A CTX visitor

Yesterday I had an enjoyable several hour (with lunch) visit with Lynn Jackson. Lynn rode out from KY on his CTX to have Seth Laam in Redding CA modify the seat, and he stopped in at my house in San Francisco late morning so we could finally meet in person.

I put some photos I snapped up on my website:

Index of /graphics/FF/Honda CTX700/LynnVisit2017

It was garbage collection day so there's lots of cans in the background, oh well . . .

We put the low profile Corbin seat off of my CTX on his bike to see how it differed from the Laam-modified stock seat. The Corbin is the one with the red piping on the seams. Lynn's seat is sized for a shorter person than I am and my knees were pushed into the fairing, and I could notice the higher rise on the back of the bucket on the Corbin. Lynn didn't have the passenger area of the stock foam modified since he doesn't carry a passenger. The Corbin is 3-4X the weight of the modified stock seat, it was a very noticeable difference.

It was fun to talk CTXs with him and hear how he was liking the suspension/seat modifications.

cheers,
Michael
 

ponydrvr

Member
Lynn told me he was going out for a seat and that he was going to meet up with you too. Except for your seat and his side cases I thought I was looking at my CTX. I'm a member, Ride Captain, of the BMW rider group in Louisville and for the last two weeks I've been busy planning and proofing a ride called Lap of Kentucky. It's a 1500 mile, 4 day ride around the periphery of the state. The event kicks off on the 21st of October.

My issue with emulators is the re-fitting required to "fine tune" them. So the cartridge route is/has been my focus. The ability to adjust and then tune with minimal effort is the attraction for for me.

The oil really isn't a big deal either, just have never done any front suspensipn work of any kind, never even had an idea that there was real improvement to be made.

After reading your posts, researching information and discussing with a friend (retired racer also) I got intrested. So, did you remove the forks and send to Matthew for fitting, or do it yourself?

BTW, I was poking around your web site and pictures. I found a drive chain enclosure that you formed and installed. Do you still use it as depictedl on your CTX? How well does it work? Does it contain the oil fling on the real wheel? I use a Pro-Oiler automatic chain oiler. Would it contain the fling without creating other bigger issues?

Thanks for getting back with me,



Ralph
 
My issue with emulators is the re-fitting required to "fine tune" them. So the cartridge route is/has been my focus. The ability to adjust and then tune with minimal effort is the attraction for for me.

That was the attraction for me too. I've put Emulators in bikes and I'll admit that I'm too lazy to bother pulling things apart to do the tuning. :) I like to build/make stuff, I'm not so keen on maintenance tasks after that.

So, did you remove the forks and send to Matthew for fitting, or do it yourself?

No, I did the work myself. The forks went from the importer to Matthew for him to change out the compression piston/shim stack and then he shipped them to me. With the vagaries of international and local shipping it might be a good plan to send your fork tubes after Matthew gets the kit/springs in his hands so he can do a quick turnaround when he gets the fork legs. Dis/reassembling the forks is not a big deal for me but I can see that someone with less experience/fewer tools might prefer to let him do it. Matthew added several extra circlip grooves to the cartridge body in case they might be needed to change the installed preload on the spring and I went ahead and added some additional ones "just in case", but it looks like one of the three original Matris grooves is going to be right for this amount of travel/my weight/the spring rate being used.

BTW, I was poking around your web site and pictures. I found a drive chain enclosure that you formed and installed. Do you still use it as depicted on your CTX? How well does it work? Does it contain the oil fling on the real wheel? I use a Pro-Oiler automatic chain oiler. Would it contain the fling without creating other bigger issues?

That was the MK1 version of the chain guard. As you can see in some of the photos smoothly forming ABS over a plug with a heat gun did not prove to be quite as easy as I thought it was going to be. I wanted to bond something to it to stiffen it up and I was surprised at how difficult it is to glue ABS to other materials. So when I get back to that part of the project I'll probably make the MK2 version from aluminum or steel though I still like the idea of having the ABS as a liner to make it easier to clean off any accumulated lubricant. The Rivnuts that I bought for that part of the project stick out far enough to make me concerned about chain clearance, and pop rivets can have a similar problem. I might end up making some rivets and shop-form them to have a flat head on the chain side. I think that a street bike ought to have a good chain enclosure, I don't enjoy cleaning chain lube off of the frame, fender, wheel, tire, back of my jacket, etc. I like the looks of that enhanced Integra chain guard done by the guy in the UK

http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/FF/Honda CTX700/chain guard/ChainguardIntegralight.jpg

I alerted Matthew that I'd posted the thread so he should be watching to see if someone tries to contact him.

cheers,
Michael
 

BobWitte

Member
If you already have a plug, why not do the next chain enclosure in fiberglass? It wasn't all that difficult for me to make the top/bottom enclosures for my trike rear end, and I'm no expert by any means.
 
Bob, I formed the ABS over some square tube, just a straight bend. I didn't have a full male plug. I've never enjoyed working with composites but they'd be a good way to make something like this for someone who is inclined that way. One drawback to composites is the garage is on the ground floor under the living quarters and I try not to stink up the house with chemicals.

I'll probably either make a simple hammer form for the back cap or just weld a strip between two side plates, someday when I get a round tuit.

cheers,
Michael
 

Shanghai Dan

New member
That was the attraction for me too. I've put Emulators in bikes and I'll admit that I'm too lazy to bother pulling things apart to do the tuning. :) I like to build/make stuff, I'm not so keen on maintenance tasks after that.



No, I did the work myself. The forks went from the importer to Matthew for him to change out the compression piston/shim stack and then he shipped them to me. With the vagaries of international and local shipping it might be a good plan to send your fork tubes after Matthew gets the kit/springs in his hands so he can do a quick turnaround when he gets the fork legs. Dis/reassembling the forks is not a big deal for me but I can see that someone with less experience/fewer tools might prefer to let him do it. Matthew added several extra circlip grooves to the cartridge body in case they might be needed to change the installed preload on the spring and I went ahead and added some additional ones "just in case", but it looks like one of the three original Matris grooves is going to be right for this amount of travel/my weight/the spring rate being used.



That was the MK1 version of the chain guard. As you can see in some of the photos smoothly forming ABS over a plug with a heat gun did not prove to be quite as easy as I thought it was going to be. I wanted to bond something to it to stiffen it up and I was surprised at how difficult it is to glue ABS to other materials. So when I get back to that part of the project I'll probably make the MK2 version from aluminum or steel though I still like the idea of having the ABS as a liner to make it easier to clean off any accumulated lubricant. The Rivnuts that I bought for that part of the project stick out far enough to make me concerned about chain clearance, and pop rivets can have a similar problem. I might end up making some rivets and shop-form them to have a flat head on the chain side. I think that a street bike ought to have a good chain enclosure, I don't enjoy cleaning chain lube off of the frame, fender, wheel, tire, back of my jacket, etc. I like the looks of that enhanced Integra chain guard done by the guy in the UK

http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/FF/Honda CTX700/chain guard/ChainguardIntegralight.jpg

I alerted Matthew that I'd posted the thread so he should be watching to see if someone tries to contact him.

cheers,
Michael

Do you have some measurements for the chain guard? I can clean it up in CAD and 3D print one... ;)
 
Dan, what I've done so far has been kind of a sketch and trim ad hoc fabrication deal so I didn't do CAD as I would for a machining project. I think it would be too big for most printers, at least the length of the swing arm, but I'll give some thought to how printing might be combined with some plastic/metal fab work. Since I don't have a printer I don't normally consider how one might be used on my projects.

cheers,
Michael
 
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