Fair Spares Head Steady set-up

Hi
Coould somebody advise how to set up the Fair Spares (aka Norvil) head steady? My bike has one and I've found the clearance on one side is about .035" and on the other about .015". This seems way too much. I guess it should be shimmed equally on each side until the total clearance is about .010"? Is that right?
Thanks

David

Try Isolastic Head Steady - Fitting Instructions Tech item no 6 on the Norvil site. http://www.norvilmotorcycle.co.uk/ Yes it should be same clearance as main ISO's but apparently can be difficult to get right depending whose version it is, how well made etc. specific dimensions of your tube and such.

David for over a decade I've read reports of the various isolastic headsteadies and to a man everyone spent undue time-effort to both center and get faces square and to a man they never reported getting the buzz out. Norton found out they could not add any more rubber support area or the vibes isolation threshold greatly increased. You may be the first I hope. Let us know please.

Hobot
Vibes are not the problem. She's a really smooth bike, but handles like a pig at speed. The wallow and head shaking at 80mph+ is alarming on bumpy roads. It used to start at 70mph but has improved since I tightened the Isos. I'm still looking for other things that might contribute and found the head steady is loose, so I was hoping that maybe the loose head steady might be encouraging sideways engine movement and therefore twisting of the whole bike. I'm not THAT hopeful though!

FYI, stuff done so far: new Roadriders, wheels aligned, Isos adjusted, wheels balanced, head bearings checked, no swing arm play. The whole cradle/gearbox alignment is OK (had broken chain links due to gearbox misalignment: meant gearbox and rear wheel sprocket were misaligned. Norman White sorted that and checked it is as good). MInd you my last bike was a T160 and I was used to blasting up to over 100mph without handling issues; sometimes I wonder if my expectation is too high!

Looks like you've done most of the stuff needed to improve handling and general rideability but there is more which may or may not apply to your bike. I had the same with mine but it was more the supposedly traditional Commando weave at 75+, on the straight that is. I found different ISO offsets front and back, 0.25 rear and 0.31 front, with engine cradle and swingarm pointing left. No matter what I did with wheel alignment it could not compensate for the cradle position. Cure was to machine .06" off the front right ISO and add spacer to LH. It still shakes it's head a little on bumps when accelerating but runs straight at any speed up to 100-105 (mine wont go 150!). Easy enough to measure front offset with the mount removed but the rear is difficult without a stripdown.

Tyres also have an effect especially a worn rear, plus when I first got my Commando when I changed from TT100's to Roadrunners it felt like a different bike the handling was so much better, no bike of mine has even sniffed a TT100 since.

pdl999 and others, I too have had the mysterious Commando rubber baby buggy blues. Seems everything from the shape and size and PSI of the tire patches to the skewed wear in isolastic mounts to even primary chain slack flop on worn gear box bushes and bend shafts, can build up to annoyance or fish flop freak out. Almost quit Norton after experiencing modern sportbikes stable tracking. I've had my open jacket flap or over hanging cargo wind eddies start a wobble just cruising legal with nil wind gusts, ugh.

I have had 80's Honda and a Commando that fought me to track evenly when the fork travel had sticking friction or the stem bearings crusted up tight inside. I'm scared now of steering dampers delay for fast action to recover a Gravel skip out and detest their extra effort to just cruise along. It may tame tracking but I found its not needed when other mystery faults solved on purpose or accidentally.

My base line factory Combat is fine to ride sanely but learned not to hold her in fairy fast steady state sweepers or slight wobbles build up dangerously. Fast but short flings are tolerated pretty good but do feel some twitch as slack taken up then released, but not scary or annoying, just not up to modern stability. Yet my rod linked wonder has so far been impossible to upset and self corrects hands off bar slaps in 1/2 to one fork oscillation and is more stable than any modern I've upset on purpose or accidentally.

Hope you find and fix enough items your Cdo tracks as good as they get.

Thanks for all the helpful replies!
I am delighted to report that having reduced the head steady clearance from about .05" to the more normal .01", the handling is vastly improved. I can now blast up to 90-100 without the dreaded head shaking. The only downside is some low intensity vibration that wasn't there before, but nothing that is uncomfortable.
Have to say I am much relieved that I can now enjoy riding this thing at speed, cos it was just awful before!

Pleasing and educational to hear David. Its first report i've read on how much a head steady can influence stability. I'm waiting for other shoe to drop if Novil-iso steady can be dialed in to be as smooth as a factory Cdo. Extra rubber means extra area to transmit some freq. Maybe beveling the donut rims might help?
I'd read other reports with the top rod link improving handling turns but no prior complaint on straight tracking.

Im still confused why your Cdo was a nunance even w/o a head steady at least going straight. Road texture could cause some front-back tire twist through frame for for cradle side tipping yet my 2 Combats at times had no head steady or the rubbers destroyed but were fine with gentle hands on in the ton zone. Short of entering hinged handling factory Cdo's should be about thoughtless stable and leanable. But those still risk hinged onset in longer hi power leaning turns.

Hope you get yours to flat disappear but for the thrust into the future.

Hi Dave
FYI
If your bike has a roadster tank be careful of the clearance between the tank and the Norvil head steady. They have been known to buzz a hole in the tank where it contacts the bolt heads that go through the side plates. I don’t think there is any problems with an interstate tank but regardless of the type check for clearance.
CNN