Author Topic: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners  (Read 1437837 times)

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Offline MC 1314

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #405 on: March 06, 2011, 10:37:48 PM »
I have the same 'helmet' problem, between my ever expanding belly and vision out of the helmet I have to keep my head up too far to see where I'm going. Is there a helmet that allows more vision? I tilt mine back just before takeoff which helps for a bit but vibration brings it down too quickly.
It's just a case of too soon old and too late smart. Will Penny

Offline Old Scrambler

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #406 on: March 07, 2011, 10:19:40 AM »
I hear ya on the budget and work issues.............I started with a badly worn and abused Tiger Cub motor and a frame for $300.  Have added $700 in parts to the motor. The rest is salvaged from a swamp full of old bikes, a friend's metal bending skills, and then the tires and helmet.

Every inch you shave from your butt will lower the helmet at the same angle.
2011 AMA Record - 250cc M-PG TRIUMPH Tiger Cub - 82.5 mph
2013 AMA Record - 250cc MPS-PG TRIUMPH Tiger Cub - 88.7 mph
2018 AMA Record - 750cc M-CG HONDA CB750 sohc - 136.6 mph
2018 AMA Record - 750cc MPS-CG HONDA CB750 sohc - 143.005 mph
2018 AMA Record - 750cc M-CF HONDA CB750 sohc - 139.85 mph
2018 AMA Record - 750cc MPS-CF HONDA CB750 sohc - 144.2025 mph

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Offline octane

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #407 on: March 07, 2011, 03:09:35 PM »
... Third, look at my eyes.  They can barely see out from under my lid.  I cannot get down and lower and still see where I am going.  The helmet blocks the view...
Naaaaaaaa, Bo my man:

Here's a comparative study between your riding position/helmet position as shown on your picture
and my riding position/helmet position:
I've made a line going from 'temple' to 'rear processed food exit'
and a line showing the angle of helmet position, in relation to above said line:





as clearly shown it IS possible to "..get lower.." and
I'm quite sure it IT possible with your present helmet, to "..still see where [you] are going..",
couse I am in fact riding with your very helmet on that picture,
( You were kind enough to lend it to me. Thanks )
Note the angle between the lines on the two pictures.
You need to get down lower and raise your head a bit.


.-)

Some sort of "pillow"/support on the tank, as I have, will help you get down
and still be confortable in that position
« Last Edit: March 07, 2011, 03:11:24 PM by octane »
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Offline WhizzbangK.C.

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #408 on: March 07, 2011, 03:31:15 PM »
Some of us have "issues" that prevent tilting our heads back very far (mine is a previous neck surgery limiting range of motion). This is one of the factors that prompted my sit down design. In researching this problem I did stumble upon a reference that said Simpson makes a motorcycle helmet with a raised eye port. Said it's not listed in their catalog but you need to call them direct to get info. I also found a new helmet on the market late last year called Shark Vision-R that claims to have the highest vertical eye port on the market, but couldn't find any info on certifications that would tell if it's legal to race with. You might Google it and give them a call to find out.
Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of.  Douglas Adams

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #409 on: March 07, 2011, 11:06:23 PM »
Today I remembered that I could get down real low during, um, "testing and development."  After work I put on my street helmet and I can see just fine down low, as shown in the photo.  Then I looked for differences between the two helmets.  The Bell racing job has thicker padding and some sort of wind dam in the back.  This tilts the helmet down over my eyes when I get low.  The picture shows this.  I will look for thinner padding and no air dam on the back when I get a new lid.

The chiton-like back armor I use is shown.  The armor works OK with the street helmet.  The back edge of the Bell racing helmet is lower than the same part on the street helmet.  The back edge rubs on the armor when I tilt my head back and it pushes the helmet down over my eyes.  I adjusted the body armor lower on my back.  This helps.  After this I could see sorta OK with the racing helmet.  The picture shows this.

Ol Scrambler, my bony old butt is almost on the frame rails.  I cannot get any lower, tushwise, unless I do some cutting and welding.  This is a typical problem when using a production chassis.  K.C., I will look at those helmets.  Lars, I will limber up and try to get lower.  My problem is no neck.  I am built like a squirrel.

Offline grumm441

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #410 on: March 08, 2011, 02:29:19 AM »
but couldn't find any info on certifications that would tell if it's legal to race with. You might Google it and give them a call to find out.

Try the source
G

http://www.smf.org/cert
Chief Motorcycle Steward Dry Lakes Racers Australia Inc
Spirit of Sunshine Bellytank Lakester
https://www.dlra.org.au/rulebook.htm

Offline Peter Jack

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #411 on: March 08, 2011, 05:55:31 AM »
Sorry! I was the one who said to look at Snell, but that's for helmets. You shoud be looking at SFI ( sfifoundation.com ) under "Manufacturers". Right now only Safety Solutions and HANS are listed. They update the site pretty promptly so others may be added at any time.

Pete

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #412 on: March 08, 2011, 09:34:51 PM »
The next few posts will be about the fork rebuild.  This is covered in brief in the Triumph manual and in more detail in the Haynes book.  Things not in either will be mentioned here.

The forks have slider bushings as shown in the photo.  The wider diameter one is the upper bushing and it is mounted in the outer tube.  The narrower width one is mounted on the tube end.  They are teflon coated and they are durable.  I like to replace them periodically so as to minimize wear on the sliders and tubes.  Both parts last longer if the teflon coating is not worn off the bushings.  New bushings at 25,000 to 30,000 miles seem about right with oil changes at every 12,000 miles.  New bushings are recommended when new inner tubes are installed, like I am doing.

The upper bushing, seal, and dust cover in the picture are available from Triumph.  The lower bushing is not.  A person needs to buy a new inner tube to get a new lower bushing from Triumph.  The lower bushing, as well as the upper bushing, seal and cover are available from Race Tech at www.racetech.com.  They are the only source of the lower bushings that I know about.

Triumph had forks made by Kayaba or Showa.  It is easy to get things mixed up.  Frank's asked me to send in an upper tube so they could make a perfect match.  This is not absolutely necessary.  Franks has plans for most fork tubes.


Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #413 on: March 11, 2011, 12:41:11 AM »
The stronger inner tubes and new seals and bushings are on order.  New fork springs? that is the question now.

Several years ago I bought a set of progressive springs and I installed them with a lot of preload.  This keeps the front end up and it works OK for LSR.  The downside of this is the progressive nature of the springs.  The springs have a very high rate when the forks are compressed and the ride is harsh on the street with the fairing removed.

Last night I ordered a set of straight rate springs that are 15 to 20 percent heavier rate than standard.  It is estimated they will be strong enough to keep the front end high with the fairing on.  Also, they are not progressive so the forks will compress farther and the ride will be smoother on bumpy streets.  The downside is the possibility the front end drop too much during shutdown on the salt and result in a speed wobble.

The springs are being wound in Australia by IKON.  They made the custom rear shocks and they did a good job.

This is an experiment.  The old springing is OK but I want to try a different concept and see how things work.

Offline bak189

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #414 on: March 11, 2011, 11:10:29 AM »
Buy a good used Ceriani fork for around $300.00 to $400.00 and your problems will be solved.......It worked for my Tri. Triple...(1995..Bird)...............New parts..spring,seals, are still made by Paioli....
OR better yet try to find a set of Rickman Forks.....like we are using on our LSR sidecar.....hard to find
but great forks........
Find Ceriani forks on E-Bay for fair prices.................................................................................
Just a thought!!!!!
Question authority.....always

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #415 on: March 12, 2011, 01:13:12 PM »
The little Yamaha build is chugging along.  The plan is to restore the chassis first then to take apart the motor.  There is less loose stuff laying around the shop this way.  This 1986 model is an older bike.  The parts guys at the local dealer always seem to be in a hurry and they are not effective at getting the parts.  Plus, they give me that "look" that is normally used when dealing with the slow and retarded.  A older guy restoring a trail bike is not their ideal customer, I guess.  Now I buy the Yamaha goodies on the internet.  These are a few things I have learned.  A lot of us have older equipment and this might be useful.

Yamaha makes an incredible number of parts for the dinosaur.  Their stuff fits and is high quality so it is my preference.  There are several internet outfits that sell original equipment parts.  Chapparal, Cheap Cycle Parts, Bike Bandit, and others.  I do not know if any are better than the others.  Bike Bandit is able to find almost everything and ship it to me.  Usually a big box of parts arrives quickly followed by mailers with individual hard-to-find parts arriving later.  The Bandit cannot find everything.  There are parts shown on the Bandit parts drawings that are not on the bandit parts list.

The folks at Chapparal have a parts list with Yamaha parts numbers.  They show the parts that have been superseded and the new Yamaha parts numbers.  A click on the parts description on the Chapparal list brings up another screen.  This one shows all of the other Yamaha models that use the part.  Often Chapparal can find the hard to get piece.  If they can't, I type the Yamaha part number into my internet search engine.  Links appear and some are for folks who have the part.  Often these are people have a hoard of obsolete new or used parts. 

The internet is what I use for the old stuff.  The parts and accessories for the newer bike come from the local bike shop.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #416 on: March 16, 2011, 01:20:56 AM »
The new fork inner tubes have a smaller internal diameters than the standard tubes.  Standard Triumph springs will not fit inside the 1.380 ID tubes.  It is obvious new fork springs will be needed in a smaller diameter.  Not so apparent is that smaller diameter rebound springs will be needed too.  These are the little guys that fit around the damper rod.  They also must fit inside the new fork tube.

The fork springs I have been using have a 35/50 pound-inch progressive rate.  The 35 pound-inch rate is too light and the front end dives too deep on deceleration.  The 50 pound-inch maximum rate seems OK.  The forks do not bottom.  The springs I ordered are 50 pound-inch straight rate.  This will keep the nose higher during shutdown.

The little rebound springs should have higher spring rates to match the beefier fork springs.  IKON is aware of this and they are making stronger new rebound springs.

Bak - Cerianis are good forks.  These Triumph ones will be good, too, when I am done.  There is an old hot rod tradition in America of the "sleeper."  I am not sure if people run sleepers in Europe or elsewhere.  This bike follows that theme when it is in street trim.  All sorts of extra work has been done to keep the bike looking like a production Triumph.  It does look like one.  Lots of the racing mods are hard to see unless one has a trained eye.  The forks are following that theme, too.  They will look like production items except for the Thruxton spring preload adjusters.  Thanks for the suggestion about the lithium battery.  I will get one sometime this spring. 

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #417 on: March 18, 2011, 01:22:49 AM »
A news video about the Japan nuclear disaster said some workers are going in to fix the reactors with the knowledge they will die.  This tears me up inside.  It is hard to concentrate on LSR or anything else with this happening.

Sometimes we want to shorten our fork.  The method shown here is easy to do and it is reversible.  In other words, it is easy to make them longer again.  That cannot be done if the tubes are shortened to reduce the fork length.

Most modern forks are like these Showas.  There are long compression springs and short rebound springs.  The compression springs sit atop the damper rod pistons and the rebound springs surround the damper rods.  Often there are spacers on top of the compression springs.  This fork does not have spacers.   Instead, it has additional shorter compression springs.  Reducing the fork length is simply swapping the longer stiffer secondary compression springs for the shorter lighter rebound springs.  This will shorten the fork about an inch.

A fussy person would install a stiffer compression springs when this is done.  The shorter forks have less travel and stiffer springs are needed to keep them from bottoming.  I am not going to do this.  Approximately right is good enough for me.

 

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #418 on: March 21, 2011, 12:00:55 AM »
A lot of good photographers enjoy land speed racing.  Each has their own style.  We are fortunate.   

The new Norton push rod twin ran at BUB last year.  This was a big event for the factory and they had an official photographer, Phil Hawkins.  Phil was kind enough to take a picture of the Triumph.  It is a nice photo.  The composition, focus, and lighting are all first class.  We used it for this year's team photo.

There is an article about the Norton at BUB in the March 2011 English magazine "Motorcycle Sports and Leisure."  There is a shot of the Norton's back end on the cover and many in the article.  All are Phil's.  This magazine is on stateside news stands now.   

There are two professional photographers named Phil Hawkins.  The motorcycle Phil has the website www.ishootfromthehip.com   There are more Norton pictures there.   

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #419 on: March 23, 2011, 12:30:18 AM »
The front and rear tin work is put on with the low bars to see how the aerodynamics look.  I can not turn the handlebar.  The fairing is in the way.  This is a minor detail I am going to ignore, but I am bored and need something to do.  Some cutting and other mayhem will ensue.

Lots of grooves are needed in the aluminum frame.  Somewhere around the shop are my air tool bits.  The only one I can find is this worthless looking thing with the little dimples.  I never used it before and I have no choice but to use it now.  It works wonderful and much better than the other bits.  The secret is to use kerosene as a lubricant to keep it from loading up with aluminum.