What head steady is this? (2018)

Thanks David. Ludwig attached the spring between the rh head mount bolllt and the rh frame bolt which held the original rubber mount. I never saw the article Jan wrote to Dog-T, but the second picture from the left is exactly how I made my shape, and I did use 6mm steel. I made the supports out of a solid 50 mm dia bit of aluminium, and I used front engine mount washers in between. [ cant think what they are called right now. ] I based my mounting on the above 2 pictures. Jan had drilled a hole in a hex headed bolt on the frame and you can see in the picture the wee bracket he made held to the head by the rh head mount bolt. I had two bikes to convert, firstkly thwe 850, which when I first put together, the tank hit the bracket. I had to cut away teh top edge to miss the tank.
The second one I made, i cut the top half of the original 1971 mount and welded the vertical shape onto that. I did have a problem with my first mount which I will let you know about in a different thread.

Ha, its been so long since I started a thread, I cant even figure out how to.
Dereck

Jan said he didn't know how much the side load was. I can say it might not be as much as you would think. I'll tell you why I think that in the imaginary thread I have going in my head, which when someone helps my brain, I might write on this forum. As I said to one of my customers this morning when referring to my computer, I can drive cars, bikes and I can sail yachts, but I cant fly rocket ships.
Dereck

kerinorton said:

... I cant fly rocket ships

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Just a corollary to your signature line - "If it ain't broke, fix it till you are"

DogT said:

I have Ludwig's pictures and drawings of his HS he sent me if anyone wants them.

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DogT :
I believe you can not post private mail on a public forum without an OK from the sender .

It 's been a while , but I must have sent you these construction details because you asked for them .
Have you ever done something with it , or was it only a waste of time ..?

Great to hear from you Ludwig.
I'm sure there was no ill intent from DogT's post - I hope you see it that way.
Cheers
Rob

gtiller
"Interestingly this Norvil accessory had nothing at all to do with Les Emery’s Norvil."....

Maybe designed by Norvil but mine was bought from Les Emery /Fair Spares / Norvil and was part of their catalogue, as an option to the mild steel version.

There was certainly no ill intent on my behalf. If I can make some amends somehow, ludwig, let me know how.

H Grandpaul. Intelligence before money. I'll stick to my moto. Luckily the only thing I have had to fix in the last 2 years is my 44 year old ignition switch which cleaned out beautifully and should last longer then I will, and loosing the two head steady bolts when heading to the Dunedin Rally, and recently loosing the screw holding my tail light to the rear loop.

I was just about to ask what the head steady I have was, saw this post. I hink it must be a form of Norvil. Aluminum arms...it seems to be in good shape so I think Ill re-use it....opinions?

Bikes said:

I was just about to ask what the head steady I have was, saw this post. I hink it must be a form of Norvil. Aluminum arms...it seems to be in good shape so I think Ill re-use it....opinions?

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This is better than the original commando head steady but not as good as an original norvil one
Using aluminium for the side plates will never be as strong unless they are very thick
Also the mount that clamps to frame is extremely long for no reason?
The point where the side plates bolt on should be as close to the frame as possible
If this were mine I would re make the side plates the same as the norvil type ,and re drill the clamping part of the mount
Cheers

baz said:

Also the mount that clamps to frame is extremely long for no reason?

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It makes the risk of it not fitting under a tank higher, I would replace the side plates with dog legged steel plates narrow at the rail clamp and full width at the ISO.

kommando said:

It makes the risk of it not fitting under a tank higher, I would replace the side plates with dog legged steel plates narrow at the rail clamp and full width at the ISO.

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That makes sense....this bike came with the six gallon factory race tank so maybe clearance is an issue......I will find out.....

When the handling of your bike depends on the head-steady, you have got a real problem.

Funny you should say that Acotrel. If I could I would start a thread named "Who needs a head steady" after my experience riding around the South Island nearly 2 years ago. I didn't know it but the slight rattle I heard around St Arnard was when I had lost my 2 head steady bolts, Could not fathom what it was and the handling hadn't altered for me to be able to tell with the style of riding on that long trip. When in Dunedin on the Saturday, we rode up to Palmerston the wound our way up to Middlemarch,. On the way back to Dunedin, I followed John on his ESII and Murray on his mkIII, riding down steep sweeping corners of non consistent radii, and I clocked them at nearly 80 clicks. It wasn't till i had the ignition problem on the Monday that i noticed the bolts were missing after I had removed the tanks. i just about shit myself , considering the experience I had over 40 years ago when the head steady broke on my 750 going around the sweeper by the Rangriri pub. Of course in those days, I didn't know shit from clay about commando's.
So, Who needs a head steady?

Bikes, if the mounting bolts are no wider than the original rubber exhaust mounts used on the original design, it shouldn't be a problem. And, as the forces acting on the mount are not that great with a well set up bike, then the alloy brackets will be fine. Of course, it wont be as good as the Ludwig design but better than nothing.

Dereck

acotrel said:

When the handling of your bike depends on the head-steady, you have got a real problem.

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...unless you're riding a featherbed, where the headsteady doesn't so much steady the head, but prevents fracture of the front downtubes due to headstock flexure.
So.. I guess, counter to your conjecture Alan, you would have a big problem without this headsteady.
Probably Rex McCandless's only oversight in this design.
Cheers
Rob

acotrel said:

When the handling of your bike depends on the head-steady, you have got a real problem.

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How many more times Alan???? One of the reasons I come on this forum is to maybe learn something !!
I understand you like to wind people up but you just keep blurting out the same stuff over and over!!

robs ss said:

...unless you're riding a featherbed, where the headsteady doesn't so much steady the head, but prevents fracture of the front downtubes due to headstock flexure.
So.. I guess, counter to your conjecture Alan, you would have a big problem without this headsteady.
Probably Rex McCandless's only oversight in this design.
Cheers
Rob

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I have noticed a lot of the new replica featherbed frames now have an extra bracing tube welded to the headstock

Robs ss
I fitted a new Z1R four to a Slimline frame years ago and diligently made a bespoke steel head steady fitting across the top of the cam cover attaching to the original Atlas head steady lugs, and an extra bracing tube down to the seat cross member similar to baz notes above.
No other reason than to keep the original stiffness at the steering head and provide an extra mounting point for the heavier, more powerful engine. Bike did over 100,000 miles with no frame cracks anywhere and nice handling.
Head steady all beadblasted, painted and ready to go back on the restored bike.
Commando head steady a sensible feature specially the Norvil iso type.

Nice story KiwiNeill and sounds like an interesting bike.
At the risk of stating a hijack - on this forum if there is no photo it didn't happen!
I'd love a pic
Cheers
Rob