Featherbed Engine Placement

Hi Guys, another (possibly) stupid question for you all!

One of the very knowledgeable blokes over on the TriumphRAT forum brought up this question. When installing a motor (in my case a Triumph twin) in a featherbed have any of you moved the motor over to the right to compensate for the additional weight of the primary side?
I've had a quick eyeball of my OIF Bonnie and sure enough, the motor is biased over to the right by about 1/4".
The other option is to move the wheels off center to the left, this would have the same effect.
I've figured out how I can move the motor over pretty easily with a couple of new spacers if need be.
Any thoughts would be very much welcome.

Thanks in advance

Webby

Hi Webby here's my stupid answer! On my Triton I just lined up the engine sprocket with the rear wheel sprocket - job done! I don't know if I would do it any different now, I suppose if you wanted to get extremely technical you could find the engine centre of gravity and match it up in the centre of the frame, and who knows where the sprockets would end up!! And does it make much difference anyway?, people make specials with central oil tanks and no batteries etc, all upsetting the balance and with no detrimental affects. Maybe the Bonnie was made with a 'deliberate' offset. And (sorry to go on) just how heavier is the Triumph primary side compared to the Norton???

Just my two bob's worth

I don't think it matters too much, you could even ofset it more towards the left to accomodate a wider rear wheel, all that would happen is that the bike would lean over more to compensate. If you ever saw an old Vespa from the back, it was easy to see them leaning to the left because the engine was on the right of the scooter's centerline by a rather large margin.

Jean

If you're worried just run a belt drive and the weight savings there should compensate for the offset.

Thanks Guys,

All good comments,
Jean, I remember riding a Vespa once, it was the first and last time, small wheels and the weight offset made it pretty scary!
Swooshdave, I'm planning on a belt drive, you've just asked my next stupid question
Cheshire Bloke, That's exactly what I've done, the Norton gearbox mounts put the triumph engine central in the frame, then I just had to fab up a spacer for the rear hub.
Also looking at my Dresda swingarm spacers (that sit behind the outer rear mounts) they are both the same width, so even a Triton guru who has raced (and won!) never noticed the difference. (He also fits belt drives)

But, just out of interest is any of the Norton engines offset in the frame ?

All the best

Webby

Just line up your gearbox and rear sprockets, bolt it in the frame and don't worry about any off sets as you won't even notice it when riding, I throw my Commando/Featherbed around hard in any corners and it has never made any diffrents which corners left or right handed, once in the corners just open the throttle up and power through the corner, the Featherbed will go where ever you steer it and I have been doing this for over 30 years now with my 850 Featherbed, in the last 18 months I have a Joe Hunt maggie hanging off the right side of my motor, with the extra weight of the maggie it has made no diffrents to the handling.

Ashley

Don't forget that Triumphs carry significant weight in thier oil tank, high up in the frame, on the timing side...

ashman said:

Just line up your gearbox and rear sprockets, bolt it in the frame and don't worry about any off sets as you won't even notice it when riding, I throw my Commando/Featherbed around hard in any corners and it has never made any diffrents which corners left or right handed, once in the corners just open the throttle up and power through the corner, the Featherbed will go where ever you steer it and I have been doing this for over 30 years now with my 850 Featherbed, in the last 18 months I have a Joe Hunt maggie hanging off the right side of my motor, with the extra weight of the maggie it has made no diffrents to the handling.

Ashley

Click to expand...

Thanks Ashley,
That was exactly the sort of advise I was after

All the best

Webby