Front end mods

Fitz

Senior member
Location
Cheshire UK
Just a thought while I am fiddling with my front end during the off season - oooer missus

Has anyone ever grafted a 3 cylinder front end onto a Monty to provide more rigid forks, retaining the twin discs and period appearance

I have already started the upgrades to my Monty forks but everyone that has expressed an opinion has said that the standard forks are way too flimsy - just an idea
 
I went from 35mm forks on my 82 Husky to 43mm. I couldn't believe the difference in the reduction of flex. Night and day. The same was done to my Pantah,35mm to 38mm but it was before I owned it so I cannot comment. I think that the Barcelona ex race bike  that is now in OZ was originally built with a 35mm frontend for lightness but that was swapped for a 38mm one real quickly. The brakes are bigger on 38mm frontends as well.
 
  Bob Dixon used 38mm Forcella Italia forks on his Barcelona 600 - I'd had them in stock for years - were a sort of upgrade on the Ceriani ones.
 
I have a pair of M1R 38mm forks for sale.
Caliper spacing might suit the 500.
No idea what they are off.

 
Can't see the caliper mounts, but my 38mm M1Rs were a straight fit with Ceriani/Marzo triple clamps common to all big old Lavs and Dukes. My original SF1 35mm Cerianis definitely rigid enough, quite heavy walls in the tubes - also about 4 inches shorter than triple forks, so they're always gonna be more rigid than the 'high threes'!

Was originally drum brake, but I fitted 35mm disc brake lowers - no drama.
 
Even the M1R can be improved dramatically by some suspension specialists who make sure they are really straight, have the teflon guides etc. (not all M1R are the same btw...)

Many in Germany replace the 38mm forks with the BMW-Version of the M1R. Also Guzzi had an adjustable Version on the Dytona (carburator model), which had rebound and compression damping adjustment on top of the fork (have one of these brand new mounted to my Motoplast project).

It's just throwing some money at your bike, will improve the bike's handling under braking dramatically.
 
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