I finally got the sidecar brackets figured out. Took a few times going back and forth between the machine shop. I went in with my original design, we tried it, and decided it needed some modification. They changed it and we tried it again. Then we needed to put a last touch on it and after two and a half weeks of tinkering, we have it. The best part is they only charged me for the first time. All the fine tuning they did for free. Great guys at Jensen Machining in Lorton Va!
I spent a few hours getting her dialed in. I have a 3/4'' toe in and it took me a while to get the lean in right but I got it. After awhile I noticed that it leaned slightly forward, but since I'm tearing it all down for painting in a month I'm ok with it for now. It took her for a 30 minute ride, came home, made sure everything was tight (blue locktite for now) and then headed out for my first real ride.
Amazing. She pulls just slightly right on accel, and slightly left on decel. I have an 80lbs bag of cement for ballast and didn't raise on me, even though I might have tried a few times... There's a slight shake in the handlebars passing through 25 but very slight and goes away fast.
It's AWESOME. Right now I have a drag bar on it which for the most part is ok, but gets a bit hard to turn in the twisties. It wasn't bad but if I was out all day it would get annoying really fast. Luckily my new street tracker bars are in the mail and will be here friday.
I have a line out to a friend of mine, the Va state rep, to get an impromptu how to not kill yourself lesson (I've read all the resources I could find both on and offline) before I can get into a sidecar course.
Simply put, I'm loving it.
That's awesome! Check the Evergreen Saftey Council website for info on training courses in VA. www.esc.org They have classes at four or five locations throughout the state at various times. I took mine last summer in Lynchburg, it was great. Well worth the time and effort!
I'm just west of Charlottesville if you ever get out this way.
Turtle
Thanks- I'm trying to find a free weekend soon to take it. Hard to find one with grad school, coaching and my upcoming MCAT. Hope to do this in June when I'm free as a bird.
Anyway- I went to U.Va. so not only am I back there often, I'm coming down for foxfield!
As you know then, lots of great roads around here. Send me a line when you're coming out this way if you want to go for a ride. Although it sounds like free time is a real commodity for you.
congrats story,..the first one is always the best,..drive her easy til ya get the hang of it and good luck,...crawf
