Help with new 1999 Nomad

[cnc]

Originally Posted by mick56

Get over the 1/2 pould difference mate.I cant imagine it being a life changer,left or right.

Mick I am pretty sure by the time you get out your compressor plugged in and attach the hose to bugger around with the first shock, I would be pumping up the second one, shock pumps are that painless and quick. It is not a question of a 1/2 lb, you seem to forget I agreed with you that a 1/2 lb probably did not make much difference that people would notice. When I change shock pressure I go with 12 lb for a solo ride, 15-16lb with a load and around 22lb with my wife aboard those ranges are what work for me. Your not going to convince me to throw away my shock pump and adopt your way of doing things. So let's just call it a draw you stick to maintenance routine and I will stick to mine.

[mick56]

Originally Posted by cnc

Mick I am pretty sure by the time you get out your compressor plugged in and attach the hose to bugger around with the first shock, I would be pumping up the second one, shock pumps are that painless and quick. It is not a question of a 1/2 lb, you seem to forget I agreed with you that a 1/2 lb probably did not make much difference that people would notice. When I change shock pressure I go with 12 lb for a solo ride, 15-16lb with a load and around 22lb with my wife aboard those ranges are what work for me. Your not going to convince me to throw away my shock pump and adopt your way of doing things. So let's just call it a draw you stick to maintenance routine and I will stick to mine.

I am curious as to why you have this ,as yet unexplaianed, constant need, to have this amazing device so close to you.Pump your fucking tyres and shocks up once a year and ride your fucking bike.

thought about changing thaatt.But honesty got the best of me

[redjay]

Are you sure it wasn't the Vodka that got the better of you :)

[hammer]

Whoa, yah that got pumped up all right. My HD shock pump is small enough to leave in my tool kit anyway. Is size important in this F***N conversation

[cnc]

Now there is the Mick we have come to know here. You must be busy pickling your brain and surfing the net.

[gleam]

Interesting discussion on shock pumps there, thanks for all the suggestions. I was all set to spend about 40 bucks on one but then the only ones I could find were about 80 and probably too nice for my budget. Nice to see there are some cheap ones to be found. I'm pretty sure I've got them both set to around 38psi or so, so I think I'll leave well enough alone. Since carrying them with you seems pretty common, maybe I'll be able to borrow one in a Tim Horton's parking lot somewhere along the way.

That said, the manuals say to have the rear wheel in the air for setting the pressure. Do you account for that in your settings one way or the other when doing this on the road?

I had it out for a test ride the other day. It fired right up once the bowl filled and ran really well right off the bat. Took it for a little scoot and it ran great but rode terrible. The front brakes were just not right, rubbing the same way they were originally, although less so, and really weak overall. I ordered the rebuild kits for them and they should arrive tomorrow.

After a second quick ride around town it developed a clunking in the front end when the bars were turned to full lock. Bit of a clunk at about 80% of the travel that you could feel, as though something had loosened up. I had the wheel bearings replaced since I had the new ones already. I was originally gonna wait until I needed a tire, too. I'm hoping it's just the bearings settling in and needing to be retorqued. I borrowed another torque wrench in case that was the problem, ours is pretty old and has never been calibrated.

Where does that shim/washer go that some people need to use? The posts said to use it if you can't get it to torque down - mine did so I didn't use it. I wonder if that's the cause. Does it go below the stem nut just above the bearings (the one with the four notches) or does it go below the upper one that sits on top of the top triple? As always, thanks for your help.

[mick56]

Originally Posted by cnc

Now there is the Mick we have come to know here. You must be busy pickling your brain and surfing the net.

That is exactly what i was doing.I hope you know by now that my sense of humour is sometimes a bit warped,but never malicious.

[cnc]

Originally Posted by gleam

Interesting discussion on shock pumps there, thanks for all the suggestions. I was all set to spend about 40 bucks on one but then the only ones I could find were about 80 and probably too nice for my budget. Nice to see there are some cheap ones to be found. I'm pretty sure I've got them both set to around 38psi or so, so I think I'll leave well enough alone. Since carrying them with you seems pretty common, maybe I'll be able to borrow one in a Tim Horton's parking lot somewhere along the way.

That said, the manuals say to have the rear wheel in the air for setting the pressure. Do you account for that in your settings one way or the other when doing this on the road?

I had it out for a test ride the other day. It fired right up once the bowl filled and ran really well right off the bat. Took it for a little scoot and it ran great but rode terrible. The front brakes were just not right, rubbing the same way they were originally, although less so, and really weak overall. I ordered the rebuild kits for them and they should arrive tomorrow.

After a second quick ride around town it developed a clunking in the front end when the bars were turned to full lock. Bit of a clunk at about 80% of the travel that you could feel, as though something had loosened up. I had the wheel bearings replaced since I had the new ones already. I was originally gonna wait until I needed a tire, too. I'm hoping it's just the bearings settling in and needing to be retorqued. I borrowed another torque wrench in case that was the problem, ours is pretty old and has never been calibrated.

Where does that shim/washer go that some people need to use? The posts said to use it if you can't get it to torque down - mine did so I didn't use it. I wonder if that's the cause. Does it go below the stem nut just above the bearings (the one with the four notches) or does it go below the upper one that sits on top of the top triple? As always, thanks for your help.

Yes the manual says raise the bike off the ground to add air. I did when I first got the bike but not any more. New, the bikes came with 0 pressure with no weight on them, been a long time but I experimented and seem to remember that that translated to around 7-10 lbs with the bike's weight on the shocks as the chamber is then compressed and somewhat smaller.
So, putting air in with the bike on it's stand will translate to less pressure than raised and in my opinion you would be less likely to max out the upper limit doing it this way.

[cnc]

Got you figured Mick, no harm you can't jerk my chain any more!

[mick56]

Originally Posted by cnc

Got you figured Mick, no harm you can't jerk my chain any more!

Wont stop me trying though nipper. Friday night is aproaching.

[gleam]

First Ride
I did about 250km today. Nearly everything works great.

Front Brakes
The rubbing/vibration I had when I bought it still there, but is much improved. Let me know what you guys think:

With no brake applied, coasting downhill at any speed, if I make slow swooping turns I can feel and hear a vibration in the front end. It's the same left or right. It feels the same in normal turns but coasting like that really isolates it. Forks and stem fully rebuilt, new front wheel bearings, front brake calipers rebuilt. I'm using the pads that came with it because they were still quite thick.

My theory is that one of the pistons was previously stuck and the pads wore unevenly. And now even though the pistons are fine, that unevenness is making it rub when banking. The brakes aren't spongy and they do work, although they don't grab strongly. The rear brake grabs way harder and it didn't get new seals. This problem existed on the bike as I got it, and was one of them main reasons I started into the front end. It's still there now, only not nearly as bad. I could just replace the pads but I'm running out of money with everything this bike needed.

Risers
I need risers. I have a set but according to my rough layout the handlebar will just barely touch the chrome part of the guage cluster on the tank. I seem to recall someone put screws into the hard stops on the frame to buy them another 2 or 3mm or whatever it was. Is that right? Tap a hole there and put a couple small screws?

[cnc]

Did you change the front tire or are you running on the same tire that was on the bike when you got it? Reason I ask is what you discribe sounds a lot like tire howl.

If the pads are worn uneven and reused you may not be getting full gripping power from them due both from the wear pattern and if you had a sticking puck, they may be over heated and glazed. I would also suspect maybe not quite all the air is out of the lines.

[gleam]

Thank you cnc.

I am using the tires that were on it. There is good tread left on them but they're a bit old. I'm trying to get away with it for now. I'm looking forward to getting new tires this winter. For what it's worth, they don't make any noise or vibration going straight ahead, only banking. I also feel it in the grips.

Is there anything I can do about the glazing or check if it's present? I did the zip tie on the lever thing there las night as well and we'll see how that goes today I guess. Tomorrow is rain so I'll spend some more time bleeding again.

I only noticed the pad-shaped rust spot on the rotor during the build, and this was after I had ridden it four times briefly. Looking forward to my first full day on it today.

[mick56]

Is there anything I can do about the glazing or check if it's present?


Take the pads out and give them a going over with some coarse sandpaper mate. A rough surface will grip better than a smooth shiney one.Also check the travel shafts that the pads are fixed in place by,if they are not clean the pads will not return smoothly,and might be causing the vibration you are having.Rub them down with sandpaper and apply a small amount of grease.Dont get any on the pads or disc.

[cnc]

As Mick says sand the pad a bit, but put the sand paper on a flat surface a steel bench or similar and rub the pad on the sandpaper. This helps get / keep the pad surface flat and true. When tires start to make noise they do so mostly as you corner and not straight up right. The amount of tread left is not the issue, it is the cupping or un even wear on the sides of the tread that causes the howl and some times vibration. If that is the source of the noise and the tread is still good then put up with it till you can afford new ones, more annoying than an issue.