Hey All, A while back I swapped out the stock steel triple clamp for a billet one on an R80 (Euro Model) The bike is sitting in CA at the moment and I am in VA Anyway, When I installed the new TC, I had to shave down the stock Headlight hangers so that the TC would bottom out on the forks. However, When I went to replace the large (41mm?) nut on the TC, I only could get it down about three threads :huh - I've got about half the damn nut sitting out there in the middle of nowhere. The whole thing 'seemed' solid and I rode it locally for a while, but I'm thinking about riding the old girl back home doing a cafe or bobber project with her, and this problem has been chewing on me for some time. I'm not sure if I trust the damn thing to ride x-country. I'm just curious if anyone else has had the same experience, or is familiar with this problem / fix ? -- Sorry if this is vague - I did the work about 5 years ago, in Italy, and my memory is kind of vague - too much cheap wine (Like the manufacturer of the clamp - I think it was a homemade jobby.) I will try and find the manufacturer at least...
If I understand you correctly, they all do that with the alloy triple tree for the tree being that much thicker. I have always thought it was a bit dicey but it seems to work.
Is the shouldered portion of the nut engaged in the triple clamp? When the triple clamp is replaced withe rest of the fork assembled (including the front wheel) the lower triple clamp can deflect enough to make installing the nut difficult. I've also seen people install the nut upside-down.
Thanks for the help guys, I did this when I didn't have internet access and never really thought much about it until recently. Chances are I'll be losing the triple clamp anyway if I bob the thing out (Thinking about springer front end maybe?) Anyway we'll see. Thanks!