A65 issue with steering, when its on a centre stand, steering is nice and smooth and free, you can push it around off the stand absolutly fine, when riding it seems horendously heavey and hard, the tyres on the bike i think are rubbish they were on the bike when i got hold of it i think they are eastern european made look like mild off road tyres, (brand new) the bike when riding seems to tram line a lot especially when you get off the throttle, it gets a shudder and shake up and starts to snake a little, very unerving when trying to turn itno a bend or roundabout
Any ides?
i will look for some road orientated tyres which i am open to advise please on makes type etc
either tyres, wheel balance, swing arm bush or headrace bearings or all of them causing bad handling.
Hi Loudoun,
Everything that Eddie has mentioned. What are the tyre pressures? Try 20psi in the front 25psi in the rear to start with and see how it goes.
I would say that all of the main tyre manufacturers make good tyres for classics. I prefer Avon RoadRiders and have been using them for many years and many thousands of miles.
Dave.
are the tyres fitted correctly? check around the bead line to see if sat correctly.
if the bike hadnt been used for a while the tyre wall could have been damaged from sitting in one place.
have you any loose spokes?
condition of wheel bearings and any play taken up correctly.
Check wheel alignment.
hi, thanks for the replies, all the tyres seem pretty good seating wise, the head race bearings are pretty free and smooth, these tyres are Mitas! made in slovinia! on the rear and Sava slovinia on front , i think they might have come from a wheel barrow!!! i will look at Avon roadriders
i pumped them up to 38 front and 40 back which made them a little better but still hard work, im going to have a check tomorrow at the height of the front forks make sure they are the same, all the spokes are good and the wheels and bearings are pretty straight and smooth bearings.
just found out i have a 19" front wheel and a 18" rear wheel? perhaps this is why when going around a bend i am grounding out the centre stand, is this wheel size correct?
Hi,
Some A65s had 18" and some 19". It makes little difference as a slightly bigger cross section tyre was used on the 18". 38psi and 40psi may be bit high unless carrying the absolute maximum weight like two people and luggage.
The grounding of the centre stand is very common as the side arm tends to stick out and grounds very easily. Quite a few owners cut this off but it makes use of the main stand more difficult.
It may be worth checking the rear shocks for wear and if they are the right length, spring rating etc.. It may not be too obvious when on the stand but once riding any issues will be more evident.
Dave.
Hi Dave thanks for your input, i think i may have found the issue with the steering, i spoke to another BSA guru and he said the same as i thought the best thing to do with the tyres i have is to bury them! and buy some proper ones! he didnt think 19" front and 18" makes too much differance but the tyres i have are a cross off road type but very cheaply made looking at them after 200 miles or so they still havnt worn the bits off the centre of the tyres so he could be right, i have oredered some Avon road riders to try, but after removing the rear wheel it seems that might not have been parrel inline with the front so that also adds to the issue. i will post again in the next week or so
if the centres have not been worn off that suggests under inflation.
they may be fine on lightweight Chinese 125's but heavier lumps like ours need something better, remember the only contact between you and the road is the size of the contact patch of the tyre, all tha weight has to go through that
I have a 1963 A65 and bothwheels are 18" but from 1965 they fitted 19" front wheels but it depended on the year and model of A65 whether you had a 18" rear wheel. eg 1966=70 Thunderebird and Lightning had 19" front and rear but the Spitfire and Spifire Hornet had 18" rear wheels. But if your bike is oil in the frame model ie !970 onwards then they all had 18" wheels on th rear 19" on the front. I do think your problem is tyre related you need a riibbed on the front and sometihing like a Dunlop K70 on the rear. I have been using Mitas ribbed on the front and a mitas K70 copy on the rear for about 10 years now with no problems.
hi guys these Mitas tyres are more off road enduro type with about 12mm of tread in a fairly heavey block pattern, the bike was in bits and boxs, when i got the bike the previous owner said he was going to do some gravel tracks and camping in fields, i have now removed both wheels from the bike when i deflated the tyres they will hardley compress even with no air in them they are solid, i will attempt to remove the tyres tomorrow, then start aligning and setting everything up hopefully will get to the bottom of the problem :o
Another up-date, removed tyres this morning, when checking steering head found the rotation movement was free and smooth until fairly tight left lock then it appeared to tighten then wouldnt return to centre freeley >:( removed head race found i deformed ball? removed ball then re-assembled head rotated free as a bird in all directions! now just been and picked up new bearings for top and bottom unforyunatly couldnt get tapered but will fit these later, this must only happen every now and then when it picked up the deformed ball, bloody anoying! never mind
I had similar problems with a C11G years ago. The steering head bearings were too tight. Beware when fitting taper rollers, they tighten up if screwed down too much too, also water gets in and they do rust which makes the steering a tad heavy (dont ask me how I know this).