I do actually consider the chassis could be developed for a degree of extra ridgidity . Presumably the Rickman , being of larger dia. chomemolly tubeing , with a ridgidly mounted powertrain is
noticeably faster and more stable in demanding conditions . ?
The tour down the back lane Video posted today resembles a Kiwi Road , other than in N.Z. it was considerably more undulateing , had a few bridges , Was chip seal with only a few repairs ,
and had a few places where the Cows Crossed . Who Flung dung . You could fell what apeared to be the rear axle move to the left into one lefthander in particular . General technique was to
thread it down the road , mainly through lean . As milk tankers , mad farmers , or the odd Tractor could appear unexpectedly if you wernt vigilant . 4 x 4 low Orchard sprayer doing a 4 wheel
drift , exquipped with four tractor tyres , the drivers cabin slung near ground level fwd of the front axle , useing the entire road , would have cleaned me up on the two trickyer corners one
sunday , on a 20 mile ride ' round the block ' on a cool autumn day. Him takeing the opposite / head on course , had I not taken head of a ' funny feelin ' into the blind corners .Was left with a foot at the verge useing evasive action . Ruffled the first time , I was put out the second . But the local school bus & cattle trucks used the entire road on the gravle roads , so one tended to be wearie .
attempting to use ' youre lane ' youd end up as a hood ornament .
The Commando preferred the city Isle of Man like roads , through the bays ( and over the peninsulars in between ) , The ancient Bonneville more at home out of town , as it was generally rortyer and
mischevious , and relished high speed on the gravle , wet clay had no grip though , where the gravle had wased off . All sealed out there now , and most of the bends in the highway straightened out and ruined . The local hero thought his 11 minutes to kaiwaka , 16 kilometers unbeatable , in his Mitsibushi Gallant GTO 1850 .
A timed run on the Bonneville was eight , not wasteing any time , but exerciseing the usual caution . Getting a bit more entusiastic mightve knocked a minute off that , or addopting his gung ho aproach two , more likely to have had irrevocable consequences , or end up out in a paddock somewhere after going through a barbed wire fence though .
The Bonneville on the smooth twisty road out past St Heliers , two up with the 4:10 /19 TT100s would swivle the swing arm on one or two bends . It was mounted on the seat post , like a universal joint
Just a twitch and run back in .Would take a warm day and determined effort , over and power on . The sensation not unsimilar to that mentioned earlier re the Commando .
At times you were very concious of the three point mounting of the power train , but ordinarily the comparison was comparable to a 20 ft telegraph pole running trough the axle lines , fore and aft
with you centre . Youd lean it into / trough bends and had the sensation off that effect through the contact patches . A slide was allways a two wheel drift , when leant over .
The slack induced with the ISOs loosened to 5 thou , would have me reshimming ASAP . The two wheels starting to seem to have seperate courses .Id found 3 to 4 good, 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 Max .
The frame and all was straight and Id checked all alignments , so had no binding at tight settings .A few that had less than exact frames wouldnt shim in close without binding .
