180 Jota

  Duck down behind the clocks and hang on tight.  :)

  Seriously, a fair bit of wobble and weave can be induced by the effects of wind on the rider being transmited back to the bike, so if everything else is OK, tyre pressures etc, have a move around.

  Keith
 
Try getting your weight well forward - balls on the tank. Paul H.
 
Basics first:
steering head bearings adjusted correctly?
swing arm pivot tight?
tyre pressures and profiles (matched pair?)
handlebar fairing/panniers/top box?
shocks goosed?

If all is as it should be then hunch down, weight forward, try to relax the grip on the bars, and gas it!
If you let them take control they shimmy around. Just wring the bastard's neck and tell it who's boss.
 
Chuck the frame away and find a Motodd. :D  Seriously though, after shortening the forks (to quicken the steering and improve the action) fitting Racetech emulators, decent shocks, RGS swingingarm, GSXR wheels and radial tyres my old 180 was still a real handfull at speed.  It would be fine until I hit a bump and then  :o :o :o

You've got a massive great lump of an engine held in a frame made out of welding rods, a sure fire recipe for trouble.  I mean, look at the size of the frame on a modern bike...  OK, they may be great on a racetrack, but it's the bumps (or possibly your ma and pa, Mr Larkin) that f*ck you up.  The RGS seems a deal more stable to me...

Mind you, it wasn't until I rode the first FZR1000 (back when they were new) that I found a bike that would take that sort of thing in its stride, so given the 180 frame dates from a time long long ago it's actually pretty good. ;)
 
Honestly Ray, I was fairly sure that I was going to stack it at some stage, but the main reason I sold it was to buy the GS.  Didn't quite realise what a big hole it was going to leave.  Happily the RGS is a better bike and yet reassuringly similar in many ways..
 
Reggie3cl said:
Chuck the frame away and find a Motodd. :D  Seriously though, after shortening the forks (to quicken the steering and improve the action) fitting Racetech emulators, decent shocks, RGS swingingarm, GSXR wheels and radial tyres my old 180 was still a real handfull at speed.  It would be fine until I hit a bump and then  :o :o :o

You've got a massive great lump of an engine held in a frame made out of welding rods, a sure fire recipe for trouble.  I mean, look at the size of the frame on a modern bike...  OK, they may be great on a racetrack, but it's the bumps (or possibly your ma and pa, Mr Larkin) that f*ck you up.  The RGS seems a deal more stable to me...

Mind you, it wasn't until I rode the first FZR1000 (back when they were new) that I found a bike that would take that sort of thing in its stride, so given the 180 frame dates from a time long long ago it's actually pretty good. ;)
Click to expand...

Hi Reggie
At the risk of sounding controversial and I have had a drink. I had the genesis 1000 back in 88, it was bog standard and quite quick in a straight line (for the time)but my Jota framed effort with its Welding wire frame would piss it on a regular track. Way too heavy and I couldn't ride it as well as I can now but it was not a flickable bike.
Nothing that a few gussets cant fix along with the mods you've mentioned and a lot of care and attention to ergonomics to make a Jota frame handle nowadays with the assets that Phil T didn't have at his disposal 25 years ago.
 
All the obvious things are spot on tyres Avon Super Venoms) steering/swing arm bearings new and adjusted correctly. I too experience the wobble/twitch when dips and bumps are encountered on bends. The bike is carrying standard Mazz forks and Koni shocks . Its as if the rear shocks are too hard and the shock goes through the bike !

Regards
Tetley 
 
Tetley Laverda said:
All the obvious things are spot on tyres Avon Super Venoms) steering/swing arm bearings new and adjusted correctly. I too experience the wobble/twitch when dips and bumps are encountered on bends. The bike is carrying standard Mazz forks and Koni shocks . Its as if the rear shocks are too hard and the shock goes through the bike !

Regards
Tetley 
Click to expand...

Fit Ceriani forks!
 
Anything less than damping set on 3,1 off full hard and they do the slow wallow.Thats if there dial a ride Konis.I have been having problems committing to long sweepers at big speed,it just didn't feel planted.Most of my riding is close to Sydney and under 100ks so the bike is set to be very flickable,15mm longer tops on the revalved and running 7.5wt Icons,now great on Damping 1,and the forks through 45mm.I am just back from 200ks after finally fitting a new front tyre,Bridgestone BT023 matched to a rear Bridgestone BT92 and its got way more grip than before.I also dropped the fork down 25mm,it gave me more clearance but in the end wasn't necessary.With the nackered rubber I was on the raged edge,now there is a comfortable margin left before it gets uncomfortable.Just in time for the big Snowy Run next Thursday,4 days and maybe 3000ks of the best roads in OZ.So up the damping and let us know.BTW what tyre pressures are you running?There are differant springs available for the Icons,maybe a DPO fitted the 2 up option in springs,Icon and Koni are the same,check for paint marks to identify the springs.
Make sure the shocks are mounted on the right side of the upper mount,made that error a while back as well
 
At the risk of sounding controversial and I have had a drink. I had the genesis 1000 back in 88, it was bog standard and quite quick in a straight line (for the time)but my Jota framed effort with its Welding wire frame would piss it on a regular track.
Click to expand...

:D  It's bumps that do for the Jota frame in my experience, and obviously Tetley is having problems too (otherwise I'd be quite happy to admit it was my incompetence).  My frame I think had had a couple of gussets welded in, but more could have been done for sure- but hit a dip in the road at full pelt and WOOO HOOO!  When I worked at Motorcycle City in Bedfont I used to roadtest most of what went out of the place and down on the A30 somewhere there is a big 130mph sweeper (pre camera days, aaah.) with a bombhole about half way round.  That's what used to throw bikes most often, and I do remember being impressed by the way the FZR handled it.  Unlike the brand new never seen on UK roads GSXR1100 Slingshot I was out on soon afterwards :o
 
Simple things first:

a) check you set rebound damping on the Konis to 3, Spring-preload to center, depending on your weight maybe even to full
b) check your fork is relaxed
c) make sure you do not have a plastic mudguard without a fork-brace (which needs to fix the legs without stiffening the front!)
d) Tyre pressure: make sure you have the RIGHT pressure. For BT45, it is quiet high: 2,7 on the rear, 2,4 - 2,5 on the front
e) check your down-tubes are not broken
f) check all engine mountings are fixed with the right torque, swing-arm is not broken or bearings out of tolerance

If that all does not help, start with replacing the Koni with some more modern shocks like YSS, Maxton, Gazi, Wilbers, ?hlins etc.. The difference is remarkable!

If you like to add more to the suspension work, a decent swing-arm like K&J or the likes are a good point to start. Or first start with lighter rims, preferably ones that can be run tubeless.

a Fork-brace will improve the bike a lot, too, but way more comes from the rear. Next would be a fork cartridges or cartridge-emulator modification.

So - GSX-R-Rims, modern gas-emulsion shocks, decent swing arm, fork conversion, fork brace - that all together will bring your bikes suspension roughly 20 - 25 years ahead of what it is today and will give you an unbelievable good performing bike - at costs of roughly 2.500?. But that is money VERY well spent!

Start with the shocks though, will bring one of the biggest improvements and is the easiest modification...

HTH
 
I recall I built up my bike with Avon Super Venoms in 2008, I bought them cheap mail order from M&P as they were out of production.
Tyres probably make up the single biggest improvement to handling. Mine are unworn and in the shed as I removed them and moved onto other makes.

If all else fails, you might want to consider some modern alternatives to fit the Laverda rims, thats an old tyre construction. Hope you get it sorted..
Rob
 
My 1980 one isn't too bad considering it's age etc.
Modern Dunlops, Koni dial a rides, a wee bit of bracing beneath the headstock.
It does catch me out though and like Reggie it's bumps it really doesn't like.
With the fairing I think I tend to sit back a bit too far so the front end can get a bit unruly. I've had a couple of lock-to-lockers sufficiently violent to knock the pads back in the calipers.
My next plan is to shorten the long Marzocchis once I've refitted the metal mudguard although there is a brace of sorts fitted.

At sensible speeds it's fine & certainly better than my old Beemer.

Robbie

 
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