....Hey Fredinoon !
on your side car do you have to have arms like a bull ape to steer that beast down the road ? I've made 2 side cars in my time and each one made it really hard to steer..... is that normal ? must be with no leaning but geez ....i was thinking of making another so I could go get grocerys at the grocery store instead of taking the car.......
5Twins :
my fork caps have a slot screwdriver slot in them and a do-hicky that turns I am guessing that is the preload setting right ?
i tried turning them all the way to the Right but couldn't get them to the mark bare handed I am thinking all the way to the right (clockwise)would be the hardest setting... am i right ? ....
Bob.........
Hi Bob,
solo bikes can only turn if you lean them over and there's very little effort needed to initiate the countersteering that starts the bike leaning.
Sidecar rigs can't lean over so you have to reef on the bars and they don't countersteer neither.
If you give a sidecar rig that initial instinctive leftward bar twitch that leans a solo bike to the right to turn right it'll turn a sidecar rig left into oncoming traffic.
So yes, it takes more upper body effort to steer a sidecar rig but exhaustingly so?
It depends on the rig.
My XS11 rig had heavy steering when I first built it.
Any XS series bike bigger than an XS650 has forward axle forks on Specials and bottom axle forks on Standards
I mix'n'matched Standard 'trees and Special fork legs on my XS11 to reduce the steering trail and it steers nice.
Alas, there's no such fork difference on the XS650 but WTF, my XS650 rig steers nice anyway.
And if 5Twins don't get back to you,
It takes a giant screwdriver with a tee-handle through it to move those preload adjusters.
If the slot is level with the outside of the cap it's set at it's lightest preload
Push the inner down and turn it right to lock it at mid-point.
Push down further and turn again to get the maximum preload.