Wrestling the beast.

So, as I've pointed out elsewhere I need to do about 1500 miles over a
long weekend on the outfit (essentially a 206 mile day followed by a 400
mile day, followed by a 200 mile day and then in reverse a few days
later).

So... yesterdays 300 miles were fine but towards the end my shoulders
wee tired. On a flat, level road the outfit is pretty neutral. Add in
some camber etc. and it starts to pull slightly, actually on reflection
it could also be the impact of weight in the sidecar. This over an
extended period is rather wearing.

I can piss about with adjusting the sidecar when weighted but I wonder
what else.

I've got a front tyre to fit to the bike which has a flat profile, I
guess this should help. I'm also wondering about a steering damper;
would this make any difference? To be honest it's not flapping about so
I'm not massively worried about the damper for er. damping reasons.

Comments?

 

I think I may have to service the MZ (snorky bike) before I go.

Sidecar alignment is the key. Get it right and a lot of the problems
will be less of a problem. IYSWIM.

 

Knowing SFA about outfits (but that doesn't usually stop anybody) I'd
say that is your answer. A bit more toe-in on the chair would improve
it, I'd think - perhaps a bit more uprightness wrt the bike may help
too. As long as it doesn't pull to the right on a flat road, natch,
nor scrub tyres.

I'm assuming the bike has conventional steering rather than leading
link forks, right?

Try the tyre, suck it and see, dear. If it isn't flapping then a
damper is only going to confuse the issue.

Upper body workouts might help.

 

If adjusted for camber, would it then behave differently when on
continental European roads, i.e. right side of the road?

 

Add or remove Camber Shims as necessary, of course.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Petrol and matches - kill it before it kills you.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Toe-in affects pull, and lean also affects it. The first thing to do would
be to measure how much toe-in you currently have, just to be sure it's not
ludicrously off, or even toeing out.

The other thing you'll want to think about is adjusting it on the other
side, for the wrong-way camber.

Do you want me to have a fiddle with it?

At some speed, it will probably flap a bit. So long as it's not your
cruising speed, you should be okay.

 

Oh, it's toe-ing in to the middle of the velorex instructions (about
5/8" at a point 'about a foot in front of the front wheel') and it's
leaning out also to their instructions (about 1/8 to 1/4").

I'll see what the MOT says and once they're happy I'll start fucking
about! The problem is that I didn't notice the fatigue until about 50
miles into the journey. We'll see.

Oh, the flapping's at low speeds.

 

It's been completely 're-hung'. I've remade three of the mounting
points/mounting bars so now it's leaning out rather than in.

 

Does it pull towards the gutter at normal cruising speed? Would you be
relaxed about taking a hand off the bars?

Is it severe, or just a bit of a wibble?

 

a hand or both hands? One hand no problem, both hands no. But it
depends on the road condition; which I guess is the camber.

Would you be comfortable with both hands off the bars on your outfit?

To be honest it's not that noticeable since I've fecked about with it.

 

It sounds like it's pretty well set up. If I was going to recommend
anything, it would be a hair more toe-in, and possibly a hair less lean-out.

(I'm assuming that it wants to go towards the gutter.)

Yes, if I had a throttle lock of some sort.

If it takes 50 miles to be an issue, there's nothing fundamentally wrong.
I'm taking it that this is 50 miles on motorway-type roads.

 

You know, it varies, again depending on road camber but for the most
part when I noticed it, it was pulling towards the gutter.

Yes. And, to be honest it was really only during the second 150 mile
stint that my shoulder started to complain. This could have been due to
the vetter fairing in the sidecar... or the added weight from the bag of
cement.

 

If this is a Watsonian/Squire the adjustments are made with telescopic arms
and clamps?
It should be easy to have markings and readjust for British/Continental
driving?

 

To be fair though, that could mean either a) his outfit is really well
set-up *OR* b) he's dumb enough to try anything, regardless.[/QUOTE]

Or both.

 

Is the bag of cement in the front or back of the chair?

It's not very fast, mind, and you can't control direction by wobbling your
arse about like a bike, but if it was going along on the flat, it would just
keep on keeping on, and not suddenly depart into a runaway wobble or flat
spin. For instance, remember Sweller's runaway chariot.

Adding ballast to the chair will slightly emphasise the left/right power
on/off thing for the sake of keeping it down on lefthanders. The chair on
the Ural is pretty heavy and has a car battery in the boot. I don't have
anything else as ballast.

 

Front; in front of the sidecar wheel.


Anyway, at the moment it's a moot point 'cos the MOT didn't like the
suspension. Any of it.

I'd hoped that they would have turned a blind eye but they want some
damping in the forks, a lack of oil coming out of the rear shocks and
the sidecar shock to not fowl the mounting bracketry. I think they're
just being fussy; I've got to ride the effing thing...

*sigh* I suspect the sidecar shock is going to be tricky.

 

I suspect it may drive a bit better once you've sorted that lot out.

 

A trip to Flitwick MOT Inc?

 

No, I suspect that I will either need to source another shock or extend
the shock 'arm' somehow; "mr arm, meet mr angle grinder and mr arc
welder...".