rear suspension nitron

russo011

russo011

Senior member
Location
Austria
Hello Folks, looking to buy a pair of Nitron shocks for my 1976 3CL.
As they have not manufactured for this model before they have sent me a geometry sheet to fill out.
The required dimensions are easy enough to measure, however, they are asking for the unladen weight over the front and back wheels - anybody have an idea.
Before anyone asks; I do not have access to a weighing scale to put the bike on.
Thanks for any advice.
 
Weight of bike is around 215kg dry. Add about 15 kg (average) for fuel and oil and then add your own weight. I think the weight distribution is pretty close to 50/50, so divide by 2 and you'd have a reasonable estimate. If you habitually carry a passenger, or stuff in panniers or luggage rack, they're pretty much over the back wheel, so just add that to the rear end weight.

Somebody else might come along with a better answer.
 
'Unladen' weight, Cam. (not quite sure why unladen - if you put a 120kg rider on it or a 60kg rider you'll need a different spring).
750s have a rear weight bias, not sure about triples. I'm fitting longer than std Nitrons (for a triple) to the SFQ but I have no idea what spring weight I've got and hoping I can swap for the correct ones from the seller. Mine have a lot of fwd angle so will need to be heavier springs than stock anyway.

Someone on here must have checked Fr-Rr weights of a triple? Carlo has Nitrons on his 3C - that might help.
 
DAM Laverda have a Nitron recommendation and their website seems to be working again. Although freight from Australia to Austria could be a problem, especially if the courier can’t spell…
 
You could do the kitchen scales thing, one wheel at a time with a scales compensating block of timber under the other wheel. If you do it then try again while sitting on it and let us all know for interest's sake. I have done this many years back but don't have the data anymore. And let us also hear what spring rate they recommend. I wanted a straight rate rear spring for my Icon shocks as I found their std muiltirate spring didn't suit my purpose. I rand around to the local Shock makers, YKK and Gazi and they said 2.6kg/mm for my weight, 125kg. And that's what I had made on my vertical type shock 3C. That spring uses all but 5mm of shock travel and bottoms on extremely big potholes. Getting the spring rate right is extremely important for good suspension effects.
 
russo011 said:
Hello Folks, looking to buy a pair of Nitron shocks for my 1976 3CL.
As they have not manufactured for this model before they have sent me a geometry sheet to fill out.
The required dimensions are easy enough to measure, however, they are asking for the unladen weight over the front and back wheels - anybody have an idea.
Before anyone asks; I do not have access to a weighing scale to put the bike on.
Thanks for any advice.
Click to expand...

When ordering my Maxton shocks I had to provide the same data. I measured my 1979 Jota with the bathroom scales method and got 108kg front and 127kg rear - your 3CL should be near enough the same. I'm not sure how accurate the measurement was, nor how much fuel was loaded but the shocks work great!
Other dimensions I got were:
Swingarm length - 455
Swingarm pivot-to-bottom shock eye - 415
Shock length - 365
Swingarm Pivot-to-top shock mount 385 (this is the frame with laid-forward shocks, yours will be longer here)

Cheers
SteveB
 
piranha-bro2 said:
'Unladen' weight, Cam.
Click to expand...
Oops. Missed that bit. Maybe he just wants to work out the static sag.

When bought a pair shocks from a suspension specialist (YSS shocks from Suspension Improvements in Brisbane) the guy wanted to know the total weight including fully-kitted rider, and anything else that's normally carried, like pillion or luggage. I don't remember whether he also wanted the unladen weight, but he probably did. I filled in a form with all sorts of data. He asked what my riding style was - racing, touring, fast scratching on the road, whatever. I told him "slow old fart Sunday rides". The shocks he sent me were good after a bit of tweaking with the damping.
 
Maxton also requested unladen weight, plus rider weight, pillion weight if applicable, and the type of use. I imagine they can extrapolate the end weights closely enough from that.
 
Andy said:
DAM Laverda have a Nitron recommendation and their website seems to be working again. Although freight from Australia to Austria could be a problem, especially if the courier can’t spell…
Click to expand...
The last parcel I labelled UK, arrived in Ukraine.

Paul
 
Blimey, That's like sending something to USA and have it arrive in the Union of South Africa.

The lesson to be learned there is to write out country names in full when you address mail. But even that's no guarantee. I've heard of mail addressed to Tasmania ending up in Tanzania, or stuff going to Austria instead of Australia.
 
piranha-bro2 said:
Had a Macbook charger arrive (in Oz) from Hongkers after a little holiday in Vienna!!
Click to expand...
Same here. I bought a Kawasaki side stand from Canada a few years ago. When it eventually got to Australia after 3 months, it had stamps and labels all over it from customs in Austria. I'd actually given up on it in the meantime and bought another one from somewhere else.
 
CLEMTOG said:
you should have put "Great Britain" Paul
mainly because it is
CLEM
Click to expand...
Great Britain is geography Clem, United Kingdom is political history. Great Britain excludes Ulster which certain of it's inhabitants wouldn't appreciate, and the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Paul
 
breganzane said:
When ordering my Maxton shocks I had to provide the same data. I measured my 1979 Jota with the bathroom scales method and got 108kg front and 127kg rear - your 3CL should be near enough the same. I'm not sure how accurate the measurement was, nor how much fuel was loaded but the shocks work great!
Other dimensions I got were:
Swingarm length - 455
Swingarm pivot-to-bottom shock eye - 415
Shock length - 365
Swingarm Pivot-to-top shock mount 385 (this is the frame with laid-forward shocks, yours will be longer here)

Cheers
SteveB
Click to expand...
Cheers Steve and to everyone else - yep measurements are pretty much the same and as you mentioned swing arm pivot to top shock mount is 490mm for my 3CL. Checking the previous German registration document it states a bias of 200 kg front / 250 kg rear as the maximum laden weight. Taking the unladen weight of 228 kg and applying the same ratio I get 101 kg front and 127 kg rear.
 

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