Subject: RE: Collywobble demons exorcised....
Author: Charlie Mullendore
Date: Sep 10, 2004, 4:04 PM
Post ID: 1717509111
Hi Lannis,
Glad to hear the operation was a success! Many happy Loop miles to you!
Cheers,
Lannis wrote:
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 |
Charlie
http://members.tripod.com/charlesmullendore/index.htm