Hi all
I seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest here - unfortunately some correspondents are getting overly hyped up over what should be an interesting biker/biker discussion, not an excuse for slagging each other.
Again might I state my simple query: I wanted to know what is the correct angle between the headstock and the bottom frame rails of my slimline featherbed. SIMPLE QUERY. Unfortunately I received various answers from various sources, most claiming to be based on factory specs (but I could never locate these mysterious 'factory specs', nor did anyone direct me to where they could be found).
Just a couple of points:
I have scoured my posts and can find no first reference of mine to 1/2 degree - this was referred to by Rohan in his post of May 26. Apologies to Rohan re my inference of his contribution on Ken Sprayson - a typo error on my side.
With regard to Unity Equipe not touching slimlines, they most certainly advertise them for sale, and have done so for a long time!
With regard to 'no featherbed was 27 degrees', I'm afraid this statement does not agree with the info I have received from Maidstone Motoliner (via the kind offices of Nick from Classic Bike) which states that the headstock/bottom frame rail angle should be 62-64 degrees (ie 26-28 degrees from the vertical when the bottom rails are horizontal). This angle is 24 degrees in the diagram posted on the NOC website.
With regard to the bikes being made by different companies in the early 1950's and the Slimline era - certainly true, but they were made by the same company (AMC) from 1953 (when the featherbed first became available for the production models for the home market) until its collapse in 1966 (after 7 years of supplying wideline models and 6 years of slimline)- subsequently, the remaining few featherbed models were trickled out by Norton Villiers until 1970. In any case, throughout its lifespan of 20 years the featherbed frames were made by the one manufacturer - Reynolds. This information is documented by the NOC.
The statement by Carbonfibre that the headstock/bottom frame tube angle is immaterial does not make any sense at all. I would hope that we all know what a rake angle is and so will not bother to explain. However, when building a frame the builder needs to be able to reference the headstock to some other part of the frame - otherwise he could just throw it in at any old angle and sort out the rake with front and rear suspensions, front/rear wheel sizes etc - not very practical!
Similarily a frame realigner needs to have some way of referencing the angle of the headstock to some other part of the frame - he cannot just angle it to a skyhook! On a featherbed the bottom frame rails provide a handy reference plane as they can be easily set in a jig.
Finally, as I have said before, Ken Sprayson could set us all straight (ha ha) on this as he was the MAIN MAN in the 50's and still is - I am still trying to get in contact with him, just to be sure, to be sure. When it comes to a featherbed, Ken is the man!
Keep her lit.
Matt
I seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest here - unfortunately some correspondents are getting overly hyped up over what should be an interesting biker/biker discussion, not an excuse for slagging each other.
Again might I state my simple query: I wanted to know what is the correct angle between the headstock and the bottom frame rails of my slimline featherbed. SIMPLE QUERY. Unfortunately I received various answers from various sources, most claiming to be based on factory specs (but I could never locate these mysterious 'factory specs', nor did anyone direct me to where they could be found).
Just a couple of points:
I have scoured my posts and can find no first reference of mine to 1/2 degree - this was referred to by Rohan in his post of May 26. Apologies to Rohan re my inference of his contribution on Ken Sprayson - a typo error on my side.
With regard to Unity Equipe not touching slimlines, they most certainly advertise them for sale, and have done so for a long time!
With regard to 'no featherbed was 27 degrees', I'm afraid this statement does not agree with the info I have received from Maidstone Motoliner (via the kind offices of Nick from Classic Bike) which states that the headstock/bottom frame rail angle should be 62-64 degrees (ie 26-28 degrees from the vertical when the bottom rails are horizontal). This angle is 24 degrees in the diagram posted on the NOC website.
With regard to the bikes being made by different companies in the early 1950's and the Slimline era - certainly true, but they were made by the same company (AMC) from 1953 (when the featherbed first became available for the production models for the home market) until its collapse in 1966 (after 7 years of supplying wideline models and 6 years of slimline)- subsequently, the remaining few featherbed models were trickled out by Norton Villiers until 1970. In any case, throughout its lifespan of 20 years the featherbed frames were made by the one manufacturer - Reynolds. This information is documented by the NOC.
The statement by Carbonfibre that the headstock/bottom frame tube angle is immaterial does not make any sense at all. I would hope that we all know what a rake angle is and so will not bother to explain. However, when building a frame the builder needs to be able to reference the headstock to some other part of the frame - otherwise he could just throw it in at any old angle and sort out the rake with front and rear suspensions, front/rear wheel sizes etc - not very practical!
Similarily a frame realigner needs to have some way of referencing the angle of the headstock to some other part of the frame - he cannot just angle it to a skyhook! On a featherbed the bottom frame rails provide a handy reference plane as they can be easily set in a jig.
Finally, as I have said before, Ken Sprayson could set us all straight (ha ha) on this as he was the MAIN MAN in the 50's and still is - I am still trying to get in contact with him, just to be sure, to be sure. When it comes to a featherbed, Ken is the man!
Keep her lit.
Matt
