When I bought my escort I chose to go with the steering dampner but I have found that steering is a bummer. It takes a lot of muscle to turn. Is the ez steer worth the bucks. (GL1800-2003)
EZ Steer (or raked triple trees) are like the difference between standard steering and power steering on a car or truck. Real shoulder savers and fingertip control.
Lonnie
I have also heard that you can not drive the bike with the sidecar removed.
Originally written by mike149 on 9/19/2006 10:22 AM
I have also heard that you can not drive the bike with the sidecar removed.
Correct. Once you install either the ez steer triple tree or a leading link fork assembly, the steering will become very twitchy without a sidecar. Enough so, that most manufacturers of these items flat tell you don't even try it.
You'll hear a lot of folks say to go with the triple tree mod first, and if that doesn't do enough, buy a leading link. I don't agree. I've been watching eBay and calling scrap yards looking for a triple tree for my Valkyrie so I wouldn't have to damage the one on there now and so the bike wouldn't be laid up for weeks while mine was being altered. The cheapest I've seen sold for $590 on the Valkyrie Riders website. By the time you add this to the equation, you'll find almost no difference in price between it and a leading link.
Recently I contacted Pete Smith of "Steerite" fame about a triple tree modification. I then had the chance to discuss this with Doug Bingham of Side Strider at the Anamosa Rally. Doug sells Unit Leading Link front suspension.
Doug's quote for a Unit fork, delivered to my door, was only $300 more than Steerite, whose quote didn't include shipping. And an advantage to the Unit is that if you decide to move the sidecar to a different bike, you slide one set of forks out of the tree, slide the other set in, and make the bike a two wheeler again.
A leading link for a GL-1800? Even if there is one, kinda hard to imagine on a GoldWing. 🙂
EZ steer works great. We also are having some leading links built right now for the GL1800. EZ steer is about 1/2 the price of the link.
Jay Giese
Dauntless Motors Corporation
www.dauntlessmotors.com
866-638-1793
Originally written by mike149 on 9/19/2006 11:18 AM
When I bought my escort I chose to go with the steering dampner but I have found that steering is a bummer. It takes a lot of muscle to turn. Is the ez steer worth the bucks. (GL1800-2003)
Mike,
Had you tried it much without the dampner? Maybe a little wobbel at 30 or so? If it isn't bad you may find that you will get used to it and maybe not have to get the steering mods done. Some are more sensitive to hard steering than others. Keep in mind that if you are new to sidecars you may be a little more tense than you will be after getting more miles on. This is perfectly norMAl. Just some thoughts..
Originally written by claude #3563 on 9/20/2006 8:19 PM
Originally written by mike149 on 9/19/2006 11:18 AM
When I bought my escort I chose to go with the steering dampner but I have found that steering is a bummer. It takes a lot of muscle to turn. Is the ez steer worth the bucks. (GL1800-2003)
Mike,
Had you tried it much without the dampner? Maybe a little wobbel at 30 or so? If it isn't bad you may find that you will get used to it and maybe not have to get the steering mods done. Some are more sensitive to hard steering than others. Keep in mind that if you are new to sidecars you may be a little more tense than you will be after getting more miles on. This is perfectly norMAl. Just some thoughts..
Can I take the dampner off and try it? Will it make the bike steer easier? I was afraid to try because I was scared that the bike might start to wobble at 75 miles an hour and I would lose control.
Mike. I have Gl 1500/ Fendship III. No EZ steer, no dumper. I have some wobly at 20-30mph. At 40-95mph I can take hands of handlebars its going srtait.
Mike,
If the wobble is just that, almost normal, annoying handlebar wiggle at 30 or so miles per hour that is not uncommon on sidecar rigs at all. If you hold onto the bars it should not be an issue once you get used to it. Many rigs have it. Some run out a get a damper quickly to alleviate the little wobble and then complain about hard steering. No doubt there are many more rigs out there with dampers that do not need then than do.
None of us will recomend that you take your hands totally off the bars at any speed though. If you are checking to see how the rig tracks you can just use a very loose grip on the bars or slighgtly lift your hands off. DO NOT raise your hands up in the air or anything as that is just asking for trouble. A smal wobble will many times turn into a large one if you let go of th ebars completely. Holding on does not mean you have a big problem letting go can.
If you have not read Hal Kendall's books by all means take time to so so. The link to the free download is in my signature below.
Mike, I have a 89 GL1500 w/Champion Escort. Like you say, mine steers quite hard with the damper on. When I take it off it has a little wobble until 20 mph then it is perfectly stable and much easier to turn. I use the damper more than not because I thought it was causing some cupping of the front tire but that may not be the case. Been thinking of adding the EZ-Steer because I rode a identical unit as mine with it and it was really nice. Ralph
Many ,once they see what speed the wobble appears in will get try to accerate through that area as soon as possible and try to never run at that particular speed at a steady pace. We are talking of the 20 to 40 or so mph annoying small wubble here.
A few years ago I let a guy take my XS11/Motorvation Formula II for a ride. He came back and said " How do you ride this thing with that wobble in it"? Heck I had not even thought about it in a long time and prbably had around 30,000 miles on it at the time.
Yes, some rigs should have a damper no doubt. Most , from my experience, do not if setup well and if there is no problems soemwhere else. We have seen some who installed a stering modification to make steering easier, spent a bunch of money and then added a damper that made the thing almost as hard to steer as it was to begin with. This is the point where the word 'duh' should be spoken 🙂
Mounted a Dnper on a /7 a while back. Yes, it did have a prety bad wobble and we never did find the source of it for sure. I suspect it had to do with the sidecar wheel but am not sure. Anyhow I installed a damper and it went away. After a while I rode it again and took the damper off. It could be ridden without it and ridden safely but it was a litle more on the extreme side than most. Th etrick was to not run in the spped range of the wobble any more than necesary. Accerate through it and brake through it while holding onto the bars. No, not a death grip. After a while it became second nature and all was okay.
Again thanks a lot guys. I shall remove it and see what happens. I will be sure to take an extra pair of undershorts just in case. Mike
OK I just got back from my road test so Im editing this post..
It is as you all said, small wobble at between 20 and 40 nothing bad. I love the way it steers now it's about half of what it was before. I love it, I want to thank all of you for your input. Mike
Mike, hate to dive in here now but I'm not used to this forum yet. I have a '97 Valk standard and just took delivery on 9/28 on a Motorvation Spyder. The install instructions could be better but I think that we'll work it out. We are new to sidecars. I've done a lot of reading and hope that I made a decent choice. I am, however, concerned with two things. The wheel offset might be over 14 inches and two, the axle diameter is .750.
I will not be modifying the trail until I see how hard it is to steer. Likewise the damper. I'm intending on putting on a car tire but will wear out the mc tire first. Iknow I'll have to reset the toe-in, etc, when I change to the car tire. Any helpful suggestions or ? from any one is welcome.
Originally written by solo1 on 9/28/2006 11:28 AM
Mike, hate to dive in here now but I'm not used to this forum yet. I have a '97 Valk standard and just took delivery on 9/28 on a Motorvation Spyder. The install instructions could be better but I think that we'll work it out. We are new to sidecars. I've done a lot of reading and hope that I made a decent choice. I am, however, concerned with two things. The wheel offset might be over 14 inches and two, the axle diameter is .750.
I will not be modifying the trail until I see how hard it is to steer. Likewise the damper. I'm intending on putting on a car tire but will wear out the mc tire first. Iknow I'll have to reset the toe-in, etc, when I change to the car tire. Any helpful suggestions or ? from any one is welcome.
The sidecar wheel on my Valkyrie/Ural rig is at about 20" with no ill effects noticed. The toe in shouldn't change when switching to a car tire, unless the tire is vastly different in overall height.
