Re: Maney gearbox outrigger bearing
B+Bogus said:
Back to the subject of how necessary or not one is, I know a racer who went through around sixteen gearboxes in one season - I've ridden on the road with him and he's the most aggressive rider I've had the privilege to try and keep up with!
Like with the Combat oiling issue - only hard and aggressive use will reveal how necessary the mod is.
Just look through all the race reports - retirement through gearbox failure, and the work Peter Williams and Norman White put in to re-establishing some rigidity in the set-up. Steve Maney is just responding to a real need for those who put them on a race track.
After spending the price of a bike on a Quaife box, I didn't think twice :wink:
First, I have a TTi box for race use, but raced a 4 speed with Commando clutch and long mainshaft for four years and a high primary ratio (1.727:1) without taking the cover off.....it was a decent 4 Speed I built myself with a new Quaife cluster and a Manx style ball bearing on the layshaft end in place of the kickstart bush.....that made a huge difference...
But the real reason agrressive racers were changing a gearbox every week in the '70s is that the 5 speed box with thinner gears and alow primary ratio (as low as the standard Commando 2.192:1) was having a really hard time flexing shafts, and they weren't all using the heavier Commando clutch and longer mainshaft which definately exacerbated the problem. BTW, no use talking about 19t Sprockets in place of 20t unless you have calculaed you overall gearing, with my 1.727:1 I used a 17t! with a choice of 40 to 46 rear sprockets
What I lost using the 4 Speed was the lower first gear, but we push started in those days and the guys with 5 Speeds pushed off in 2nd anyway, and my 1st to 4th ratios were the same as their 2nd to 5th, actually at club level most of them would have been better off with a good 4 Speed...with very few hairpin bends demanding the use of a very low 1st, unless you were perhaps on IoM gearing!
The outrigger in essence was the JPN solution, but combined with a lighter clutch and higher ratio primary that had a huge effect too....the thing that really didn't change was the gearbox itself! But using a full house outrigger with a chain required something very different to Steve's bolt on device, which is a great solution as a bolt on if you don't have a TTi and works well with a belt.
For a road bike with a standard 4 speed in good condition you should not 'need' an outrigger, but that odd track day might suggest it is worth the relatively small investment compared to the cost of one broken box and subsequent TTi 'solution'.
Like the man said the TTi makes an outrigger redundant....Bruce Verdon is adamant you don't need one, and the evidence is there on 4, 5 and 6 Speeds.