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[jefrs]

I've just read that BMW 1200 have serious issues above 16,000-ft whereas Enfields run happily at over 18,000-ft. I don't think that would bother me somehow



ChrisD - I don't quite understand "weight on the front wheel"?

The C5 has got away from me just the once (centre stand slipped off the paving slab), fortunately onto the veg patch so no harm done. Despite physical infirmities I had no problem picking it up although I doubt I could lift that weight clean off the ground as I once could. I have no idea how far I can tip it before losing it when astride stationary but have had it over to about 30° with my wife on the back trying to dismount in some peculiar manner using me as a climbing frame; the bike is a little less than twice my weight.

[ChrisD]

Jefrs 'weight on front wheel'.
The question I wanted to ask is "why is the BMW so much heavier to handle when parking". It is barely 20% heavier overall yet teh front wheel hold some 45% of the bike weight. That's why the Bullet (and by extension other, incl. Brit bikes) are so much easier to handle - because the front-rear balance is different.

[jefrs]

ChrisD - I got the fore and aft weight balance thing, what I didn't understand is how you arrived at the figures?

[ChrisD]

Jefrs
I first placed a (mechanical) bathroom scale on the floor and tried to push the front wheel onto it. Bad decision as the springs sprung out and it became a pancake. So I bought the wife a new one and then resurrected the old one.
Then I fixed a pulley system (from my old dinghy sailing days) onto the garage rafters and lifted the front end of the bike and lowered it onto the scale (did the back wheel too). On each occasion with the other wheel on a plank at matching height.
Then I had to confirm the correctness of the scale by weighing water into various buckets and comparing to my weight – accurate at 90kg according to hospital and other scales (and I now keep my set of standard volume containers too!). A bit of a mission and a bit anal but now I know (I’m a retired PhD geologist-engineer too)!
ChrisD

[Scalyback]

I'm not one to comment about what people do in their sheds, as long as you and the bike had fun!

[jefrs]

ChrisD - I think I'll give weighing the bike a miss. Hoisting the tandem on a bike lift nearly collapsed the shed roof. I worked in calibration for the last twenty years, ran a primary standard at the end. If I was still working I might have popped the bike on our 1-tonne calibrated scales A bathroom scale should have worked, they'll take my 100kg and I know a couple of people at least twice that who shouldn't be. I can lift either end of the bike off the ground to get wooden blocks under the stand, balancing it can be a problem; a small bottle jack is useful.

[ChrisD]

Hi Jefrs. I only discovered the trusses woudl take the weight of an enfield when I was replacing the barrel and dropped something into the crankcase. After calling out the gods, I emptied engine of oil, filled crankcase with kerosene and started hoisting the rear wheel from a beam across two rafters (each one individually woudl take my weight so I hoped two woudl take the ~160kg). Once the front wheel was off the ground, I could shake the bike and eventually the piece sloshed out. Put bike back together and rode it the next day on a 5-day roadtrip. All well.

[jefrs]

ChrisD - I think I would have resorted to magnet on a stick, long forceps, chopsticks, scoop or sucker (drill pump) to retrieve.