I just had my Harley dealer install a 2008 HD TLE sidecar to my 1998 HD Electra Glide Standard. The rig seems to ride pretty well but what do I know? I just went from 23 years on two wheels to four weeks on a rig. My new rig has a slight pull to the right on a normally crowned road. It's not real bad but does require constant pressure on the handlebars. On a completely flat road with no crown, it doesn't require much steering adjustment. Should I have the dealer try to re-align the rig to remove the pull to the right or is this normal?
Also, I've read about lean out on the bike and how it should be 1 deg. for starters. What about the sidecar wheel? Should there be any lean out or lean in? The pictures show my sidecar wheel with quite a bit of lean in. Is this normal? It looks funny to me. Should I have my dealer adjust this?
http://www.pbase.com/tmuilenberg/image/102584942
http://www.pbase.com/tmuilenberg/image/102584947
Dealers usually use negative leanout when setting up Harley sidecars. The rig will track better with 1 degree of positive leanout with the driver aboard and you won't be knocking down the mailboxes anymore.
The setup looks normal though it appears your sidecar fender isn't in line with the wheel. Maybe it's leaning in a tad.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
Lonnie, thanks for your reply. I assume 1 degree of negative leanout is equivalent to leaning in (to the right). If that's what the dealer did then I may very well have 1 degree of positive leanout when I put my 270 lbs on the seat. Based on your comment, I'm going to have the dealer measure the leanout with my butt in the saddle.
I'll also check the fender alignment when I get home tonight.
Lean out is to the left. 1 degree is a good starting point but handling of a sidecar rig will vary with road crown, weight in the sidecar, tire pressure, speed etc. The best way to adjust it is by feel. Sounds like you may want to adjust the lean out slightly if under your usual driving conditions you are pulling to the right and the toe in, and tire pressure are correct.
For what it is worth I agree with you, the hack wheel looks strange. Is there a adjustment on that?
Riding a sidecar makes me as happy as if all my bills were paid!!
The fender does not appear to be perfectly aligned to the wheel. However, I measured using a level and calculate that the sidecar wheel is leaning to the left between 2.00 and 2.25 degrees. I will check with the dealer to see if there is any adjustment for that.
Lean left to go left and lean right to go right. Sidecar wheel really should be vertical.
