120 Jota handling

[Tippie]

Haha. Yes I knew I?d written wrong and that rake is the steering head angle when I thought about it. Not so sharp in the grey matter these days and was responding to the thread about steeper rake giving slower steering. Excuses excuses. I can honestly not think of any Lav that had too quick steering. They are like choppers and many of us have altered that aspect to get them turning quicker. Every case of an owner who complained of poor handling when I was mecking Laverdas was a result of either basic setup mistakes (like those GSX1100 owners) or it was rider error; pulling too hard on the bars when the speed approached the riders perceived limits was very common, poor bike cannot do its job. Steering geometry is a dark art despite being a combination of simple principles. I doubt it caused any problems on 120 Jota.

 

[bob]

I've fitted some Spondon yokes to my 500/600 which have reduced offset , 20mm if my memory is correct. These were a mod fitted by racers at the IOM presumably to quieten down the handling of the 500s on the bumpy TT course. Despite the increased trail the bike now turns in significantly quicker than a standard 500. I have a feeling this is due to a combination of the slightly shorter wheelbase coupled with the fitment of some lighter thinweb wheels.

The diffence is quite marked; despite the relatively low weight of a standard 500, on the track they still require a fair old countersteering shove to get them from full right to full left lean or vice versa and the bikes feel a lot heavier than they actually are. Clip-ons obviously exacerbate this.
With my current set-up the bike changes direction effortlessy. It just goes to show how a combination of small changes can add up to a big improvement.

Mind you, Piet's right, it's now got bugger-all lock....

 

[Simonr501]

I have an original sales brochure for the 'European/BMW' colours - attached:

I have a complete set of spare bodywork parts for my Jota 120 which will be finished in this colour scheme - I think it looks great! I can then swap it all over from standard red scheme in a couple of hours when the mood takes me. Some of these bits are already sprayed as original.
It all started with me agonising over which colour I was going to pick during the rebuild, it ended up with both.

SimonR

 

[Grant]

Simon, I feel your pain. I had a green and a blue version for my 1200.
I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure...

 

[Laverdalothar]

Lothar,
am I being dense here? The forks on my jota cannot be pulled higher in the yokes because the bars are in the way.With the bars as they are, they cannot be raised at all.
Nick7

Hi Nick,

I have clip-ons, not the original handle-bar. With this on, you are right, just about 5 - 6 mm are possible.

 

[Simonr501]

Simon, I feel your pain. I had a green and a blue version for my 1200.
I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure...

Hey Grant,
I'm not indecisive, I just made two decisions!!!!!!! One of them is the correct one.

I asked Richard Slater about the BMW colours ( I asked a load of people), he said that some of his customers asked for this option for a brand new bike, but were told that was for 'Europe Only'.

SimonR

 

[mcnicol]

The forks on my jota cannot be pulled higher in the yokes because the bars are in the way.With the bars as they are, they cannot be raised at all.

Nick, go down to your local chopper shop and get a set of handlebar pullbacks that will (temporarily) allow you to position your bars above or behind the raised forks and see what difference it makes for you. But if you do like what it does, you'll have to get proper clipons. I got a set of mid-80s GSXR clipons for $5 (one was a bit bent), made up reducing bushings so they'd fit the Cerianis, and I'm using them while I get my Racetech emulators sorted out. You'll need a set of headlight brackets too. Or you can put the clipons on top of the top yoke if you decide to keep the forks raised up.

Ken

 

[nick7]

Thanks Lothar and Ken,

I think I will leave as is, particularly as it felt good , really good for all of the 20 miles I did with the  new Wilburs piggy backs fitted before the engine stripdown. In fact I think more not less ground clearance will be desirable! Ah, my top-tip when lowering the barrels over the pistons, using home made compressors? Don't forget the chain guide...because if you push the barrels fully down, you will have to pull 'em up again to fit the thing properly ,which though not difficult is something you could do without.
Nick7