The BSA A7-A10 Forum
Technical (Descriptive Topic Titles - Stay on Topic) => A7 & A10 Engine => Topic started by: Chrisf1 on 24.08. 2008 16:54
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Hello again everyone the new frame is now fitted and the bike is running again I have put another 30 miles on the clock and all seems well apart from the primary cases leaking oil and the lower oil pipe has a weep at the tank end. Riding the bike is now much improved but I am not too happy with the forks they are clunky and seem to both bottom and top out. Installed are new hard chrome stanchions, bushes, seals and holders, gold star double dampers and no oil leaks the springs I have not replaced as I was advised it was not necessary. I really hope that is not the problem, if it is, does it require a complete fork strip to replace them? I think I am going to find it hard work running this in with my riding position (clip ons for those who have not looked at the pics) and my screaming back! but as they say no pain no gain any advice on the forks welcomed and I will update as I progress. Bye for now Chris
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Hi Chris,
That is a thing of great beauty!
Give clipons a go see how you get on. I couldn't hack 'em, went onto ace bars before changing riding position entirely.
Just go with whatever works for you.
Tombeau
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Chris has the bike got a rearset footpeg set up. If it still has the normal footpeg set up but has clip-ons then put some normal bars on before you end up a cripple. Brian.
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Yes Brian it has goldie rear sets which I went to great expense to have fitted to the frame before powder coating, this bike is a nostalgia trip or me looking for my lost and misspent youth, I will not change the look for this reason. I do however have a problem with the kickstart digging into my shin while riding, why i do not know it has the out of the way kick start quadrant but it actually bruises me i wonder if there is more cranked kick start available or maybe take a tooth off the front of the quadrant (see pic)
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Nice set up, Chris!
I don't see how your peg/kickstart geometry should bruise your shin, tho. It's very similar to my Goldie with J-bars (ace bars?) and I have no intereference whatsoever. (I admit that the riding position is a back-breaker.)
Perhaps someone nearby has a Gold Star you could compare with?
Re the " gold star double dampers" - is this the Eddie Dow mod?
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hi again i do not know if they are eddie dow see pic and let me know thanks chris
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Hi Chris,
Did you ever sort out the problem with your forks clunking etc? My forks are doing the same at the moment, every bump in the road ends up with an audible "clang" which i can also feel coming up through the bars.
The fork stanchions are good and straight, the bushes are good quality new ones, and they are also shimmed, the springs aren`t very old and are both the same length, and the head bearings are good and adjusted up right. All fasteners are tight and the forks are not twisted in the yokes, the bike handles perfectly, it just has this one annoying problem which seems to happen on the rebound and makes it feel like something is loose somewhere ????
I have checked and rechecked everything 3 or 4 times recently and now i am just plain stumped as to what to try next, any suggestions welcome from anyone who has a thought on the subject *help*
cheers
Richie
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Hi Richie my forks are still the same and I intend to sort it imminently if I find anything I will post it Chris
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Just a thought...are you sure its not your centre stand clanging against the frame?
Mine does this and makes quite a loud clang. tie it up witha bungee, take it for a spin and see if the problem has gone away.
Cheers,
Iain
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Regarding the clonking on your forks.If it does it as they compress. I believe, on your forks,at the bottom of your sliders on the inside.You will observe a tapered "prong" about (from memory ) 3" long and about 5/8" dia tapering to about 3/8".
As your fork compresses it enters into the bush retaining nut on the end of the fork tube and acts as a progressive oil restrictor.
I found when I first built my bike that the "prong" was too big at the large dia end could not enter all the way .It had been hitting the fork tube end nut.Clearly the parts were not compatable.To resolve this I removed the prongs and reduced the diameters slightly on the lathe.I could have just as easily bored out the bush retaining nuts.
The noise on the rebound is the sound of your lower fork bush impacting with the upper one.
I have similar dampers to your Dow type on my bike.They don't clonk but they do make an unusual clicking noise which is the steel ball in the damper unit rattling up and down.
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Hi Iain,
I can now definitely say the clunk is not my centre stand, the problem seems to be with the headstock as i had trouble with a loose thread on the stem ever since i had the yoke stripped of chrome, last month. I think there must have been some plating on the thread, as stripping has exposed a very worn thread (ie: the sleeve nut just pushes straight on without the need to thread it on ) So the clunk was caused by huge play in the bearing which must have occured when i slackened off the pinch bolt to centralise the forks! I also had to fix the bottom cone onto the stem with loctite bearing fit, so now i have my eye on a bottom yoke on flea-bay, probably the easiest way out *dunno*
Never mind ... thats life
oh and Chris, good luck with your forks,
Richie
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Well, i am chuffed to nuts right now, having endured an ongoing problem with clanking forks, i have finally fixed them thanks to MikeN. The problem was the tapered prong contacting with the side of the hole in the bottom nut on the stanchion. the hole seemed not to be central to the prong as it was contacting on one side of the hole only, also, with the fork bottomed out (and off the bike) i could feel resistance on and off when i rotated the slider in relation to the leg. I then carefully removed material from the inside of the hole with a round file until it rotated freely.
I have just been for a test ride and this time i was actually looking for sunken drain covers etc rather than avoiding them, as the bike bumps silently over them now, the ride is hugely improved!
I don`t know how long it would have taken me to figure it out if it had not been for this forum`s knowledgeable members, so thanks Mike and everyone else for their input *clap* *clap*
Richie
p.s. Chris, hopefully this will help you with your problem (fingers crossed)
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MikeN said in his post that he removed the prong in the bottom of his fork legs.
How do you do this?
Later forks than mine have an allen screw in the bottom of the leg, holding the damper arrangement in place.
My forks don't have this screw.
Is that prong thingy unscrewed from the inside with a tube spanner or something?
Cheers
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Olev, that "prong thingy" is a permanent fixture.
You could cut the bottom off the slider to get at it, but why do you want to remove it?
Trev.
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Trev,
I've come into possession of a sweet set of forks (probably A65) which have the same brackets for mudguard etc as the old plunger. The difference is the axle mounting. Instead of the threaded hole on one side and a clamp on the other, it has caps held on by 2 bolts. It also has a block on the side for locating a full width hub.
Originally I was only after the staunchions. On opening it up however, there was as nice a set of dampers you could wish for.
The dampers run down a tube which is held in place by an allen screw up the tail of the slider.
I was hoping to unscrew the prong from my existing sliders and modify the tube to take its fixing.
MikeN said he removed the prong and turned it down, so probably a later model.
In one sentence you've managed to bugger up all my plans.
On the faint chance you have a solution I'm not mentioning 'state of origin' .... this time.
cheers
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MikeN said in his post that he removed the prong in the bottom of his fork legs.
How do you do this?
Later forks than mine have an allen screw in the bottom of the leg, holding the damper arrangement in place.
My forks don't have this screw.
Is that prong thingy unscrewed from the inside with a tube spanner or something?
Cheers
I remember now.
Because I have A65 sliders and I didnt have the correct A65 damper assemblies ,I measured the tapered prong part from my friends A10 which as you say is a not removable and made a pair o my lathe.I secured them in the bottom of the sliders using a screw up from the bottom through the hole provided.
sorry I didnt make that clear but its was about 3 years since I did this and i havent looked since
I have since fabricated the earlier type damper rod asseblies that drop in down from the top.
Mike
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well,we seem to have quite a lot in common!,my RGS rep cripples me also!.as for the forks clanking mine was exactly the same and having recently converted the bike to clip ons i replaced the springs with some progressive ones and also fit two way damping rods,what a differance,job sorted and now feels like a new bike.as you allready have the two way damping rods,which looking at your pic would say they are period Eddie Dow ones as they have the acorn nuts on the stanchion top nuts,i would try some new progessive springs,just need to drop the fork legs,remove the metal shrouds and new springs go straight in.i would also try some thicker fork oil.as regards the kickstart lever fouling your leg a forward quadrant as fitted to Gold Stars/RGS will re-orientate the lever to one o clock,problem solved,these are readily available but a bit expensive at around £60.
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Olev, there is no easy fix. It seems that you need a set of sliders from about the 1966/67 bikes. I am not sure if your dampers would even fit them as I am not sure what yours are off.
You had to mention State of Origin didn't you? How did Brisbane go against Newcastle last time?
Trev.
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The Knights???...Brisbane???? aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thats dirty fighting Trev.
but you keep an eye on Bennie and his Dragons.
and I'll keep the eye open for a set of 66/67 sliders. My shed is full of great ideas that didn't quite work.
If you find me a set, I'll send you a slab of XXXX. It'll go a long way to controlling your emotions on the 15th.
cheers
ps: for people that don't know.
Newcastle is just like the kiwis - always punching outside their weight ............ oneday..?