The 1949 front fork shuttle damper, any good?

[Roderick]

Is the 1949 front forks shuttle damper inferior to the later piston and tube type?

Rod

[clive]

Yes I changed my 49 to rod dampers but it was some time ago and the parts were cheaper and easier to source. The WD L model had damper rods (supposedly a direct copy of the BMW ones) as did the immediate postwar models up to 48. The damper rods came back in 50 so this probably indicates the factory thought they were inferior too.

[Duncan]

I'm sure I heard that the shuttle dampers can have a a bit of a rattle to them which is one reason the design changed back, can any one confirm?

[clive]

Iwas going too fast to notice the rattle Duncan An important feature was they needed much more oil. They did work but i seem to remember feeling there was an improvement when i changed them, but it may have been related to spending money so it had to be better!

[Roderick]

I have discovered that one problem in changing to the damper rods system is that as well as the need to acquire a pair of damper rods - which is hard enough - you need the later fork sliders that go with them as well. This is because the recess inside at the bottom of the shuttle type slider is too narrow to seat the wider boss on the bottom of a damper tube and you can't get at the recess at the bottom of the shuttle slider to machine it out to fit - or at least you can't with the equipment I've got.
I am fortunate enough to have a pair of dampers to fit but the correct later alloy sliders seem nowhere to be found nowadays.
Rod

[Steven S]

I'm really not sure that's true. Conventional dampers will fit those sliders with no issue in my experience. You will of course have to change the stanchions though. Personally I think it's a worthwhile change. I've ridden two bikes with cone & shuttle damping and they scared the crap out of me. Admittedly one was off-road but as it was a genuine C model, I wasn't impressed when the headlamp rim fell off over a minor bump.

[Roderick]

Oops, apologies, I was wrong and you are right, Steven!

"Measure twice and cut once" as they say and a second inspection indicates that the boss on the end of the damper tube will, indeed, fit into the the recess inside at the bottom of the 1949 slider.

As I happen to have a pair of later type 1 & 1/8" stanchion in hand, the way ahead is clear!

Thanks to everyone who commented.

Rod