Quaife 5 speed gearbox

vibrac

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I find G57 eccentric digs into the soft metal of G49 I machined off the area and added a steel washer now it turns smoothly
 

Monkeypants

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Surtees did not include the overshifting limiter bits with the Quaife kit I bought for the 1360 motor.

Right off the bat it had problems with overshifting so I read through some old MPHs to see if anyone else had experienced this problem. Some had and there was mention of 2 small pieces used to prevent the overshifting. Some clever Vincent owner figured out what was going wrong and made the pieces to correct the problem. Quaife then started including those pieces in the kit ( except mine!). I made the pieces as described and that solved the problem. I also contacted Surtees Sport Power who agreed to send the same pieces. Those are sitting in a drawer somewhere as spares.
With that fixed, the shifting is perfect, it's never missed a shift even with near instant shifting at 6500 rpm.
With the stock four speeds on the Rapides I still miss sometimes, especially 1st to 2nd if a bit excited and trying to shift too fast at high rpm. High rpm in this case is not that high, maybe 4500-5000 rpm.
 

greg brillus

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The difference with the 5 speed boxes that have been available is the camplate........On the Quaife box the camplate has the same amount of rotation as a stock 4 speed Vin box, but the ones available years ago from Terry have more travel........This was the main reason why you could not swap over from a stock 4 to a 5 speed without modifying the available travel of the bevel gear in the roof of the gearbox........ I know because I tried and failed on a stock "B" Rapide having to revert back to a 4 speed. That 5 speed box ended up in the racer in the picture next to my name. This would explain why the 2 available 5 speed gearboxes needed differing amounts of shift in their set up to work correctly.
 

MarBl

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Are the 5-speed gearboxes still available?
Quaife lists them, but exclusively available via Speed Power/John Surtees, the latter one apparently no longer in business.
 

Gary Gittleson

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I don't think I'd ever want to install one in my bike but I am curious. Is this a "close ratio" setup or does it give one a wider range of ratios? What advantage would 5 speeds provide, considering the wide torque band of the twin engine?
 

Bill Cannon

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It is a wider ratio box with a lower first gear and fairly even spacing between ratios. I've never ridden a standard Vincent but I imagine there is no great advantage in going to 5 speed.
 

Peter Holmes

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I think I am correct in saying you get an option on the first gear ratio, take a look on the Quaife website, you cannot buy from them direct as previously mentioned, I think John Surtees had that buttoned up.
 

Robert Watson

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I tried to buy one a few years ago from Sports Power and was told they did not sell to America. I pointed out that I was Canadian, and the response was, we do not sell to North America. I had a friend coming to visit so he purchased one for me and brought it with him. I wonder what Quaife's policy is?
 

Monkeypants

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Quaife gear ratios at the present time-
Screenshot_20210912-063944.png
 
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