TT Industries Gearbox Delay

worntorn said:

I had the same question as Bernhard and did some searching. I'm not sure how old the pricing I found for the Quaife is, but it appears the cost is about £2400 for the complete Quaife box, not much different than the TTI.
My other question is at what power level is the gearbox upgrade to a TTI or Quaife necessary?

I am getting old and lazy, starting to enjoy four simple gears and lots of torque (850 or Vin) so see the five or six speed as less desireable than the four these days.


Glen

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Glen....for a road bike a 5 Speed is never needed....some want one sure...some enjoy using one....but a good four speed...with not too close ratio will do most things...a well built standard box will mate well with most road tunes, from standard up and including anything that is biased to torque rather than top end. Fewer geaars can be benefit and more relaxing for the rider who enjoys using the engine torque and rides to the characteristics the bike was designed for.

For a race bike, life is always different, but it's not power figures, but power delivery characteristics that matter. If you tune an engine to raise the power band you need to be in the power band to get the best from it, mainly you are looking to exit a corner in the power band...and accellerating hard...more gears will help you.

Most race Nortons, and certainly the bigger capacity long strokes will do great with a 5 Speed because from say 4000 up it should be pulling like a train.

You would only consider a 6 Speed for a 750 really, if you have a short stroke 750 making its power fairly high up the power band you will probably get some benefit from a 6 Speed. For the 750 long stroke the benefit may be less clear but consider that with a 6 Speed you will have available the right gear for a higher percentage of corners and your overall gearing (final drive sprockets) can be left alone for more circuits, using maybe only the lower 5 gears on a shorter tighter circuit.

The downside is that more gears means thinner gears in the same space, so a 4 Speed can score if you have huge power and torque figures, where a 6 Speed might be less robust.

In any application it isn't just the gearbox that matters, it is the transmission from crank to rear wheel hub.....it wasn't the size of the gears that was the real problem for race Nortons in the 70s, it was flex in the shafts, which is addressed by things like an outrigger bearing and higher ratio primary drive, and removing the kick start function and using bearings instead of bushes. A modern box, with a belt drive of the right ratio and a lighter clutch and a good cush drive will be a more reliable set up on the race track.

Bernhard wrote:
Matchless has still not bothered to answered my question.

What was the question?

Matchless said:

Bernhard wrote:
Matchless has still not bothered to answered my question.

What was the question?

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Could you please tell us, after paying for the gear box from down under, paying the postage and Customs & Excise is there any savings to be made on this method than form a Norton shop in the UK :?:

Hi Bernhard

Minovations 5 speed TTI box for a Commando was £2,500 plus vat plus £20 postage. Might put importing into perspective
With the exchange rate as it is at the moment it works but that 20% vat is a big hit to take.

Chris

Lets just say that my TTI 'box, with import duty & VAT cost less than the same from Minovation. Also, if ordering from the makers, you can have what you want instead of what a dealer has in stock.

You guys are commenting on everything but what the original question was. Matchless said he ordered and paid for a gearbox, was told to expect delivery in 6 weeks, and he hasn’t heard anything – and he is asking if anyone has had similar problems. So it turns out the gearbox guy took the money but is off riding somewhere.

This is exactly why I long ago quit buying from abroad, especially the UK. Vendors, and not just the small ones, charging me for parts and never shipping. An example is Unity. They charged me for parts they said were on ‘back order’ and never shipped anything. Never shipped. Happened with RGM too.

Well then were do you buy a 5 speed Norton box stateside?
That really is the problem.

I bought a bucket load of hotrod Vincent engine parts from the UK , OZ and NZ last year or so. Most of the main items were special order as in beefed up and bored out crankcases, one off 102 mm stroke crankshaft, one off Pazon racing ignition and so on. I had zero problems with nondelivery of items and the quality of the parts was better than anything available twenty years ago. Had to be a bit patient to wait for 2 special length forged conrods to be made up (OZ) and also for the big bore top ends.
Never had a problem with ordering UK supplied Norton parts from RGM and Norvil either. Maybe just lucky!

Glen

When you think about it, we are lucky all this stuff is available, as these bikes we love have been out of production for a long time now. Over the years I have had very few real problems with late or non delivery. Occasionally parts are of poor quality, but with experience it's easy to avoid the total rubbish.
This thread started off regarding TTI late delivery. That gearbox has now done a few thousand miles & is fantastic. My initial fears were due to not having dealt with the company before. I would not hesitate to deal with them in the future.

Chris said:

Hi Bernhard

Minovations 5 speed TTI box for a Commando was £2,500 plus vat plus £20 postage. Might put importing into perspective
With the exchange rate as it is at the moment it works but that 20% vat is a big hit to take.

Chris

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20%, or Maggie’s Tax, is added to almost anything but clothes and takeaway cooked food in the UK, so it can pay off shopping around, even down under, with the high shipping cost.
Cheapest way to do it is take a holiday there purchase the gear box and carry it back as luggage, as long as you don’t go over the weight limit.
With the pound at this moment in time buying 1.89813 Australian Dollars , you have to weigh up the pros & cons.

Bernhard said:

Chris said:

Hi Bernhard

Minovations 5 speed TTI box for a Commando was £2,500 plus vat plus £20 postage. Might put importing into perspective
With the exchange rate as it is at the moment it works but that 20% vat is a big hit to take.

Chris

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20%, or Maggie’s Tax, is added to almost anything but clothes and takeaway cooked food in the UK, so it can pay off shopping around, even down under, with the high shipping cost.
Cheapest way to do it is take a holiday there purchase the gear box and carry it back as luggage, as long as you don’t go over the weight limit.
With the pound at this moment in time buying 1.89813 Australian Dollars , you have to weigh up the pros & cons.

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If you import from outside the EU to the UK you pay import duty and then the VAT as well, and you will get charged by the carrier to take this money from you on behalf of the government.....as for Maggie's Tax, it wasn't her idea and the whole of Europe pays it about the same percentage.....

You always have to weigh up the pro's and cons, with the gearbox you have to ask if someone in the UK holding a small stock will have exactly the box you want, or if he will have to wait for it to be shipped anyway.....

Matchless said:

Hi all,
Has anyone dealt with TTI in New Zealand. In early November I ordered & paid for a 5 speed 'box. I was told to expect delivery in 6 weeks. Since then I have heard nothing & my emails are not being replied to. Am I being paranoid. Anyone amongst you had similar problems?
Cheers, Martyn.

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The original question reminded me of another reason for ordering from aboard, or anywhere else for that matter.
When ordering ALWAYS get a firm delivery date, in writing, and hold the supplier responsible for failing to meet that date.
If there is any delay chase them, up and if they are late for more than a week , ask for a discount for breach of promise.

I know Bruce Vernon personnally.

I own one of his gearboxes.

Yes he sometimes misses the promised date. As I said above in this case around this time I understand he had an problem with steel supply. The steel was below spec.

He also races bikes a lot riding his own machine in last years Classic TT for example.

So at the end of the day you can chose to buy probably the best gearbox available in the wolrd from a guy who rides what he makes but does go away from time to time.

He is not Honda

TTI actually offer quite a few gearboxes for old bikes. How many does he sell? I would guess not
that many in the larger picture. Before you complain about him realize that we are really
lucky to be able to purchase one at all. Like FullAuto probably more a case of a guy who just
likes to see it happen rather than a guy who sees a chance to make money.
Expensive? Sure. Good? Yes.
This is toy stuff. Totally fun money expenditure.

johnm said:

I know Bruce Vernon personnally.

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You should be able to spell his name then! :?

Onder said:

TTI actually offer quite a few gearboxes for old bikes. How many does he sell? I would guess not
that many in the larger picture. Before you complain about him realize that we are really
lucky to be able to purchase one at all. Like FullAuto probably more a case of a guy who just
likes to see it happen rather than a guy who sees a chance to make money.
Expensive? Sure. Good? Yes.
This is toy stuff. Totally fun money expenditure.

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Judging by the serial number on my TTi box, and the serial number on my FullAuto head... 5xx versus 1xx ...Bruce has sold rather more gearboxes than Ken has heads...a lot more...and if you consider that the same basic box is used in a very wide range of bikes and the FullAuto only fits a Commando....it is not surprising really...but he has also been at it longer...

....if you spent time around classic/vintage racing you would see a heck of a lot of both Hemmings/Quaife and TTi boxes being used....and not many original AMC type boxes...

I think anybody who works in the kind of industry we are talking about does it because he enjoys doing it, no matter how much he enjoys making money...

Seems expensive?, well yes, particularly including taxes, but when you add up development and manufacturing hours and understand the overhead costs.....it probably isn't.....discretionary purchase...absolutely...