P11 and others

Information relating to the Matchless G85 500cc Heavyweight, AJS 7R, Matchless G45 and Matchless G50
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500tg3lc
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Re: P11 and others

Post by 500tg3lc »

Bill - thank you for posting these pictures for us all to see rather than just talking about them.
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p400
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Re: P11 and others

Post by p400 »

Stan Palmer
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Re: P11 and others

Post by Stan Palmer »

Whats surprising to me is that at least some of the bikes seem to have the standard 7" front brake. Surely these machines must be pushing 60 BHP and heavy to boot. Am I mistaken or is there a secret that might help those of us with 18 HP and no safety on even the shortest Motorway visit, where no amount of forward thinking can cover the idiocy of others ?
Stan
BillTS3
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Re: P11 and others

Post by BillTS3 »

Stan Palmer wrote:Whats surprising to me is that at least some of the bikes seem to have the standard 7" front brake. Surely these machines must be pushing 60 BHP and heavy to boot. Am I mistaken or is there a secret that might help those of us with 18 HP and no safety on even the shortest Motorway visit, where no amount of forward thinking can cover the idiocy of others ?
Stan
Plan all stops, even panic stops!

I've got a Ranger, a G15CS and an 850 Commando. The Ranger has the weakest brakes, but at least the cooling fins on the hubs weren't skimmed off, as was done on the earlier P11s. The brakes on the G15 are better, but not a tremendous leap forward. The Matchless is also a bit heavier than the P11. The Commando is similar in weight to the G15 and has the identical rear brake, but has the Norton-Lockheed disc up front. The feel of the front brake in stock form feels similar to the drum of the G15, but I had the master cylinder sleeved. The brake is now two-finger, with no fade over repeated stops.

Even though the brakes on the P11 are small, they will haul the bike down from speed effectively, two or three times. After that, one must let the brakes cool down.
500tg3lc
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Re: P11 and others

Post by 500tg3lc »

The brake shoes on the P11 are wider than the what was standard 7" front brakes - how much difference it makes who knows, weight of rider etc.
g80csp11
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Re: P11 and others

Post by g80csp11 »

When its raining hard , the interim front hub (wider brakes) are just as bad as the regular brakes
500tg3lc
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Re: P11 and others

Post by 500tg3lc »

what came after the P11 "interim" front brake?
BillTS3
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Re: P11 and others

Post by BillTS3 »

Bankruptcy.

The 'Interim' front hub came out in '63 (I think) for most models, then '64 across the range. AMC went bankrupt in '66, and that was the end of AMC product development. The company that owned Villiers bought Norton-Matchless, then let Matchless wither away.

The interim hub used an improved bearing assembly, much simpler than the hub it replaced. P11s still had the older-style bearing assembly for the rear hub - a bit tricky to properly set up, and a lot of pieces.
500tg3lc
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Re: P11 and others

Post by 500tg3lc »

Thanks for that, but the P11 "interim" front brake suggests another came out after it - I wasn't aware of this and would be interested to know more about the later P11 brake.
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saltbox alf
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Re: P11 and others

Post by saltbox alf »

It seems the 'interim' brake was the final issue and the proposed next one never happened, unless you count NVT lockheed disc brakes!
Allons-y, amis de Matchless et AJS
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