Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum

Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet with the UCE engine => Topic started by: avandr on April 04, 2013, 04:05:24 am

Title: Snail cams / wheel alignment
Post by: avandr on April 04, 2013, 04:05:24 am
Looking at my snail cams RHS = 9 positions from flat, LHS = 13 positions from flat. I ran a string from back wheel to front and noted wheel alignment looks pretty good. This is the first time I have used a string for wheel alignment and I am not confident I did it correctly.
Could someone please provide a method for this?
Also I know these bikes are hand built, however the difference in snail cam position from one side to the other seems to be excessive. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Title: Re: Snail cams / wheel alignment
Post by: shamelin on April 04, 2013, 04:40:19 am
I ran a string from back wheel to front and noted wheel alignment looks pretty good.

Could you be more specific with your measure points?

You should be measuring from the center of your rear wheel spindle to the center of your swing arm pivot.  When I replaced my chain, there was quite a bit of asymmetry in the snail cams.  If your measurements are correct, you're probably good to go.
Title: Re: Snail cams / wheel alignment
Post by: avandr on April 04, 2013, 05:15:01 am
Thanks shamalin, I just tried your method and found centre to centre meaurements with LHS being around 1 mm shorter. Using accuracy of a tape measure I figured this to be pretty good and not worthy of an adjustment. I may sneak it one more notch to see if it evens up.
Thanks again
Title: Re: Snail cams / wheel alignment
Post by: Arizoni on April 04, 2013, 05:51:31 am
Doesn't measuring from the rear wheel spindle (axle) to the pivot axis of the rear swing arm assume the front wheel is centrally located with respect to these same rear pivot axis?

Put another way, doesn't it assume the steering head bearings, triple clamp, front forks and the central location of the front wheel to the forks are all correct and centrally located with respect to the rear pivot arm bushings?

I'm not sure I can make that assumption on my G5.
That's why I use a long straight aluminum pole resting against the sides of the rear wheel and extending along side the front wheel to check my rear wheel's alignment.
(Yes, I have to snake it thru the centerstand which is why I can only use the lower part of the rear wheel to establish the wheels direction.)
I might also add that I do this check on both the left and the right hand sides of the wheel.
When everything is aligned, the pole just clears the narrower front tire.

Anyway, back to the snails.
I think the reason for the large difference in the snail location is due to the inaccuracy's in welding the small stop pins into the trailing arms.

My snails have a 1 notch difference so a difference of 4 does sound like a lot to me.
If mine had that large of a difference I would be tempted to remove my hands from the handlebars briefly while riding down a smooth flat road.
If the bike didn't decide to go left or right I would know it's just the nature of a "hand built machine". :)