Tuesday 23 June 2009

Rotaphilia, part 2.


I'm now back after wasting one week as an unpaid lifeguard in Mallorca (I have two small boys who both think they are Johnny Weismuller) and look what I've received in the post. Not bad eh? It's a Talon motocross hub, black anodized of course, a black Morad 3'' rim and a rather lovely 320 mm wavy disc from Braking, mounted to a black anodized spacer that the boys at Talon knocked up for me. I chose a 3'' wide rim, which is a little wider than the "standard" 2,5-2,75'' normally used for front wheels on flat trackers, since I have a theory that the Maxis tire will be less "squiggly" if it's mounted on a wider rim and therefore is flatter in profile. It will slow the steering down some, but I'm erring on the side of stability here (I'm an old fart after all).

The wheel was built by an excellent chap called Steve Lomas who not only is entirely pleasant to deal with, but also quick and thourough (I'm told he can ride a bit too). To boot, he has a good relationship with the people at Talon. Which is a good thing since nothing from their standard assortment of brake discs and sprockets would fit on my PM rear wheel. Steve called them, and custom made carriers are now in the works. If you want to get in contact with Steve, I'll be more than happy to supply his phone number. Thanks to the Sideburn-boys for the tip BTW.

One problem with the radial brake set up of the GSXR forks I'm using is that the calipes are pretty substantial and mounted in such a way that there is not very much space for the wheel spokes in between the calipers (the spokes of cast wheels are not dished). And to be honest, I'm not entirely sure that the wheel will fit, since I haven't had the time to test fit it yet... We've done the numbers, but we may have to shave off some material on the inside of the brake caliper to make it fit. Or perhaps get a slimmer caliper. More on that in a day or two.

4 comments:

  1. Damn I look forward to see this bike up close some day. The most exciting project I´ve seen so far. Good luck

    Mvh
    Janne

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  2. Spoke clearance! This is a big problem when trying to fit sportsbike calipers to motards. Chamfering the rear may solve the problem as there's usually plenty of material on the standard caliper.

    If this doesn't work, the Aprilia SXV caliper might be a good start, I can measure mine if you need to check, or R1 calipers look a bit thinner than the GSX-R ones. Alternatively there's the Brembo ones but $$$$!

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  3. Thanks for the encouragement Sebastian. Love that nick BTW. I suppose that you are as big a fan of Bladerunner as I am:-) I'll offer you a test run if you are ever in Helsingborg! Once it's finished...

    Daws: the spoke clearance issue. Yeah it's a pain. The Tochico caliper I'm using is big as my palm. I've had my eyes on an AP racing caliper for a while. But since I'm already way over budget, I hope the one I have will work for now. Maybe I'll buy myself a nicer caliper for Christmas... About that Aprilia caliper: I don't think that will fit. My fork has a 108 mm bolt pattern. I think the Priller uses the "European" pattern (100 mm between the mounting bolts). Or am I mistaken?

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  4. I forgot about that, the Aprilia caliper has 100mm pitch but it is only 70mm wide, in contrast to a Fireblade radial Tockico which has 108mm pitch but is at least 90mm wide!

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