Knee pads

[terryg]

Who's the expert on getting a good fit to the tank?

Having painted a tank and fitted new knee pads I'm unhappy with the fit.  The edges just don't sit down where they are supposed to and the gaps are going to upset my sleep.

Does anyone have any wise words or tips to help improve the fit, please?

Should I bend the 3-point retaining fixture?  Apply heat?  Wait and see?  What do you do?

Grateful for any advice, thanks.

[Derby Rob]

hi,
   i have still the same problem,after trying super glue,evo stick and black silicone sealant .All left over night/days with a strap around the tank to keep the rubbers tight to the metal,none ever lasted more than a few days.

Its not the end of the world ,but i know its not right and my eyes get drawn to them on every trip out of the shed !!
I shall follow this post with interest.

[KiwiGF]

Are there different rubbers or rubber mounting methods? I have a metal plate around 1.5mm thick inside the rubbers, which I spent an hour or two bending to suit the tanks contour, the rubbers fit ok having done that.

The rubbers I have have a lip all around them which is trapped between the plate and tank when the two screws are done up. The plate is obviously slightly smaller than the rubbers but otherwise the same shape.

[terryg]

The tank I have has rubbers with 3 pockets moulded in, 1 at each corner, to fit over the ends of 3 legged plates screwed to each side. 2 sides of the triangular pads fit flush to the tank but the 3rd does not. I suspect perhaps one of the pockets is not quite deep enough. If that's the case it's difficult to see how to change that and I'm reluctant to modify the original metal plate, except by a bit of bending
Getting the new pads on is also a struggle, which doesn't encourage repeated fitting and removal, for fear of splitting them. Perhaps there's a trick to fitting that I'm unaware of.

[terryg]

After a bit of Googling this begins to sound like a common problem. I should have remembered these are British bikes and pattern parts - almost invariably requiring some 'attention' to assemble.
I often wonder what it must have been like to work on the line at Smallheath, perhaps on 'piecework' with output subject to design and quality control deficiencies.

[Butch (cb)]

Keep your knees firmly pressed against them (similar to advice received from my mother as it happens).

[Topdad]

Yes, would concur mine has exactly the same problem .It uses the contraption with the 3 points they seem to move out of line as you stretch the pad to fit it and don't spring back. I have a set of the plates which didn't fit so if anyone would like 'em drop me an e-mail. I also fitted the grey pads which was another mistake ,they discoloured from grey to a very strange colour , Bob

[bsa-bill]

not a lot to be done unfortunately, they just don't make them stretchy enough as In days of yore, not enough rubber in the mix but then there's  maybe a rubber tree still standing somewhere in the Amazon 

[terryg]

As previously posted (above), I was losing sleep over poorly fitting knee pads on the '60 model Super Rocket tank.  Something had to be done.

In fitting the new pads I naively thought that there would be no preparation required.  In other words, I expected them to fit 'straight out of the packet'.  The results were not impressive so I took a closer look at the pad moulding and the 3-pointed retaining piece (pic 1).  The moulded ribbing was interfering with the retainer and the round headed screws holding the retainer to the tank, preventing the pad from fitting flush.

Perhaps the fit would improve if the offending ribbing was removed.  Therefore I cut away the ribbing broadly in line with the shape of the retainer, as you can see in pic 1.  (The unmolested pad for comparison is one from a second set I seem to have bought in error).

The fit was improved a lot and pic 2 shows the fitted modified pad - on the rhs but I think that's easy to see.

Although not perfect I'm a lot happier with the appearance of the modified pads and pic 3 shows both fitted after surgery.

I've also learnt that it is much, much easier to fit the pads with the tank on the bike.  Holding a tank still on the bench while wrestling the pad into place really needs a second pair of hands.

With the usual 20/20 hindsight I can see I should have been more critical and done a bit more planning when first fitting the pads.

[chaterlea25]

HI All,
I'm pretty sure I posted before on how I stuck the knepads to my SR chromed tank ??
Anyway I used this
http://www.bostik.co.uk/construction/product/evo-stik/Gripfill-Adhesive/330

No brackets and held them in place with insulatin tape till it set,
It must be going on 15 years ago now and they havn't budged, even with some accidental petrol spillages

Works for me
John