Subject: Collywobble demons exorcised....
Author: Lannis
Date: Sep 10, 2004, 4:01 PM
Post ID: 1717509097
Well, thanks to Charlie M., his entirely appropriate stash of Loopframe
parts (along with his 1950's prices!), and a few minutes to mount up the
NOS steering damper setup he sent me, my Eldo has a whole new (and much
more pleasant) disposition.
What with the lousy weather all week (my Centauro is my "rain bike"
because it never glitches no matter how monsoonish the rain is and the
brakes always work RIGHT NOW even when wet), I hadn't had a chance to
ride the Eldo with the windshield on it.
In our last episode, the Eldo was coming dangerously close to serious
wobbling, not to say approaching an incipient tank-slapper, with the
windshield on and while riding in the turbulence from other traffic. It
was noticeable behind a car, a little worse behind a straight van-body
truck, and real bad behind or next to a semi, especially in a cross
wind. I'd been riding it naked (windshield off) for a couple weeks till
I could sort it out; it didn't wobble with no windshield.
Took about 5 minutes to bolt on Charlie's new damper. Took the bike to
work this morning, and the wobbles are all gone.
You can still feel just a LITTLE BIT of wiggle when behind a
double-semi, with the turbulence slapping your helmet around and making
your faceshield rattle like someone's throwing buckshot at it, but
nothing scary. And it's dead steady in all other conditions.
It's strange that it should work so well, because it's a friction
damper; when you pull it back and forth by hand it feels like it has
very little damping ability, especially when compared to the adjustable
hydraulic one on the Centauro. And like any friction damper, it has a
little bit of axial "play" as the friction material has to re-grab the
shaft as it moves back and forth.
But it sure do work good.
Lannis
98 Centauro GT
75 Eldo Police
69 BSA Firebird
MGNOC #18396
AMA #409196
Ohio Valley BSAOC #1455