Proper 3 spoke conversion

[Sin_Tiger]

I think you should be the forum test rider for these Michelin Road Angels 

[rybes]

i prefer the way my tiger handles now ive done this conversion. its abit twitchey at first but once id got used to it i wish it was always like this. not so slow or heavy to turn into bends. livin in a place full of twists and turns on the road and roundabouts  its suits perfect

[GavD]

Thing is the isle of Wight roads are quite rural and not very well surfaced so I don't get anywhere near the limits of the bike (my limits appear first). We do have 1/2 mile of dual carriageway - we call it 'the motorway'!!!! Only about half of it is national speed limit though.

I've got a virtually new Metzeler z6 on the 6 spoke that I'll chop over to the 3 spoke, so will probably get a rear to match. Even if I had some nice sticky modern tyres, they just get flattened on the centre around here so it never seems worth it.

[Mustang]

whats the trail dimension now ?

[GavD]

No idea I'm afraid, not even sure how you measure it.

[rybes]

1/2 a mile of dual carriage way  how do you handle such a fast road ? im sure early mornin tho must leave the roundabouts nice n empty

[Mustang]

No idea I'm afraid, not even sure how you measure it.

this is good reading and explains it and why it is so
using a std steamer front end with a 17 inch wheel mine only changed a little bit towards a more sport bike setup .(reduced trail)
this is also what needs to be done to improve steering on a sidecar bike , only you have to take out lots of trail

I'm curious what you ended up with as your pics make the bike look way too tall on the front end , as in an extended fork which will change everything .

http://blog.jpcycles.com/2010/06/motorcycle-frame-geometry-made-simple-how-your-motorcycle-handles/

BTW 96mm is the standard OEM steamer trail dimension

[GavD]

Bit of googling and some rough measurements using my spirit level and a piece of string and I've got somewhere between 87mm & 92mm. Bit vague I know, but has given me some idea. So it should steer a little quicker than the standard set up, but I've been running your cast wheel conversion using the steamer forks for a couple of years so it'll probably feel pretty similar to before.

i reckon the pics are deceiving because of the angle and because the bike is sat on a block there so the forks are fully extended.
now it's back down on it's wheels it feels about the same height. When i wheel it out into the daylight I'll take some side on pics and post them.

[Mustang]

Motorcycle trail

The distance on the ground between a straight line drawn through the center of the front wheel spindle and a line drawn through the center of the headstock axis. The greater the trail distance, then the greater the straight line stability but the harder it is to make the bike corner.

http://bikearama.com/theory/motorcycle-rake-trail-explained/

[GavD]

1/2 a mile of dual carriage way  how do you handle such a fast road ? im sure early mornin tho must leave the roundabouts nice n empty

Yeah half a mile, sometimes i get it up to third gear

DO NOT plan a biking holiday here, you will be sorely disappointed.

[rybes]

i know mate. went there on holiday for 2 weeks as a kid. how the hell do ya live there ?

[Sin_Tiger]

I spent part of my apprenticeship in White's in Cowes in the 70's there was still quite a cafe racer / rockers going on then. Went to work every day using the chain ferry from West Cowes.  Remember riding a Goldie down the main street in Ventnor scared shitless I was going to drop my mates bike and embarrass myself into the bargain.

Anyway back OT. I would have thought the coat Road from Sandown would be a good test of how good your steering is. Unless the years have gilded my memories.

[GavD]

Sometimes it's nice to have a stretch of water between us and the real world. I'm a born and bred caulkhead (native) although I did escape a lot with the navy over the years. I live in west cowes and some of my older relations worked in Whites at various times.

Sin, your memory's ok, the coast road from Blackgang to Freshwater is the test track, but a bit rough in places.

[GavD]

Here we go then chaps, pics of it all back together. Can I ask a favour please of Rybes and Rf. Any chance of measuring your forks from fork top to centre of wheel spindle. I've ended up with 900mm spot on when the bike is on it's side stand, which is a bit more than I thought it'd be.

Thanks in anticipation
Gav

[rybes]

will do mate. im back on sunday so ill do it sun night or monday for ya. did ya use the sprint internals ? i used the tiger ones first time round n the forks were about 6 foot long lol

its lookin goo dtho mate. its hard to tell from the pics if the lenghts about the same cos ya high mudguard makes it look a lot longer. i like it