Author Topic: long and low  (Read 1810 times)

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wokka

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on: September 17, 2011, 12:33:30 pm
Hi guys,
I tried a search, but nothing came up.

Have any of you looked at a swingarm extension or lowering your Enfield?

I got my hands on a set of forks and will be cracking them open on the weekend, and depending on the available travel will be looking at dropping them 2"-3".

I'm assuming there will be a spacer similar to a lot of telescopic forks that will let me keep all the travel and lower the front 1.5-2" and the rest will come from a spring chop.

The reason I'm going so low on the front is to make up for a 21" that I've laced up last week with a 100/90 tyre.

As for the rear, I'm looking at a 3-4" stretch. Again I will be starting with a spare stock swingarm, marking out all of the geometry and fabricating the extended arm from box section.  It may be a little adventurous, but depending how it all looks, I may consider running a jack shaft either through or near the pivot allowing me to run a 170/80 15 rear.

Madness/interesting/just plain wont work, who knows.

But if anyone can share their experiences before I start hacking, it'd be a big help


drbvac

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Reply #1 on: September 17, 2011, 04:46:20 pm
Sounds like a lot of work - I dropped my bike 3" with shocks and seat so I could sit on it but why would you take and enfield and change it so drastically ? I know even in the 50's the mods and rockers were messing with their bikes but 75% of the attraction and appeal of these bikes for the owners is the fact they look stock 1950  :)
Dr B


wokka

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Reply #2 on: September 17, 2011, 08:20:02 pm
for one simple reason....


Because I can  ;D

I've never had anything standard for long, and my C5 military is no exception.

I was sitting in the garage staring at the swingarm tonight, and with a bit of lateral thinking may have sussed a way to do it without complicated bends. I would need a minimum 4" stretch  and sink the toolboxes into the frame to pull it off though.

with your 3" drop, was that lost in the seat mount and putting the shocks on minimum preload?


gashousegorilla

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Reply #3 on: September 17, 2011, 09:30:53 pm
Nice work so far wokka.   For the swing arm, why not  just cut off the stock side rails on the swing arm, re-weld in some longer ones ....reusing the stock top pivot tube and axle plates, welded back on. You could also weld in a cross brace , up near and behind the pivot tube to stiffen things up...... or for something stronger, an arch shaped gusset made out of 1/4" plate, welded in. The round Tubed swing may look better the Boxed? 

  A 170 tire on the back?   WOW !  Maybe a bit much for this little mill.   
An thaibhsí atá rattling ag an doras agus tá sé an diabhal sa chathaoir.


wokka

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Reply #4 on: September 17, 2011, 10:05:52 pm
Nice work so far wokka.   For the swing arm, why not  just cut off the stock side rails on the swing arm, re-weld in some longer ones ....reusing the stock top pivot tube and axle plates, welded back on. You could also weld in a cross brace , up near and behind the pivot tube to stiffen things up...... or for something stronger, an arch shaped gusset made out of 1/4" plate, welded in. The round Tubed swing may look better the Boxed? 

  A 170 tire on the back?   WOW !  Maybe a bit much for this little mill.   
Thanks mate, I must admit, I'm having a blast


To be honest, a cut and shut on the side rails was my first thought, but there's a couple of problems

1) Because of the angle the 2 side rails are in relation to the pivot tube, to do it right, I would need to put a bend in them to get the width for the tyre, even with a 4" stretch
2) Putting a bend in round pipe, and then lining everything up is a ballache, been there, done that, bought the t-shirt
3) If I go pipe, it rules out the jack shaft option (on my skill set anyway)
4) A good heavy wall box is easy to work with and get everything squared off and braced


gashousegorilla

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Reply #5 on: September 18, 2011, 12:16:23 am
 A Jackshaft on a C-5 ?  Man, you are having Fun.  ;)  Cool Idea.  But what kind of power loss would you get ?  Be intersting to see it done though.  How about an old school tensioner? 
An thaibhsí atá rattling ag an doras agus tá sé an diabhal sa chathaoir.


wokka

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Reply #6 on: September 18, 2011, 10:29:21 am
the power loss should be minimal, I'd probably run from the 19 front sprocket, to 19 on the jackshaft input, a 20 or 21 on the jackshaft output to the standard rear sprocket.

It's going to be a hell of a lot of work, so I'll take my time, measure about 150 times, mock something up, check it through the complete range of movement, and go from there


wokka

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Reply #7 on: September 19, 2011, 06:35:50 pm
Was searching some more earlier today and saw 500KsGerry's bike.

Just need to confirm dimensions, and then put in an order for an XS swingarm