I have acquired an Otter (Faber) framed B40 with Betor rear units. They measure up at 13.4 inches between bush centres. The bike seems low at the back and could do with more ground clearance. I disconnected the rear units and jacked the bike up under the bash plate and it looks better with about 14.75 inches between the bush mounts, giving about 12.5 inches of ground clearance.

Any suggestions please?

Sherpatensing.

Thanks Big John,

So you reckon a pair of 14.75 inch units (or as near as possible) will be OK?

Sherpatensing.

Big John,

Good idea of yours.

I found some old rear units with knackered damping and extended them by welding on a second bush eye. This gave me a 14.5 unit. With the bike upright and unladen, it not only looks much better but has just under 12 inches of ground clearance. The steering seems OK with just a little bit of front wheel push near full lock.

The pictures of the Otter B40 in the SM catalogue look like mine does with the short rear units ie low at the back. In this set up, it is grounding at any opportunity. Surely Sammy cannot be wrong..........

Sherpatensing

Surely Sammy cannot be wrong....

Nah surely not

Run mine with 14" units. However did find the steering had a tendancy to tuck under a LOT. Spent ages modifying the front yokes to get the head angle back to stop it tucking which i have now achieved. This of course depends on the weight of the rider and the spring rate as the important thing is how the bike "sits" with you on it standing on the pegs. Remember that whenyou are riding the back will tend to sit down more than the forks when on level ground plus when going down drop offs the forks will effectively shorten under compression and this will also effectively steepen the steering angle. Trial and error i'm afraid. It's a trade off between ground clearence, how quick you want the steering and dont also forget the footrest height. I also had to drop the footrests and make adaptor plates to relocate them more rearward as once the height was raised with longer rear shocks the footrests were also higher and it was a struggle to dab or two as there was too long a reach. OK whilst clean but it became either a clean or a five which is ridiculous. One final thing dont forget if you lengthen the rear shocks you heighten the seat.

Nothings ever simple.

Re you first statement about Sammy. He assembles from what he can locate at the best price to give him the largest margin NOT the best parts for the job in hand. Always remember that Sam is a businessman not a philanthropist. Sorry but i'm biased after years of dealing with the bloke i now only do so as a last resort.

Good luck

Edited October 4, 200619 yr by Old trials fanatic

OTF,

Thanks for your comments, you can never get enough info, I'll take them on board.

You last sentence could have been written by me (and many other people I know). I'm not a fan of SM products either.

Sherpatensing.