Ermax undertray fouling rear tyre

[Mr_Chin]

Hi all, when I went to change my aftermarket undertray for an Ermax one, I noticed that the rear tyre had fouled it. I thought this was because I recently had a pillion, so I put the rear preload to the maximum notch. I now have the Ermax on, and it's still fouling, but I haven't had a pillion since putting the Ermax one on. Do any other fellow Orgers have this problem on their K4 or is my suspension or something w@nkered? The clearance between the rear wheel and undertray is about 4" BTW. Please advise with your experiences. Cheers. Chin

[yorkie_chris]

I've said this numerous times; it doesn't matter what preload setting you have, how many tonnes of coal you are carrying. The tyre should not meet any parts of the bike under any operating condition. Movement should be unimpeded for the whole stroke of the shock, from topped out to the bump stop!

Rant finished. It's a pet hate when people say "somethings very very wrong, so I did something to make me feel like I'd covered it up".

Has the bike been lowered a lot or something?

[Mr_Chin]

YC
I don't know if it's been lowered. I've only had the bike for a month now and only noticed the fouling after taking a pillion. According to your post, even if the bike is lowered, it still shouldn't foul - is that correct? There's a definate problem then.
What could be the problem if it isn't lowered - the shock?
Cheers
Chin

[yorkie_chris]

Yes, there should be no rubbing even if the bike is lowered. It is IMO unsafe to have your tyre eaten by cycle parts!

There isn't much to go wrong to increase the travel of shock, unless bump stop has collapsed or something.

I would suspect either it's been lowered too much, or the undertray is either the wrong one, or not fitted correctly.

[Mr_Chin]

Yes, there should be no rubbing even if the bike is lowered. It is IMO unsafe to have your tyre eaten by cycle parts!

There isn't much to go wrong to increase the travel of shock, unless bump stop has collapsed or something.

I would suspect either it's been lowered too much, or the undertray is either the wrong one, or not fitted correctly.

Cheers YC, I'll look into the bump stop issue, as this is the second undertray that the rear wheel has fouled. The Ermax one is the correct one, and fitted correctly ;).

Is the shock presurised or just spring loaded BTW and are these known to fail in your biking experiences?
Thanks

Chin

[yorkie_chris]

Pressurised and spring loaded.

Seals can fail, this causes shock to vomit its "emulsion" (the mix of gas and oil which fails to do any damping work when healthy...). The shaft seal going will not change ride height!
Springs can fail but this is far rarer than the seal going.

Maybe back the preload off to miniumum and get a fat mate to jump on it, so you can see just how much travel you are getting/not getting. Or you could use strap around subframe.

[BillyC]

First of all, I'm really sorry that you've had to buy an Ermax undertray.

I've had two of these on my K3, as they've had a couple of different varieties (as they improved on terrible designs). Finally, I've gone back to the original bit of plastic I cut off all those years ago.

The trouble with these trays are, they're poorly designed, and poorly made. The plastic is brittle, won't carry a plate and indicators for very long, and the original ones that hugged the brake lights just ate into them.

It sounds like the lower profile of the K4 and beyond just won't take the design of the Ermax 'tray - because they probably didn't think about it themselves. Even on my K3, my rear wheel ended up eating the number plate a few times.

Honestly, rather than go through my experiences, face up to the fact that the only way forward is the standard tray, with a Hamicad tail tidy. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[Mr_Chin]

Pressurised and spring loaded.

Seals can fail, this causes shock to vomit its "emulsion" (the mix of gas and oil which fails to do any damping work when healthy...). The shaft seal going will not change ride height!
Springs can fail but this is far rarer than the seal going.

Maybe back the preload off to miniumum and get a fat mate to jump on it, so you can see just how much travel you are getting/not getting. Or you could use strap around subframe.

Thanks YC. There must definitely be something wrong then, as the clearance with no rider sitting on the bike is about 4" from the highest point of the wheel to the undertray - surely, it can't travel that much to foul the undertray? I'll try backing off the preload as suggested, and get my Wife, erm... Mate Jim to hop on to see the extent of the travel.

Chin

[Mr_Chin]

[QUOTE=BillyC;2019246]The trouble with these trays are, they're poorly designed, and poorly made. The plastic is brittle, won't carry a plate and indicators for very long, and the original ones that hugged the brake lights just ate into them.

It sounds like the lower profile of the K4 and beyond just won't take the design of the Ermax 'tray - because they probably didn't think about it themselves. Even on my K3, my rear wheel ended up eating the number plate a few times.
QUOTE] Thanks BC, but when I brought one for my K3, it fitted like butter, all the holes matched, and was a really snug fit around the rear lights - I was so impressed - must have got one of the good moulds. The one I put onto the K4 was not the same though, these things must come out of a mould! It didn't fit nowhere near as good as the K3 one did. The one I have has the built-in indies so theres no problem of the indies getting lost. Judging for your comments, and YC's, I think I'll get the suspension checked for piece of mind, and just let the rear wheel to continue fouling:smt073 Cheers Guys.
Chin

[davepreston]

same problem with wifes sv new shock (standard) all fixed

[yorkie_chris]

Suspension has way more than 4" of travel