has put into testing the various combinations of springs and dampers. I think that as things stand at the moment, with Chris very satisfied with both comfort and handling, he has two of the 45 lbs/inch 15.5 inches long, (2"of pre-load) 11 mm of packing in each side and a specially developed AVO damper which give more damping than the original AVO developed jointly by AVO and Hadronuk. When he used the Oilite bushes he was equally happy with 36 lbs/inch springs with three inches of preload. No doubt Chris will correct this if I am wrong.
11 mm on two 45 lbs/inch springs gives an extra 86 lbs (39 kgs) of preload in total on the front. This is pretty much the weight difference between the two of you, taking into account how much of the riders weight is on the front or rear. I think this is telling us that for optimum results one should be prepared to tune the springs in order to get the best for different loadings.
11 mm on two 45 lbs/inch springs gives an extra 86 lbs (39 kgs) of preload in total on the front. This is pretty much the weight difference between the two of you, taking into account how much of the riders weight is on the front or rear. I think this is telling us that for optimum results one should be prepared to tune the springs in order to get the best for different loadings.
Hi Norman, you just missed out I was using the "standard" AVO front damper with the bushes/36lb springs, just so no-one gets confused.
I got a 1/8" thick offcut for my bracket and am using the two outer 6mm holes to attach it. I was going to use spacers to lower it past the proud end of the tube and boss, but then measured things and used a 1.5" hole saw for a hole to accommodate the boss, drilling the 6mm hole first. Rather than use the damper hole location shown on the Installation Instructions, I'm going to use the pencil technique described here: http://www.voc.uk.com/net/docs/1.1/1.1-413-19.pdf