Sunday 6 December 2009

Yokes.

The time has come to put two proper slabs of billet in the mill and make the yokes that will replace the iron ones I've been using during the construction process. This will not only lighten the bike by some two metric tonnes, but also address the problem with the lack of ground trail that the friendly MOT-man pointed out last week. By reducing the offset [the distance between the center of the steering stem and the centre of the fork legs] by 20 mm, I will move the front axle 20 mm backwards. This will INCREASE the trail by the same amount, giving me appr 85-90 mm ground trail, and hopefully a stable, yet nimble bike.

I couldn't find a good place to mount the front indicators on the bike, so I thought I'd try to incorporate a mounting point at the back of the top yokes. This way I can route the cables through and under the top yoke and hopefully get an uncluttered look to the front end. The Swedish law states that the indicators must be mounted 240 mm apart, so mounting them onto the headlight is not an option.

The red number 1 points out the mounting holes for the risers, number 2 is where the Trailtech computer will be mounted and number 3 is the mounting point for the Bates headlight.

4 comments:

  1. must you have indicators in sweden? Switzerland in tough on regs but indicators are not a requirement. Keep it pure! (as close to a racer as possible) 90mm of ground trail is not a lot. Can you make some test runs with bodged steel yokes to find out what meets your expectations?

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  2. Yup. Indicators are a must. But I would like to keep it as clean as possible. Maybe I need to rethink the indicators? Make a makeshift mounting system and then make them "fall off". "- Why I don't have indicators? Well, officer, they must have fallen off... Probably due to vibrations."

    As far as the 90 mm trail goes, I know it's a little on the short side, but I want a nimble city bike. Maybe I should aim for a 100 mm...

    Thanks for your feedback.

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  3. Marcus_of_MarcusMotodesign31 December 2009 at 07:18

    Happy New Dirttrack Year!

    Lets have a run in 2010,

    Marcus

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  4. Thanks Marcus.

    Yeah, lets go for a spin 'round Stockholm in summer!

    A very good year to you too.

    /D

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