New Stark Varg products are coming - Luxon Triple Clamps

[Philip]

Cool moto engineering video. Thanks, @TCMB371 !

Luxon Triple Clamps

 

[Philip]

We need graphics too. At the very least some red/white/gray vinyl to keep that red plastic shiny.

Perhaps Stark Future could create and share some Adobe Illustrator files like Alta Motors did back in the day. This way we could ask any graphics company to produce a graphics kit.

 

[Philip]

MORE triple clamp offset creates LESS trail, LESS stability, and LESS force to turn the bars.
LESS triple clamp offset creates MORE trail, MORE stability, and MORE force to turn the bars.

From Paul Thede's "Race Tech's Suspension Bible":

The more trail a bike has, the greater the self-centering
effect of the front wheel. This gives the bike more stability,
but it's harder to turn the bars. Within a usable range, more
trail generally provides more grip (traction) when cornering.
Most people have this concept backwards, thinking more
offset means a longer wheelbase and therefore more stability.
While the wheelbase does grow with increased offset, the trail
actually decreases and therefore stability decreases.

I admit that I too often think about the triple clamp offset backwards. You have to keep the image of the steering geometry in mind when thinking about the triple clamp offset and stability.

 

[Philip]

I think someone at Honda HRC Team also has this concept backwards. Chase Sexton keeps tucking his front end and crashing, so they keep increasing his triple clamp offset even further.

 

[Ethos]

It is comforting to learn that I am not the only nerd with a dirt bike.

I love you all.

 

[Number Six]

MORE triple clamp offset creates LESS trail, LESS stability, and LESS force to turn the bars.
LESS triple clamp offset creates MORE trail, MORE stability, and MORE force to turn the bars.

From Paul Thede's "Race Tech's Suspension Bible":


I admit that I too often think about the triple clamp offset backwards. You have to keep the image of the steering geometry in mind when thinking about the triple clamp offset and stability.

View attachment 9980

View attachment 9981

39:30 on the vid.
So .. the guy who makes triple clamps for a living has the concept backwards according to P Thede ? That would seem a bit strange.
Maybe there's more to it when at speed than just the size of the contact patch ?
Speedway bikes must give chassis designers terrifying nightmares !

I've experimented with varying offsets on occasion for enduro riding, liked the reduced offsets for the additional front end grip while negotiating rocky creeks beds or 'trail junk' infested trail, but preferred the slightly longer offsets for feeding the front end into corners that have something to push against like a groove or a rut.
The reduced trail effect always seemed to make the bike want to 'stand up' in mid-corner , but I'm not discounting bad technique as being the real culprit.
.

 

[Motophyllic]

I’m just curious, who is correct, the book or the guy making the triple clamps. They say opposite things.

 

[rayivers]

I’m just curious, who is correct, the book or the guy making the triple clamps. They say opposite things.

Here's Alta's take (2018 MXR manual, p. 70):



This is exactly what I felt after rotating my steering stem to 18mm offset rather than the stock 22mm, along with a slightly lighter-feeling front end (I was real happy I did it). The geometry is pretty straightforward (less = more), but the way a bike feels to any given person may not be.

 

[Philip]

This is exactly what I felt after rotating my steering stem to 18mm offset rather than the stock 22mm, along with a slightly lighter-feeling front end (I was real happy I did it). The geometry is pretty straightforward (less = more), but the way a bike feels to any given person may not be.

After rotating the steering stem to the 18mm setting, I stopped tucking in the front end and going over the handlebars.