Rake and ruin.

Folks,
I can't get my Trump to turn in tight corners. It seems to be a great
swooping affair that sees me run out over the white line more often than not
and also sees me dragging my toes on the tarmac.
I've jacked the ride height up to the max at the back and dropped the forks
through the triple-clamps 17mm (the maximum) at the front to try and get
maximum ground-clearance.
Should I have gone the other way at the front? Should I have dropped the
triple-clamps on the forks to steepen the rake? That'll make it turn
quicker but will the leant-over ground-clearance be worse?
What's the theory here? IK?
Thanks ..... Clem

 

Sounds like you've turned it into a cruiser! Will the sidestand still
hold it up, or do you need to put a block of wood under the foot to
stop it falling over? ;-)

Seriously, I'd have tried dropping the triple clamps maybe 5-10mm and
maybe using a different foot position on the pegs. Or possibly riding
a bit slower. ;-)


BTH

 

Sounds like you've turned it into a cruiser! Will the sidestand still
hold it up, or do you need to put a block of wood under the foot to
stop it falling over? ;-)

Seriously, I'd have tried dropping the triple clamps maybe 5-10mm and
maybe using a different foot position on the pegs. Or possibly riding
a bit slower. ;-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bike leans over a bit on sidestand but not dramatically so.
Try as I might I can't get my left foot onto tippy-toes while riding and
changing gears. (I've got a 2" shortened boot from turn-2 of a ride-day at
Eastern-Creek 12 years ago to show this isn't a recent problem!)
I think a set of rear-sets from a Daytona/Speed-triple would get my foot
higher and further-back while still in touch with the gear-lever though.
(It's the moving back and forth that kills me)
I think I'll try the original 17mm-lower triple-clamps position.

 

Understeer (running wide) indicates you need to steepen the rake. I
always get confused with the wording of what people mean when
specifiying it- so to steepen rake you move the triple clamp down the
forks towards the dirt. AKA moving the forks up through the triple
clamp. Yes you'll lose a smidgen of ground clearance but on most bikes
it should be neither here nor there.

The running out of ground clearance is quite possibly slow turn in
causing you to need more lean angle by the time you get it tipped in -
again fixing the rake will help there.

The only other thing to consider is whether the springs are stuffed /
shock is shot / no oil in forks etc - deceased suspension will give you
a wallowy ride and bottom in the corners. If not you might want to
consider upping the spring rate - is it pogo-ey ? How far is your static
sag and loaded sag ?

JL

 

lose some fucken weight you fat ****, always blaming the bike.....



pssst, try the correct pressure in the tyres

 

Bloody 'ell, you are a hard man to please.

Can't you just be happy the thing goes at all?

Jacking up the back end is good, jacking up the front, isn't.

You might try sliding the fork tubes up through the triple clamps to
improve the bike's turning in abilities.

As for the toe dragging on the tarmac, what worked for my Street Triple
was fitting the peg mounting assembly from a Daytona 675. Perhaps there
is a Triumph similar enough to yours, which might have higher set pegs?

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Raise the back, lower the front and learn to hang off a little, not quite
Stoner Style where you need elbow sliders, just a little, enough to make you
look like a wannabe.

Bum crack on the seat edge, loose a little weight, buy another pair of boots
and wahallah problem solved.....maybe

Capt. A. L.

 

Just come over some time and I will give you some riding lessons.

Boxer

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:17:50 GMT

First Gerry, now you. Can't complain you aren't getting any Clem!

Zebee

 

[clouds part] I think you're right JL!
This is the bit that was eluding me as I was thinking of the corner as
being a constant-radius arc when in reality it's an ellipse as I'm
blowing the entry and then having to pull the bike down mid-corner to
stay on the road (and running out of ground-clearance in the process).
Another drink I owe you.

 

<splutter/choke/splutter...wipes coffee off monitor>

A double-ender? Ooooer...


Onya bike...

Gerry

 

How big must the _rest_ of the seat be?

Postman W. Pat

 

How big must the _rest_ of the seat be?

Postman W. Pat


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A "Buddy Seat" from an early 1950's Harley should almost qualify to be a
"Racing Seat " for the knobless one

 

I tend to find that your pillion doesn't really like it when you start
Jean-Phillip Ruggia - style elbow-scraping!

 

That'd be the first thing I'd be looking at, too... right after
setting the forks flush with the top surface of the top triple clamp -
pulling the front end up on the forks is a pretty radical geometry
change for a big, long, top-heavy old bus like a T3 Sprint. The usual
reason to do it is to get weight over the back end to aid traction...
the last time anyone worth listening to told me about running such a
setup was in 2005, the last time I spoke to Daron at some length, and
he talked about setting the TKA ZX-10R-C so it would stop lighting up
the rear tyre.

The damping could've departed stage left from the suspension at both
ends to the extent that turning in and the onset of cornering forces
sit the bike down far enough for it to deck out.

 

Thanks for the advice all (well... most anyway!)
Just to clarify as there seems to be some confusion about what I have:

The standard forks sit with the top of the tube protruding 17mm above
the clip-on on top of the triple-clamp. I haven't really ridden the
bike like this as I bought it with badly bent forks but I remember my
other Sprint of 10 years ago which would've had similar geometry.

When I installed new forks I put the tops flush with the clip-ons thus
making the bike sit 17mm higher at the front. I did this
intentionally in an effort to increase the Sprint's atrocious ground
clearance but have since found that I can't get the thing into tight
corners.

By my standards the front suspension is "as new" and I have both the
damping and preload adjusters on the minimum.
The rear is not quite as pristine but certainly tolerable by my
standards.

The last three bikes I've ridden on these same roads were a 160,000km
XJ900, a 220,000 km K75 and a 150,000 km R1100GS so I'm used to big
soft wallowy bikes but the Sprint is behaving in a manner I'm unused
to.

Next move is to return the forks to their original position, maybe
increase the damping at the rear a tad and then persuade gNat to come
for a ride with me again. (so I can replicate the test conditions).
Thanks
Clem

 

Not when it's gNats elbows.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:20:07 GMT

Especially when it's a prelude to knee scraping, shoulder scraping,
and being scraped off the road.

Zebee

 

No... gNat seems oddly wary of such things...
[shrugs] Women!

 

You going to (pre) order gNat one of them shirts ?