Lansdowne Fork Damper kit

I am the Norton Owners Club technical advice person for the original Commandos and recently made contact with John Bould, having read an article on this website regarding the above Damper kit. I read over what had been said and liked the look of the items. I ordered a set, read the instructions (which are easy to follow) and fitted them. Generally the kit can be fitted with the forks in situ-the front wheel does have to be removed.
The kit uses modern 10 weight fork oil instead of the recommended 20 weight (thicker fork oil).
One fork controls Compression damping and the other Rebound damping.
I set them up so that the adjusters were 1 turn out from the fully in position as a basic setting.
I fitted the kit on a sunny afternoon (yes we do have them occasionally here in the UK) and took the bike for a ride. After our last winter my local roads were full of pot holes. I made good use of this and tried to get the forks to top and bottom out by riding over every one I could find (there was plenty to choose from). They just did their job and worked perfectly.
I then returned home and put the bike on its centre stand. It has been known in the past for the forks to 'clonk' as they extend. The changes to the damping stopped this and the forks work as you would expect them to.
I am extremly pleased that I made the conversion and I have no ties with the company so this is just my findings having fitted the kit.

As any one got the correct fork spring dimensions..eg inside/outside and coil guage?

THANK YOU FOR THE EXPERT APPRAISAL..REGARDS JOHN LANSDOWNE ENG...

920commando said:

I am the Norton Owners Club technical advice person for the original Commandos and recently made contact with John Bould, having read an article on this website regarding the above Damper kit. I read over what had been said and liked the look of the items. I ordered a set, read the instructions (which are easy to follow) and fitted them. Generally the kit can be fitted with the forks in situ-the front wheel does have to be removed.
The kit uses modern 10 weight fork oil instead of the recommended 20 weight (thicker fork oil).
One fork controls Compression damping and the other Rebound damping.
I set them up so that the adjusters were 1 turn out from the fully in position as a basic setting.
I fitted the kit on a sunny afternoon (yes we do have them occasionally here in the UK) and took the bike for a ride. After our last winter my local roads were full of pot holes. I made good use of this and tried to get the forks to top and bottom out by riding over every one I could find (there was plenty to choose from). They just did their job and worked perfectly.
I then returned home and put the bike on its centre stand. It has been known in the past for the forks to 'clonk' as they extend. The changes to the damping stopped this and the forks work as you would expect them to.
I am extremly pleased that I made the conversion and I have no ties with the company so this is just my findings having fitted the kit.

Click to expand...

Lansdowne kits are approaching 100 world wide sales...plus a few racers.

Finished re-doing mine last night. Think it'll be nice

Kits are still available,

Where do we find the contact info for these kits and the cost? I seem to have missed an earlier post perhaps?


Tim_S

Tim_S said:

Where do we find the contact info for these kits and the cost? I seem to have missed an earlier post perhaps?

Click to expand...

Contact member john robert bould.

I first saw the Lansdowne dampers on Duncan Fitchett’s G B Access Norton Manx at a Lansdowne Cup race in 2010, on speaking to Duncan about the dampers he explained how he was able to adjust not only the compression but also the rebound on his forks to obtain the exact characteristics he required.
(lets be realistic if it works for Duncan at the speed he rides then its got to work for a lesser rider like me)

The only means available to alter the damping on my forks was to change the viscosity of the oil used and that was only really a compromise and not very practical at race meetings, so the option to carry out on the spot adjustment was to good to miss.

On contacting John at Lansdowne engineering he took the time to explain how he had seen the need for better damping control on Norton forks and set about designing a solution nothing was to much trouble for John, after our conversation I felt confident the dampers were for me as I tend to race on quite a few road circuits which can have very demanding surfaces from perfectly smooth to very bumpy and rough.

When the dampers arrived I was very impressed with the quality of engineering and the clear installation instructions enclosed. In preparation I had stripped the forks thoroughly cleaned them and fitted new bushes so it was just a matter of refitting the Lansdowne dampers instead of the original manx items, the fork legs were refitted to the bike and each leg filled with 200ml of SAE 10 fork oil, Duncan was using SAE 5 oil but experienced slight leakage from the top seals so I opted for slightly thicker oil given that the adjustment available would easily compensate for the difference in viscosity.

For my first meeting at Cadwell Park I used Johns suggested settings, after my first race I felt the compression was ok but the rebound seemed to slow so I screwed the rebound adjuster out 1/8 turn, for a smoothish circuit this setting seemed ideal and gave me much more confidence than I had without the dampers.

My next outing would be a real trial for the dampers, the pre TT classic races on the Billown road circuit in the south of the Isle of Man which as you may know is very rough in places, thanks to the dampers having limitless adjustment I was able to make changes after each time on circuit until the bike was working to my liking.
In contrast I was also riding another similar bike in another class with standard Manx dampers/forks, there was quite a difference between the two, this bikes forks bottomed out in places and in other places I was having to shut off whereas with the dampers fitted I didn’t.

Needless to say I was soon on the phone to John and a set of dampers fitted to the other bike. I find once set to my liking only two setups are required one for dry conditions and another for the wet which is just a bit softer on both compression and rebound.

In conclusion I have only praise for John and the Lansdowne dampers
keep up the good work

Jack Hebb