Laverda Jota Ownership, second time around. (ramblings)

Having replaced the front discs not more than 1000km ago I found myself once again feeling the dreaded shudder when coming to a halt.

Turns out (thanks To Marty?s diagnosis) that it was a dragging left caliper, but there was also an indication that the disc might be warped, although it was hard to pick just spinning the wheel.

After Marty  ?helpied? me service the calipers and properly bleed the brakes i think I might have dodged a bullet as the brakes seem good again, with no noticeable juddering coming to a halt.

Reality is I knew that Left caliper wasn?t  100%, and I knew for quite a while but never really put 2 and 2 together. It?s very likely it?s what caused the last set of disks to warp and given a little more time I?m sure these would have gone the same way. So the moral of the story is service those pesky calipers otherwise you?ll be spending a lot more replacing those bloody discs (and maybe the carriers). Thanks as always for the sage advice and assistance of our road captain extraordinaire!
 
All discs are a little bit warped. Having a stuck piston caused forces between the [stuck] piston/pad and the disc to oscillate - hence the feeling of shudder.

Normally, the pistons have to move a very small amount to smooth things out. A situation improved later with the floating disc design - where the bobbins do that work and the poor old piston seals get an easier life.
 
Haggis said:
A situation improved later with the floating disc design - where the bobbins do that work and the poor old piston seals get an easier life.
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+1.  The difference between a set of rigid discs as fitted to an RGS and a set of floaters as fitted to a Corsa can be .. remarkable ;)
 
the floaters on my Corsa were removed prior to my ownership by the servicing dealers,I was told that the bobbins had worn out and they were changed for solid discs (all three), ,mileage when obtained by me (and same now) is about 30,000 k's well low 30's anyway, cant get at it too easily at present to check.

My own TOG
has had 320 floating discs and four pot callipers for decades, they came off a Cagiva 500GP bike and had the correct offset (27mm from memory?) so no spacers or adapters needed, and no speedo gearbox clashes either, the bobbins were knackered when I bought them and I only used them to fit everything up, this all worked well, so I obtained oversize bobbins from France Equipe with help from Craig, and they have been fine ever since, I can only guess the mileage, but something more than the low 30's quoted above, and absolutely no visible signs of wear seen or felt, since then I have obtained  new old stock of correct offset 320 discs, and they are just waiting, and Craig got me another set of bobbins for when they also need the once only possible overbore..
CLEM
still looking for three or any quantity up to three of 280mm stock Corsa floating discs, precious trades available, maybe.
 
Some belated ramblings from Christmas Eve. Hope everyone had a decent festive day.

Came back from a ride, stopped on bottom of short driveway to open gate, spent a while getting dog to sit so I could drive in, meanwhile bike, engine running, jiggled back to edge of curb, rolled backwards and off onto its side  :eek:.

One bent clip-on, scratched up alternator case, scratched exhaust, and a buggered new expensive mirror was the result. Lesion learnt, clipon replaced, mirror ordered. Fucking hate those lessons but was relieved the tank didn?t take a hit.
 
Not when you have longer rear shocks, shakey AF.

Wasn?t the stands fault, shouldn?t have parked it running near the curb. All sorted now. Shit happens.
 
cbertozz said:
Not when you have longer rear shocks, shakey AF.

Wasn?t the stands fault, shouldn?t have parked it running near the curb. All sorted now. Shit happens.
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the house d,art carlo-got one on rosie-rocks just nice
 
Carlo, you can add a price of plate steel or alloy to your ccentrestand feet quite early. Doesn?t have to be permanent if your or ride about that. Form a piece of steel or alloy around the curve of the foot on the stand  and when your happy drill and countersink a hole, 6mm is fine then put it on the foot of the stand, mark the position of the hole and drill and tap for a 6mm thread. If you use 4mm plate you will lift the bike up a fair way, 6mm will lift up a fair bit. Did this on a bike I owned with longer shocks and it worked a treat. Plus easily reversed if you so desire 😀👍
Tom
 
As always TTW is on the money :)
Have seen the centre stand made by Darty when I was up at Red's, really nice piece of kit, so if you went that way would also be good.

Either way I reckon your bike needs a centre stand, they just don't look right leaning over and they are the easiest centre stand in the world.

Cheers
tom
 
I've lost count of the centre stands (and side stands) I've cut and welded, either to extend or shorten them (and sometimes build them from scratch). On one occasion I added shoes to a centre stand as Tom describes. But I welded 'em on because it's quicker and easier than drilling and tapping, and just as reversible with an angle grinder  :D

Rough rule of thumb: It varies from bike to bike, but for most bikes, including the Laverda triple, a change in height of the centre stand will multiply by a factor of about 1.8 at the rear wheel. For example, a 10mm decrease in centre stand height will drop the rear wheel down by about 18mm. That info is more useful if you're shortening a stand rather than extending. Airhead BMWs are an exception. The ratio is closer to 2 on those Teutonic piles of hideousness.

If you wanna raise the bike, forget the arithmetic. Simply put layers of packing material under the stand until you've achieved the desired clearance under the rear tyre. The packing thickness is the height increase you'll need to add to the stand. Obviously that won't work when shortening a stand so that's where the 1.8 factor helps to get it right.

I generally go for a clearance under the rear tyre of around 20mm on a hard flat surface like concrete. That allows a little bit for the stand to sink in if you're on softer or uneven ground. Some people like more lift (perhaps to make it easier to remove the rear wheel) but the higher you make the stand, the harder it is to hoist the bike up onto the bloody thing. If your tyres are worn down to nothing when you do your measuring, don't forget to allow a bit for the increased profile when you fit new tyres, especially if you're going for minimal lift when on the stand.

My Ducati MHR sat with the rear wheel about 50mm off the ground as it came from the factory, and they evidently thought it was such an easy centre stand to use that a side stand was an un-necessary adornment. It only took me about 20 years of struggling with the bloody thing, almost giving myself a hernia every time I got off it, before I finally got around to cutting an inch out of the centre stand legs and adding a side stand. OK, so I'm a slow learner, but it made it a much more user-friendly bike. 
 
If it is either/or I would always go with a centrestand over just a side stand. It doesn't take long getting used to the fine balance of getting off and onto the centrestand, at least on an SF. My VFR is an absolute pig to get onto the centrestand, something I have found on many Hondas. I remember tall customers putting 3C Laverdas onto the centrestand before they even got off the bike. Laverda stands have generally been great. I especially like the ring and spring system on SF stands.
 
Have both and use whatever is easiest and safest at the time. You need a stable centre stand to do tyre work etc. It's nice at the end of a long day with luggage on the bike to flip out a side stand with much less risk of dropping the bike doing the one leged ballet dance over the seat. And then roll it onto the centre stand. Have the best of both worlds. My centre stand is a bit short, the rear wheel just touches when it's on its centre stand but it's still reasonably stable and I don't herniate myself using it. When I need to pull a wheel and get it past the guards I have a couple of blocks of 20mm hardwood decking and I lean the bike over sideways and slid these blocks under each centre stand leg one at a time. Very easy to do with no risk to my back or dropping the bike. If we all intend to keep riding into our 70s you better start thinking about doing this stuff. These bikes don't get lighter with age

I have longer shocks as well and also a thickly padded touring seat plus an Air Hawk and at 5ft 11  not as long-legged as some, plenty of years on high seated Dirtbikes helps. I made the bike this way as it helps reduce hip and knee bends that ache on long days.
 
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Vince said:
Have both and use whatever is easiest and safest at the time. You need a stable centre stand to do tyre work etc. It's nice at the end of a long day with luggage on the bike to flip out a side stand with much less risk of dropping the bike doing the one leged ballet dance over the seat. And then roll it onto the centre stand. Have the best of both worlds. My centre stand is a bit short, the rear wheel just touches when it's on its centre stand but it's still reasonably stable and I don't herniate myself using it. When I need to pull a wheel and get it past the guards I have a couple of blocks of 20mm hardwood decking and I lean the bike over sideways and slid these blocks under each centre stand leg one at a time. Very easy to do with no risk to my back or dropping the bike. If we all intend to keep riding into our 70s you better start thinking about doing this stuff. These bikes don't get lighter with age

I have longer shocks as well and also a thickly padded touring seat plus an Air Hawk and at 5ft 11  not as long-legged as some, plenty of years on high seated Dirtbikes helps. I made the bike this way as it helps reduce hip and knee bends that ache on long days.
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I have a couple of very handy scissor stands that fit perfectly under the frame for wheel work and with one on each end both wheels can come off. I can even lean the bike over on one to work on under gear selector case.
 
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