Adjustable shox for Cafe Racers

[beachcomber]

Swagger - as soon as we have road tested the latest version and signed them off I'll flag up some pix.

Price will be finalised when we know there's no further mods to make - sson.

Ethanol - that's what the last guy said that bought a C Type !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They will NOT be silly prices - I won't let him !!

[arsey]

Glad I found this thread; gotta say that this is too cool. Keep doing good work, beachcomber, I'll be waiting patiently for some pics of the things

[beachcomber]

Sorry for the delay in updates - had health issues at the tail end of 2010 that slowed me down somewhat - OK now.
 
Had a major meeting with Adrian at Realm yesterday to finalise several Cafe Racer porientated projects - including the RAM "Classic Gold" shox.
 
He will be having a meeting before the end of next week to finalise the issue re: the Gold anodise - they were having problems with the consistency of colour.
 
The shox themselves have been road trialled during 2010  - 1966 Bonnie, 1978 BMW R80 Airhead, Yam XS650 and Honda CB550. Also a new Norton.
 
Results have been well above our expectations, completely transforming the handling of all bikes [ for the better ! ]
 
So here's YOUR chance to have a say in the final production product.
 
basically the shock will be based on the well proven CM380 unit shown, but will be reconfigured for USD mounting. Aircraft alloy body with CNC machined alloy componetns - all Gold anodised. Bulletproof 16mm plunger rod, fully adjustable spring platform with 13 way dampener adjustment - finger operated. Heim joints top and bottom [ eye/eye] with top hats, shims and new fittings - and top only with Clevis style bottom mount.
 
Here's where you guys come in. I need widths of top and bottom mounting brackets. And also open lengths.
 
Due to the way the parts are machined, anodised and assembled, it will keep the costs down if we can rationalise the open length. We're looking at 12.5" as a catchall - thoughts ?
 
Also, we've looked at various colour combos, but are leaning towards Red as being the colour for the default spring - although black will be available - again, your thought?
 
LOADS of other stuff in the pipeline including custom made 8mm silicone plug wires [ leads ].
 
Here's your chance to have a say in the final production product - not often that happens.

[Swagger]

That all sounds really good Beach however I would add 1 ability that would be to extend the length via a threaded insert between the bottom fittng, e that the clevis or heim joint. 12 and a half inches is pretty good overall but at least 1 of my bikes could benefit from a bit more at length overall. 

And the big question now..........any thoughts on the final projected cost for these units? 

I do hope you're feeling better my friend and thank you for all of this work.

[beachcomber]

Costs will be finalised when we have the final costings [ mainly for anodising now ]. As soon as ...............
 
The 12.5" is only a moot figure - that's why I'm inviting feedback.
 
For instance IF we know that there are a fair few at 11" , 12" and 13", whatever -  we CAN have the bodies made to suit. That isn't the problem. All the components are batch made, then anodised, stocked and then pulled out for assembly. IF we can keep the body length to maybe one or two that' OK, it's when we have 4 - 6 different lengths is the problem. However, the new anodiser [ hopefully ] uses a different process which will allow machining of the length after the anodising. He will do special lengths - but of course that will involve additional cost like any one-off.
 
Thanx for the kind words - my specialist says I will now live forever, well another 15 years or so at least !!!

[Ringo]

Living forever is a pretty sound diagnosis! Good to hear you're doing ok.  I'm bummed I missed this over the summer, but that's the nature of my job.  I'm all in though, if the overall length can still be tweaked like you mentioned.  I'd need around 14" for what I'm aiming for.  Any chance this would be possible?  Thanks BC!

[beachcomber]

Hey Ringo - the 14" is NOT a problem, but it might be a tad more expensive than the "stock" sizes. Who knows - at the meoment 14" might BE a stock size.
 
Anyway, we're not talking stupid money here - I needed a special length for one of my BMW Kay projects and it cost me an extra $15 [ for one].
 
I need to find out what are the popular sizes you guys might want - for "stock" makeovers - Honda 4's, Yam Xs', SR500's - and etc. Once I have all the data in we can work from there.
 
Don't forget - this is NOT commercially driven - it's for "us". That said my pal has obviously got to cover his costs, but we are talking sensible money - not profiteering.
 
As soon as I have the final costings, I'll flag them up. Also, there's at least one member of this parish who is interested in becoming a stockist / agent for RAM products. That will bring carriage costs down to sensible levels. More on that as the deal is finalised.

[Swagger]

Well, if you're building these with an eye toward performance then generally I'd think anything shorter than 12.5" would be out. 11" shocks are great on bobbers and frame scrapers but not so much for those who carve the canyons.

I'd say 12.5" to 13.5" will be your best bet for the masses. If you could engineer an inch or so of ride height adjustment without altering spring preload you'd be able to address a larger audience as well.

[Ringo]

Very cool, BC! I think you can count me in 

[stonenck]

any plans for an external reservior?

[beachcomber]

any plans for an external reservior?

None ..................... We have been using these shox on our race Cobras and D Types for 20+ years now, and NEVER had the need for external res.

Remember these shox are manufactured from aircraft alloy and run a lot cooler than the steel bodied versions - even in a 12 hour race at Dijon we never had a problem with shox - that's with 23 cars running [ one make series - ours !]

I just spoke with AC this morning, and the initial response from the anodiser is good - looks like we can have a one size catchall main body length [ screwed section ] and then cut the thread down to give us the length we want without causing any problems for the anodised section as it will be inside the bottom / top machined fixing.

In reality that just means one additional manufacturing procedure, which shouldn't add much to the cost.

These shox are hand assembled from selected parts - so we can take into consideration the difference between a lightweight 250 and a behemoth 1000.

I want to have all the relevant data by the end of the month so we can come up with a definitive range that covers what YOU want.

I'm taking a shed load of Japanese OEM shox down next weekend for another meeting.

No response on the Red springs

Now then - we COULD go with a plain silver anodised shock - as our current BMW Kay range ....................................
 

[xulf13]

BeachComber, this is exactly what I'm looking for in a 13" Eye to Eye configuration for my 82 SECA pictured on my avatar.
Have you been able to come up with a dollar figure for these? What is the time frame for these shox to be available to a guy like me?

[beachcomber]

BeachComber, this is exactly what I'm looking for in a 13" Eye to Eye configuration for my 82 SECA pictured on my avatar.
Have you been able to come up with a dollar figure for these? What is the time frame for these shox to be available to a guy like me?

Xulf,

I'm really pressing for an early decision on costings - but we still can't complete these until the anodising costs come in. As soon as mate.

Literally as soon as they're available here in the UK - they'll be available in the US. We have started dialogue with one forum member who might well become an agent / distributor.

We ship out batches of 10 to the K11OG [ BMW K1100 ] to keep the transport costs down, but we do ship to individuals.

13" looks like being a popular number, but as my previous post, we may well be able to cater for several popular lengths.

[stonenck]

awesome, whats the time frame until you might have them shipped? march? april? are you taking preorders? thanks they look great

[Capt. Furious]

Very interested in a set for my 650 Katana. I'll have to measure them up as they are pretty long. I can't find anything that is long enough at the moment.