Upgrade brake question

Important to get the wheel centred in the forks, take a measurement from the flat face of the mudguard mount to the edge of the wheel rim and adjust the wheel until it is centred, this will give you the spacer size required, should be 20.3x32x11.5 but do check. When the wheel is centred then attend to the calipers. Shim the calipers to suit the wheel not the other way around..


    Keith
 
Hi Myke

being the bright spark that I am, and because I had some around and it is easy to work with, I initially made a rear wheel spacer out of aluminium for the fitting of the wider Astralite wheel I was installing on the back of my RGS. Long story short, use steel for your spacer material, aluminum can compress.... In my case causing bearing failure on the rear wheel sprocket carrier, allowing the rear wheel to cock sideways while I was riding the bike at a ridiculous rate of speed, scaring me half to death. I was lucky to stay mostly upright.

now all my wheel spacers of any description on any bike are ALWAYS fabricated from some form of steel, usually stainless these days.

and Keith, as usual, is spot on the money, center the wheel between the forks so that the bike will "track" properly, measure what you need to keep the wheel centrally located without binding up the fork sliders, then install the wheel and discs with the new axle spacer or spacers.

only after you have the wheel rotating freely, and the fork sliders able to go up and down without any binding, then move on to the brakes. Install the caliper adaptors and tighten them down. Then offer up one brake caliper onto the adaptor and see if it centers onto the brake disc. If it does, great, do the other side. If it doesn't, then your choice is going to be whether to shim the discs themselves, or the adaptor or the caliper. Personally, when I fitted the Astralite front wheel to the RGS, after I had the wheel itself centered, I needed to move the discs outboard a bit or the calipers inward a bit. I chose to shim the discs themselves rather than modify the caliper adaptor, I didn't want to make it any thinner. To shim the discs outward is easy, remove the discs, obtain a thin sheet of sheet steel in the appropriate thickness required, trace the back of the disc mounting plate, and cut out the sheet steel to suit, complete with holes. Laverda actually used similar disc shims on various triples, my stock 79 1200 wheels have them behind the stock discs, for example.

I know, probably way more work than you were expecting to have to do, the end result is really worth it, the four pot calipers with a proper master cylinder and stainless steel lines are a huge improvement, but don't forget to add a substantial fork brace to help the forks cope with the added braking load and help keep the fork legs from moving around as much as they will without a brace.

Paul LeClair
 
This project is a funny thing. Originally I was just going to rebuild the stock brakes. Then I thought switching to the 4 piston and new master would be easier. All I needed to do was buy the parts and turn the forks around( after I polished them).
Now I am thinking about rebuilding the original brakes.

OK, not really. However, this is getting much more involved than I thought. I just want to get the bike back on the road again.

Paul, thanks for the tip on steel spacers. Also, who has fork braces? I want one.
 
Myke,

If I remember correctly, the spacer needs to be 17.5mm wide.  The stock LH spacer is considerably narrower.

When all is centered and done up, you should have a slight gap, around 1mm, between speedo drive and fork leg.  No need to shim this out as the axle is pulled up tight to the speedo drive and the axle is held by the pinch bolts.

piet

Now I've just noticed my axle is inserted from the right, yours from the left.... :-\

Ignore all of the above!

I could supply a Redax fork brace, though. :D
 
I have never seen the RedAx fork brace, but if it is anything like Red's other products I am sure it is gorgeous.

I have Tarozzi fork braces on both my Laverda triples, they can typically be sourced locally, but I don't remember where you are in the world. Here is a link to what the Tarozzi fork brace for the Laverda triple looks like
http://www.discovolantemoto.co.uk/tarozzi/fork-braces/fork-braces-i-m/prod_474.html

TeleFix in the U.S.A. also makes a fork brace for the Laverda triples.

Paul LeClair
 
attached a shot of our Fork Brace version for the triples
works better with the Marzzochi forks which are shown here
I do make them for the early forks but have to make a seal adaptor

brace is one piece with a hidden clamping wedge underneath the brace

HTH
Red
 

Attachments

  • Triple brace.jpg
    Triple brace.jpg
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Myke, I did this conversion on my stock Marzo forked 78 several years ago.
              After swapping the forks left to right and turning them 180 degrees in the clamps I bolted everything back into place the axle came in from the otherside now. I had absolutely no problem centering the wheel and discs without the need for additional spaces so I am puzzled that several on this thread are saying there is a need to manufacture new spacers.
I bolted all the stock items into place the wheel was centered and the discs are equally space from the fork legs, I did use a couple of very thin shim washers to get the caliper placement perfect on the disc but that was all.
                                              Cheers Dave.
 
Dick,
Am running an electronic speedo on her, sensor is on the rear wheel.
I think you are referring to the brake hose.

Red
 
I'll have the forks checked to insure they are straight. I am fairly certian they are as the bike has never been down.

Red, there should be no problem keeping the existing speedo correct?
BTW  I love your fork brace. I want one.
Myke
 
Nice looking fork brace Red. Do the holes in the middle have a purpose other than decoration? Seems to me they would weaken the cross-brace quite a lot. If I was to order one, I'd be inclined to request an un-holy version. 

Cheers,
Cam
 
turning fork sliders? swapping legs? non centred Guzzitech adapters?,electronoic speedos,four pot calipers?,cast iron discs!.

Now you know why I kept out of this one.

This conversion is a doddle, but it is also a vitally important life threatening component on your bike,I mean the rear brake wouldnt stop a push bike from 8MPH.If you cant get the bolted up mechanical components working easilly, then I worry about the hydraulic lines/master cylinder and rebuilding/bleeding and commisioning of same.

REMEMBER YOUR SAFETY AND THAT OF OTHERS IS AT STAKE.
CLEM
 
carefull Nicko, remeber what Keefy did with your last fork brace,(lobbed in skip) same as I did in fact, and it was the same brace.(you bin dived it!)
CLEM
 
I am collecting my bike from the machine shop. They needed to make a 1mm spacer for the speedo side and both calibers needed shims to make then centered on the rotors.
Next I will fill the fluid, bleed them and go for a ride.
Bike has been apart for months and it is driving me nuts!!
 
I put about 300 miles on the bike. The brakes are a definate improvement over the stock brakes. Rotors are next.
Now I notice a little oil comming from the head gasket. I am going to try to torque it down and lets see what happens.
 
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