Headsteady, Twin Puck Design:

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jaydee75

jaydee75

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I have been reading on here about headsteady function and design. I understand that the goal is to provide side to side stiff bracing
of the motor to the frame, while allowing f/r and vertical movement.
I like the Becker/Ludwig style, so I set out to make one designed around materials I had on hand.
I didn't want to permanently weld or modify anything that would prevent me going back to stock, so it my design is all bolt-on.
The MK3 has a threaded boss on each side of the backbone that the OEM steady rubber-mounts to. I made metal pucks to screw into
these bosses.

Headsteady, Twin Puck Design:

Headsteady, Twin Puck Design:


Then all I had to do was fabricate a stiff structure to mount to the head and support two sliding discs to bear against the
frame pucks. I used graphite impregnated nylon surfaces on steel disks.

Headsteady, Twin Puck Design:

Headsteady, Twin Puck Design:


My final product was simple, easily installed, and weighs only 7 ounces versus almost 2 pounds for the OEM HS.
The sliding discs are screw adjustable, with locknuts, to provide tension as needed.
Pics on bike:
Headsteady, Twin Puck Design:

Headsteady, Twin Puck Design:



It's a little cold outside right now to try it out. I'll let you know how it works.

Jaydee
 
Are those fuckin' pucks supposed to stop you going into an irrecoverable tank slapper ?
 
Very interesting design.

The legs look very stiff but is there any chance they can flex?
 
Interesting design. I'm looking forward to your road test result.

Perhaps an additional cross brace towards the top would lessen long term vibration stress on the welds.

I'm still using the original Lord mounts on top, but found a better quality, stiffer rubber type.
I've seen sheared off and torqued/rotated Lord mounts on neglected bikes.
How/why Norton kept the original design throughout production is amazing. Beancounters keeping costs down?
 
I'm trying to gauge how wide that is. How close does it come to the sides of the tunnel under the tank?

Graphite impregnated nylon sounds really high tech!

Russ
 
Since it is a bolt together item, maybe a threaded rod, double nutted, as a crossbrace about halfway up the supports. Then it can be adjusted when the pucks are.
 
I'd weld a cross brace from the head mount section to the opposite side just below the puck, forming a triangle, on each side. Can't have too much stiffness there.

Dave
69S
 
I made up Glass filled Delrin pucks to fit, in stead of the the original Rubber biscuits and kept the stock Mk 3 head steady. It seems to work just fine.
There is zero side to side freedom but the engine can rotate enough for the iso's to still work.
 
Very Nice adaptation Jaydee. Do try it before cross bracing as I've found I liked some give in the head steady but yours is likely robust enough its as good as if cross braced already to any side loads you can develop short of crashing. Headsteady definitely needed in isolastics but by itself its not transforming but still a nice step in right direction. I sent late Gerry Bristow's swash plate-pucks headsteady to someone to try but ain't heard back yet. Gerry said his vibed and didn't transform handling that much so removed it.
 
Bruce Mac said:
I made up Glass filled Delrin pucks to fit, in stead of the the original Rubber biscuits and kept the stock Mk 3 head steady. It seems to work just fine.
There is zero side to side freedom but the engine can rotate enough for the iso's to still work.
Click to expand...

Hmm, you want to allow the up and down movement. But if it makes you happy.
 
DogT said:
I'd weld a cross brace from the head mount section to the opposite side just below the puck, forming a triangle, on each side. Can't have too much stiffness there.

Dave
69S
Click to expand...

+1

You definitely want the stiffness. You could opt for a light plate of steel welded between the uprights and across the pplate with the bolt holes. Where the angle iron meets the plate with the bolt holes it appears to be hanging out in the breeze a little bit cantilevered.
 
Wow, when Alcotrel lit into me I figured I'd made a big mistake. I was just looking to do a winter project while its too cold to ride.

Thanks for the comments and feedback otherwise. I actually have a cross brace already cut, it just seemed so stiff after I welded it up that I didn't put it on. I can always add it. Those are 3/4 x 1/8 316 SS angles. Tough and stiff and the angle leg adds effective thickness like a beam. I figured if Herb Becker made his out of aluminum plate, this should be plenty good. Nothing magic about the hi-tech Nylon, it's just some bearing material I had laying around. Any good plastic would work.
Weather should clear up in a week, I'm anxious to feel the new vibrations. If nothing else, at least I eliminated over a pound of weight on top of the head.
Jaydee
 
acotrel has made it clear he does not think highly of Commandos.
Click to expand...

and neither did Heinz Kegler think much of Commando

he used to entertain me by limping around his garage in an exaggerated manner, telling me that that was the "way" a Commando corners

He would call Commandos "Limping Camels", he was a featherbed man 100% and he was funny as hell, I miss him
 
1up3down said:
acotrel has made it clear he does not think highly of Commandos.
Click to expand...

and neither did Heinz Kegler think much of Commando
Click to expand...


And all this on the forum about ................"Norton Commando Motorcycles"

My point is looking for and supporting enhancements for Commandos on a Commando forum is a good thing but whining about the Commando on the Commando forum is rather pointless and dead ended. The general pattern I see is those that whine or bitch about the Commando are usually the ones who have failed to understand and master it.....bottom line.
 
Aco - please correct me if I'm wrong here, but I thought you had not ridden a standard Commando?

I had my doubts before I owned one. Now I know that a Commando in good overall nick with a rod-end head steady or something similarly rigid will track and handle as well as any of its street contemporaries.

If you still doubt this, search the archives for the on bike video clips that a member in California posted on this forum last year. Maybe he or someone else can re-post the link.

Jaydee - good luck with your novel design. Looking at your pics, I think it needs more stiffness because there is a lot of leverage when cornering at, say, 80 mph but only the road test will tell you. Please let us know how it goes.
 
Try it without then with the brace or how will we learn something new? I found just a headsteady will raise the Hinge threshold but not prevent it. Safest way I know to test is zig zaging on low aired tires. A flat w/o a head steady might be un controllable. It ya ain't ridden -aware- w/o a head steady its a lesion you only need once. Btw Gerry's swash plates witness marks revealed mostly a backwards motion with some upward so appears as ~1/8" long arc tipped mostly horizontal. This agrees with assessment that the whole power unit pivots on the rear and moves most at front both up/dn and side/side. Head steady about in the middle of the action. I was going to try modifying Gerry's solid mount plates with a spongy-rubber back up for some compliance.
 
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