I spent some time checking and adjusting toe in of the car and degrees of lean of the tug... Went for a blast with the main passenger.
A few things I observed are that the rig wants to pull to the right on acceleration and it will drift back to the left on rapid deceleration. If I just even out the throttle to cruising speed it is less apt to move left as quickly... I understand from some of the reading I have been dong that the rig will inherently pull under these two situations.... The outfit also wanders a bit so I'm keeping a close watch on the road and paying very close attention to the steering. This wandering may be due to road surface as well...
My biggest problem is that I don't know if I know what to make of these characteristics...
Now, that said... I want to be sure that I have indeed set Toe-In correctly. The two rims on the 1100 Guzzi are not the same width. How do I know if I am getting an accurate measurement using a straight edge against the wheels...? Do you know what I mean...? The front may read "IN" anyway as the rim is narrower than the rear.... If I adjust to more "IN" I may just be trying to ride in left hand circles before I know it....
After the initial adjustments I the rig works better so I'm sure I'm close, just want to be as good as I can get it....
All right, I ramble...
Thanks in advance for the guidance...
Rob
Ignore the narrower front wheel...most bike front wheels ARE narrower. just align the straight edge flat against the rear bike tire or wheel rim, about 4" off the floor. I use a 4x4 block of woood to rest the straight edge on next to the rear bike tire and the SC tire. not needed in the front ...let it rest on the ground.
then measure distance just in front of the front bike wheel across to the other straight edge, and just to rear of the SC wheel, across to the straight edge just behind the rear bike wheel.
should be 1/4 to 3/4" narrower at front....ballpark figure. mine is 1/4 ".
sounds like your doing something right as to lean...tracks straight with steady throttle at speed.
wrong toe-in could make it wander around. or loose steering head bearings.
Thanks Bob,
Got it... I'll check the distances as you have described here using the rotors as reference.
I think the lean could be a tad too much outside by the look of the wear pattern on the rear tire on clean tarmac. I am a bit concerned about how I have to muscle it around left handers also...
Gettin' close... 🙂
Thanks,
Rob
I think I owe you a reply for your detailed email about the F II, too... 😉
dont worry about the tire footprint if the bike is tracking straight withy little effort, at the speed you usually go [with load usually carried].
some outfits need more than others, depending on the bike/SC weight ratio.
also, left handers ...and right handers, .... should be easy..in town or on the highway.I can make them with one hand [throttle hand] If I want.
I have a LL front end , Earles fork, which helps a lot.
no amount of adjustments will help the steering in turns,except lead, [less lead makes for easier turns] once you have correct toe-in and lean set up.
the steering in turns will depend on modding the front geometry...either with a triple tree mod or LL front.
stock forks and Triple trees usually dont cut it. angle is wrong and the stock forks flex too much.
I ran my /5 for 1 year with stock forks and thought it was 'pretty good'...'till I followed everyone's advice, and installed the Earles...wow! made about 1000% better difference! I could not believe how easy the steering got from just that one change!!
Ok, I understand about the tire footprint... I will still re-measure after I set up the more accurate toe in adjustment angle bars...
Yup, Our next mod is to be the Unit Fork... Jay sells a kit for the 1100 Guzzi and I need to get a price from him. We are changing cars too (after this is dialed in) but the first order of business is to get the steering lighter....
Good deal, I'm looking forward to the change. I want to go from "Pretty Good" to "Wow" too.... 😉
Thanks for the valuable input.
Rob
rad,
with the Unit, you will be in the Wow! category!
but..make sure you are sitting down when you get the quoted price!
Originally written by Bob in Wis on 4/19/2006 11:47 AM
rad,
with the Unit, you will be in the Wow! category!
but..make sure you are sitting down when you get the quoted price!
Yeah, I'm ready for it... I also have the support of the main passenger that tells me to do what we need to do, we'll keep this rig for some time.
Thanks,
rd
