Kenny Dreer's 355 lb street tracker

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Nov 26, 2009
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Got a call from Kenny Dreer yesterday and he told me about his latest 850 project.

Kenny Dreer's 355 lb street tracker


"Jim, here's several photos of Norton scoot. Triumph TT pipes make up the exhaust system. The bike ready to ride is 355 lbs. Pictures of the swing arm cradle Assyria. I made about 6 of these units, boy do they work well. Vernier adj, you'll notice the gear box is positively located, a HD Sportster nylon shoe works to adjust the primary chain. I worked w Tom Reid to design the cush drive Assy. Urethane bushings from golf cart leaf springs, always available at Amazon. I'm running the oem points ignition with a Dyna Ignition Booster and Dyna 3 ohm coils, Shorai 14 amp battery, works great. Running the motor on Penn Grade 50 w here in FL." Kenny Dreer
 
Seat looks a little stiff. ;)

Real nice. Thanks for posting.

Any chance he'd want to make a 7th one?
 
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It's easy to ruin the look and function of old bikes while upgrading parts for the wrong reasons. Huge forks and double 320 discs on RD Yamahas for instance. Kenny's bike is how I like to see it done. Other than the seat it looks ready for action. I do wonder how the tires will last
 
There's a lot of trickery going on there.
The more you look, the more you see.

Nice to see Kenny hasn't lost his passion for Norton's.
Once again Proves
'You can take the little boy off the Norton, but you can't take the Norton out of him.'
Or,
'Once bitten by these wretched machines, you're forever cursed'...



Like I said, Nice to see he's still at it..
 
Got a call from Kenny Dreer yesterday and he told me about his latest 850 project.

"Jim, here's several photos of Norton scoot. Triumph TT pipes make up the exhaust system. The bike ready to ride is 355 lbs. Pictures of the swing arm cradle Assyria. I made about 6 of these units, boy do they work well. Vernier adj, you'll notice the gear box is positively located, a HD Sportster nylon shoe works to adjust the primary chain. I worked w Tom Reid to design the cush drive Assy. Urethane bushings from golf cart leaf springs, always available at Amazon. I'm running the oem points ignition with a Dyna Ignition Booster and Dyna 3 ohm coils, Shorai 14 amp battery, works great. Running the motor on Penn Grade 50 w here in FL." Kenny Dreer
I am excited to learn that Kenny hasn't put his inventive gifts on the mantlepiece.
Kenny, if you read this, please let us see the details of your swing arm and cradle, also the cush drive assy (rear hub?). Is the cradle and box section swing arm a straight retrofit?
A fixed location gearbox is the way to go, even with belt drives!

- Knut
 
The swing arm and s/a bearing conversion appears to be a Dreer development from 2005 approx.

Here is another application.

- Knut
 
Points iggy, single Mik, Chain primary. Who would have thunked.
Wonder if it's an OE triplex or duplex chain....
 
What is the advantage of having a fixed gearbox?Is it a matter of less flex in the drive train?
Thanks,Mike
 
What is the advantage of having a fixed gearbox?Is it a matter of less flex in the drive train?
Thanks,Mike
The top bolt beeing fixed is no more able to move either fore/aft (due to engine sprocket force vs rear wheel/transmission forces) and more can't twist as the both combined forces are playing only on one side of the assembly (hope my english is good enough to explain !
Ludwig somewhere in the forum explain it better than me and had done it on his bikes ..........
 
I wish i could get on with a reversed gear lever.... i don't know if its because I'm 6ft 4" of have size 14 UK boots but just cant get the geometry right
 
I wish i could get on with a reversed gear lever.... i don't know if its because I'm 6ft 4" of have size 14 UK boots but just cant get the geometry rightI
I had the same problem. I think it's to do with the pivot point for the lever being so far away from the ankle joint. In the normal lever arrangement, the distance between the ankle joint & the lever pivot is rather small. The reversed lever does work well if it's near horizontal, but as soon as you have in inclined, your toes are trying to push the lever instead of rotating it.
 
I had the same problem. I think it's to do with the pivot point for the lever being so far away from the ankle joint. In the normal lever arrangement, the distance between the ankle joint & the lever pivot is rather small. The reversed lever does work well if it's near horizontal, but as soon as you have in inclined, your toes are trying to push the lever instead of rotating it.
100% in agreement Steve and its a real pity. i even purchased a "bare metal" lever from RGM, i tried lengthening it and shortening it all to no avail
i also think the other problem is that the physical lift of the lever (in standard form) is to great
 
A reversed lever always rotates away from, not with, your ankle / foot. On a standard box, the lever travel is so great that when combined with the aforementioned, it made for an unpleasant shift for me. Up and down.

Generally, I prefer a linkage shift with rear-sets because then the lever is always pivoting with my ankle / foot.

But, FWIW, a TTI box has a greatly reduced lever movement, so I suspect a reversed lever would be fine with wanna them. Maybe Quaife Boxes were similar, as the Quaife designed Triumph box also has quite low lever movement.

And, of course, those with more flexible ankles than me (seriously) may well find a reversed lever to be jus’ fine anyways.
 
100% in agreement Steve and its a real pity. i even purchased a "bare metal" lever from RGM, i tried lengthening it and shortening it all to no avail
i also think the other problem is that the physical lift of the lever (in standard form) is to great
The early 961's like mine had a reverse lever, and as Steve said the higher the shaft is above your ankle and the more towards vertical the lever is the worse it feels as the lever tends to try run along the top of your foot as you change gear. I found that allowing the rubber to rotate made it feel a bit better, but in the end I capitulated and bought a later selector drum and copied the factory linkage.

I love Kenny's Street Tracker. Thanks for posting @jseng1. I'd love to see some more pics as well. Is Kenny a member on here? if not perhaps he could be invited. I'm sure he could tell us some very interesting stories.

Is that a Benelli Mojave tank?
 
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