Lansdowne Dampers returning

No Swoosh, there will be no need to place an order, when they become available very late in December but probably more likely in January
then there will be plenty of kits for all. I wont be supplying kits in dribs and drabs, thats not very productive, to make a few, sell them then
make a few more. PLEASE be patient.
Don

I cannot help but wonder how many owners bother to set up their forks CORRECTLY to see how well they work before before spending money on super dooper dampers...... Makes me wonder how people went so faqst on standard forks in the past...... I remember one friend telling me that in the production TT the forks were solid after the first lap.... but he was on the Velo but still finished 2nd.
How much wear is there in the slider where the fork tube bush normally runs? The greater the wear the less restriction offered to the oil as the forks compress..... You can get sliders honed and they come back with new top and bottom bushes Well you can IF you know who to ask..very politely ... and if the wear is not so great they are scrap!!.
Then we have those little damper rod caps that should be a nice fit on the damper rod so as to actually restrict the oil past them as the forks extend. Many decades ago I was shown some that were either original or early Manx and was amazed at how much tighter they were on trhe damper rod than Commando and Dommy alloy ones. From then on we made our own even though there were piles of new ex NVT stock ones laying around at the time in Motor Cycle Shop and in a Birmingham warehouse and costing peanuts....
Of course one then has the exspurt who fits Dominator length damper tubes into Commando length forks restricting total movement in the forks and ensuring full extension mechanical end stop occurs in the damper rod assembly long before the forks should fully extend...With a bike on the centre stand you can spot them a mile away just as you can when someone has fitted the shorter slimline rear dampers to a wideline frame .......
Wonder how many set up the damper rod / assembly so that mechanical end stop does not occur in the damper assembly but in the slider? There is something like 1/8 inch MORE total movement in the damper assembly so by setting the rod up in the top nut on full compression or extension there is still around 1/16 inch movement left to goin the damper assembly.
Just for the hell of it I have just phoned a friend who over the years won a few championsips racing Nortons...Initially a Commando lump in a wideline ad later full Commandos ( Or Atlas Mk3s as they were shown on the drawings!!). I asaked if his forks worked well and received an ear bashing along with ...'all I did was play with different oils and rode around the problems...' We then both agreed that in those days of youth we knew sweet nothing about forks or how to set them up and even worse there were very few people around who did and even fewer who could or would offer sound advice. Now in our OLDE age we both know just a tad about Norton forks ...decades toooo late for us of course!!.
Personally I remember decades ago people playing with various Japanese air fork bits and pieces shoving them in British forks...Yet another fad?
Now I am NOT saying that the standard Norton forks cannot be improved but simply that by setting them up correctly in the first place they may be be perfectly satisfactory for our road use. Cannot remember any road tester moaning about them but when did any road test tell the truth?? You DO NOT bite the hand that feeds you and it was manufacturers advertising money that paid for the magazines .......and paid the testers salary!! Think the worst comment I ever saw was the one where the tester reported that as a rocker cover overtook him he remembered he was riding a Triumph!! I did laugh..... Classic Bike test??
Just spoke to another friend who tells me that in his opinion the 5 fl oz recommended in the manuals for each fork leg was wrong and that to get his Manx and road going bikes forks to work correctly over the decades he would put a minimum of 6 fl oz in each leg.........

I cannot help but wonder how many owners bother to set up their forks CORRECTLY to see how well they work before before spending money on super dooper dampers..

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Mr Leadbeater,

please understand that many of us actual Commando owners and regular riders believe that proven advances in experience and technology makes our bikes better.

I have had a set of Landsdowne dampers installed for over a year now and they make the front end's performance far superior to any CORRECTLY set up efforts.

Are you aware that the Lansdownes have the ability to change both compression and rebound? No amount of correctly setting up stockers can compete with that.

J. M. Leadbeater said:

Wonder how many set up the damper rod / assembly so that mechanical end stop does not occur in the damper assembly but in the slider? There is something like 1/8 inch MORE total movement in the damper assembly so by setting the rod up in the top nut on full compression or extension there is still around 1/16 inch movement left to goin the damper assembly.

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It has been pointed out to you, TIME AND TIME AGAIN, that information IS WRONG (with the necessary references and dimensions included as to WHY it's wrong).
So it seems you still know sweet nothing about Commando forks!.

DO NOT POST THAT INFORMATION AGAIN.

Yep. The Lansdowne conversion is a quite amazing upgrade. I can't recommend it highly enough. Good one Don!

J. M. Leadbeater said:

Just for the hell of it I have just phoned a friend

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Now we know you're telling porkies

madass140 said:

No Swoosh, there will be no need to place an order, when they become available very late in December but probably more likely in January
then there will be plenty of kits for all. I wont be supplying kits in dribs and drabs, thats not very productive, to make a few, sell them then
make a few more. PLEASE be patient.
Don

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Sorry if I came off as being impatient! I'm just excited to see this happen. It's such a great thing that you are doing.

Swoosh the PLEASE be patient was for everyone actually, just getting the message out there.
Don

swooshdave said:

.......... I'm just excited to see this happen. It's such a great thing that you are doing.

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+1

Update, Hi gentlemen and ladies, well I'm pretty much on schedule or even a bit ahead of schedule, this is where I'm at now.
sometime this week I will of finished producing all the parts, actually all the parts have been produced, I just have to do some cleaning of
parts etc for assembly. Today I assembled a set and fitted them to my own Norton, I didnt even have to ride the bike to see the compression and rebound adjustments at work, just working the forks with the front brake on I could make very noticeable adjustments from one extreme to the other, with small allen key held between my teeth and a short ride I made some adjustments just to see the difference in small increments.
As John had said, just a small adjustment at a time can make a big difference and it does.
The dampers will come with fork springs installed whether you want them or not, thats how they will be sold.
I fitted mine today without removing fork sliders, remove wheel and maybe fender in your case, remove damper retaining bolt, remove fork top nut (bolt). remove complete old damper assembly, I fished out the fiber washers in the bottom of the slider but you could probably leave the old ones in there
I will be supplying new fiber washers anyway.
Then fit the new complete damper assembly as supplied minus the top fork nut (bolt) fit the damper retaining screw (supplied) tighten with 5mm allen key.
Slowly fill with 150ml of fork oil in each leg, fit the top fork nut(bolt) and tighten against the fork spring retaining nut on the damper rod, then screw the fork not into the stanchion and tighten, the dampers will come with each adjuster at 3 turns out, pump the forks about 10 times to prime the cartridges, then screw in the adjusters carefully so that they just bottom out, dont force them , I turned out the compression 1-1/4 turns out and the rebound about 1/4 of a turn, this should be a good starting point.
Ohh, cost of the dampers is $360 + shipping I dont know how or if John ever made any money on these and if he did it wouldnt of been much.
I ship with DHL, I get the best deal with them, when I ship goods to the US it doesnt seem to make any difference where in the US the cost is usually the same, For everywhere else in the world shipping cost depends on country , city and postcode, I'll have to get an accurate shipping quote for each destination, I'll get a US shipping quote in the next day or two.
I have a big order of Grand Prix bike parts that I'm working on and hope to have that out of the way in the next few days, so then I can concentrate on assembling and packaging damper sets, so maybe this time next week I hope to have them available ready to ship, here is a couple of pics
Don

Don
I know this is a "mainly commando" forum but I have to ask - will you be making these for featherbed short road holders?
By the way - excellent to see this knowledge isn't wasted!
Cheers
Rob

Rob, it would make common sense to have them for the shorter forks, of course I've considered this and if it happens it wont be any time soon.
Now here are some considerations for me the manufacturer, John could not stress enough the importance of having good unworn sliders for the
Lansdowne dampers to work effectively. He consistently said that fitting his dampers to worn sliders would make the situation worse.
Now I'm guessing that 90% of the shorter sliders out there have some considerable amount of wear due to their age, amount of use, abuse etc.
Now I can see the scenario of Featherbed owners complaining that their Lansdowne dampers dont work as they should due to worn sliders, of course they
would not want to admit their sliders are past their use by date coz they wont want the thought of having to fork out for new sliders.
So supplying them for shorter forks leaves a lot to be considered.
Don

If interested in the Lansdowne dampers, please PM me with name, complete shipping address, Tel No. (for the courier) and email address.
then I can get accurate shipping quote and have all details needed for shipping etc. its no good saying "my names Bill, how much to ship to Monrovia"
Don

Way to go, Don!

Happy Christmas to all the early buyers.

Beautiful work.

Good work don.
I bought a couple of sets off John a few years a go and also highly recommend them.
One thing I notice on my Roadster now that I have them fitted, the front tyre wears more evenly than before, I guess it is down to the rebound.
Also I stamped a "C " and a "R" in the brass top of the needles to keep track of my turns.
Regards Mike

Looks great!
Should we assume that there are wear parts inside, which differ from the stock parts? And if so, will there be a "rebuild kit" avail for sale?
Thanks, Don--

The bore of the damper tube is polished, the bronze piston is a very close tolerance , about 0015". being constantly lubricated I doubt that the damper tube or piston would ever need replacing. The bronze upper damper tube cap has the same clearance on the damper tube rod which also has a good finish. When comparing these Lansdowne damper assemblies in finish and function with the original parts and design, its obvious we are light years ahead with these dampers, I think now we can really call them "Roadholders"
Don

Nice to keep the Landowne logo in place

Do the landsdowne dampners now have a solution for bottoming and topping out or is that still a problem? There was a change that may have addressed this issue.

The landsdowne dampners are no doubt a big improvement. But a major problem with the Norton forks is the stiction. Disregarding that would be an oversight. The slippery Turcite bushings are the solution for that and in combination with the landsdowne dampners the Norton forks should be transformed to modern smoothness.