1984 Steering Head Angle

I never miss the ISDT Reunion Ride, and I'll be there this year, but not on a Husky, I will be on a '78 Sachs 250.

Anyone know if the street legal requirement is going to be enforced at the reuion ride?

I may ride this year either on my custom TT500 currently in build or the 78 ML framed build nearing completion. It will receive a leftover 250WR engine as currently mocked up or the 430WR engine prior to the completion of the 83 430WR. Either way an appropriate mount for such an event.

With the event in Massachusetts you will want to make sure you have all lights working incuding brake lights. Riding land is scarce enough you cannot run much of an event without utilizing some roads. We had such issues even in the mid to late 70's.

Yes, all bikes this year will have to be street legal, with functioning lights, current tags and registration.

We sure have moved far from fork angles,but a legal bike is going to be a major problem for 70% or more of people thinking of going to the reuion ride.

The guy behind Vinduro in victoria rode an english event late last year and couldnt believe how tough it was for the old bikes after the modern bikes chewed it up. He said it would kill the old bike movement as it just destroyed bikes and riders. he said they all got stuck on the first tough hill and most of the riders packed up and went home once they got out of there. So he is convinced the current "vinduro" format is good as it just makes it easy for everyone.

ther is the AHRMA NE Vintage MX and XC series this year in the north east NY, PA WV and the isdt reunion ride is part of the series 5 races great stuff

So.. lots of info on year and model, but has anyone cut and rewelded an ‘83 frame from its 30.5 to 28,29 degrees etc? If so, how’d it go, and what angle did you use. Any tips? Suggestions? Thx.

Scoott did about 3 or 4 years ago. It worked for him and he detailed it very well. Try searching for it.

Lower the rear seat loop, and run a slightly longer shock for the same effect.

Here is Scott's description of the process:
The one thing to keep in mind about Husky is that they seemed to always use up old inventory on lesser performance models. In the case of the 84 frames, the WR's didn't get the 28.5 degree rake. ( At least MY 500wr didn't get it. ) Like the 4-strokes didn't get the newest frame or suspension compared to the racing 2-strokes. Fork internals were 1 to 2 years behind the 2-strokes also.
The way we changed rake was : bike complete except for gas tank. ( be sure and drain carb.) measure steering head with a magnetic angle-finder. It may or may not read 30,5 degrees depending on suspension springing/balance, tire size/height of knobs,etc.
So if you read 30.5, bring it to 28 degrees. If you read 31, bring it to 28.5, etc.
Husky went from 30.5 to 28.5 degrees. I shoot for 28 degrees since I'm not planning on desert racing. My 250 with weak motor never shakes it's head. The 500cr on our high-speed offroad track will wobble a bit in the rough on decelleration once in awhile.

Scribe a straight line down the top and sides of the top horizontal frame tube. The sides won't match when done, but the top line MUST. This is critical to keep from twisting the steering head.
Cut the top frame tube clear through, at least 2" back from the steering head, to leave room for a 3" gusset. Mount a small hydraulic jack to press against the top of the steering head. Secure the base with a chain or c'lamps,etc. apply a LITTLE heat with a propane torch, NOT a oxy-acetylene torch, to the lower horizontal and down tube. Open the gap with the jack untill you hit the reading you want. Slide a piece of split frame tube from another chassis or equivalent chrome moly steel, tack, recheck readings. One reason for leaving the front end on is to have the bar ends as reference points to go with the scribed line on the top to keep it square side to side.Weld up tube , then wrap a 3" gusset over patch. ( Again with good thinwall steel, not exhaust pipe

You can set the bottle jack against the rear airbox crosspiece. Use a rod to reach to the steering head. Wrap a chain or strap around rod so it can't force nose of jack up.

If you are going to do multiple frames, you might want to turn a 1" thick piece of aluminum slightly bigger than the steering head, cut it in two and press against that to prevent deformation of the steering head.

Take a 4" grinder and carefully seperate the steering head gusset plates from the top tube and steering stem. Pull them back slightly for room.

Cut the frame about an inch from the steering head. Heat lower tube with propane torch, jack to desired dimension and tack.

Wrap the cut with similar thickness metal and weld tubes together, grind down and weld plate over the split, then grind gusset plates so they lay flat and weld them back.

Paint and you"re ready to carve turns.

Wow. That's impressive work! For my skill level I better stick with the lowered seat loop method, but do you have any more pics of this?

Those were the only pics that Scoott supplied. As you may imagine you would need visualization to follow the text only. The pics show the end result. If I do that on one of my 2 83/84 WR frames and my 83 CR frame I will take step by step pictorial to support the text.

The reason I would to that is from the studies I conducted on how I wanted to setup my TT500. I found an article from a gentleman in Australia that analyzed a Maico Mega to determine the geometry that made it the best handling known at that time. By obtaining a rake angle of 27° and a swingarm angle of 18° from horizontal,he made his TT over to those specs plus 4mm reduced offset in the triple clamps to yield a TT500 that could turn tighter than any less than a Maico...in spite of still weighing 270lbs. It however felt like it was 30lb less than that.

Please help, if I have a bare frame with no wheels etc how do i set my frame up to see if what fork angle. Is there a second
point of reference. Maybe a true level point to master or some way to set a master point to determine angle ??

But I have been told many cannot feel much differance on the track between 81/82 , 83 , 84 frames - but want to know

Thanks

That article sounds interesting. But I would not want a stink bug that the rear comes up a bites me. As the front sticks to much.

You have to know what rake you have to start with. A little tricky with the early 84 WR and 4 stroke frames. Best to verify is to set next to an 83 frame and sight across to see if the angle on the 84 looks to match the 83. If so, the rake is 30.5° like mine If the steering tube looks steeper, then no reason to derake it is 28.5°.

If you have any frame from the 1978 OR frame to 1983 the angle is 30.5 You just need to secure it down, set a level protractor against the front of the steering tube and set to zero Follow the instructions. You only need to stage it so it does not move when you are pushing the steering neck.

Good points. Without a frame reference, as Gary says, it would be impossible to come up with "an angle." But, once the frame is fixed and the starting angle zeroed, we'd be "removing 2.5 degrees" (or whatever one's target is). On the other hand...

I bought my 82 430 new for a desert bomber. Can you say, "Freight Train?"

As my friend Harry says of the 30.5's, "You don't turn a Husky. You enter compass settings."

ol mate has a 82 430 and he wanted a ride on my 300 kato so i swapped and wrestled the big 430 around for an hour. i found it hard to turn but i also realised it would just go over stuff you would avoid on the kato so on downhills etc instead of point to point picking brake spots etc, i would just let it go and crash and bounce my way to the bottom without worry too much about smaller obstacles. it just sailed straight across them with no drama..excellent stability

That sounds about right!

I have a Welding Table so I just clamped the frame down to it and then used a protractor and removed 2 degs from the steering head tube. I didn't attempt to figure out what the angle was before I started, I just went with what was said here on this forum.