Out of interest, most period photographs which I have seen of the Commando Production Racer show the front brake caliper as being on the right-hand side, in front of the fork leg, as mine was when I acquired it. I notice that, on the front cover of this month's Roadholder, the Proddie has the caliper on the left hand side, behind the fork leg. A simple matter of swapping the fork legs over, but, if that is a period shot, why the difference? Is there any perceived advantage of having the caliper behind, rather than in front of, the fork?
Lower centre of mass?
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Yes, reducing the polar mo…
Yes, reducing the polar moment of inertia; mass centralisation, that sort of thing.
One imagines that the example on the cover of RH had the brake swapped over by it's owner.
I suppose what I really meant, although I didn't word it too well (!), was when did the change take place, and was there any documented reason given at the time? One for Norton historians, really.
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Previously ian_cordes wrot…
Previously ian_cordes wrote:
Yes, reducing the polar moment of inertia; mass centralisation, that sort of thing.
One imagines that the example on the cover of RH had the brake swapped over by it's owner.
I suppose what I really meant, although I didn't word it too well (!), was when did the change take place, and was there any documented reason given at the time? One for Norton historians, really.
The swap over never happened as far as original Proddy Racers were concerned. However, individual owners changed over even then- compare the picture of a lean and mean Richard Negus(!) racing his Commando on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Andover.Norton
Theoretically it reduces unsprung mass around the steering axis. No idea if it makes any difference- we race our original Proddy Racer with the disc on the right, caliper forward as it should be. On our twin-disc racer we have the calipers to the rear. But then that has a LOT more unsprung mass....
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Hi Joe. Thanks for that. A…
Hi Joe. Thanks for that. All bikes these days have their calipers behind the forks, no doubt for the reasons stated. I was debating which way round to fit mine, when the stalled rebuild resumes; hopefully soon! I expect that originality will win, despite it perhaps not being the best way.
Cheers. Ian
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Lower centre of mass?