Joe,
The Hack will grow on you trust me the solo bike might be taking the back seat to the rig.
Joe,
As Chuck says the thing will probably grow on you. These things are very addictive and a ton of fun once you get used to them and how they handle and work.
I would really suggest you mark where your mounts are at this time being as it seems to be working better for you. Then don;t be afraid to tweak th esetup yourself to get to know what various monor adjustments will do. If you have recorded your 'starting place' you will be able to get back to it pretty easy. This stuff is far from rocket science and th eability to adjust your own setup is sure a good skill to have.
Yea, it's not that bad once you've seen it done. It's more of a hassle than anything else because you have to have 2 people, one to get under the car and loosten up 2 clamps on the front upper mounting brace, and somebody else to jiggle the bike to the correct lean and then manage to keep it there while the bolts are being tightned again. Has anybody seen or heard of an electric lean adjuster for the stock HD bike/car setup?
Joe
All of the electric lean units I've seen are screw jacks and they work with trailing link swing-arm suspension. Since the Harley car has a solid axle and no articulating chassis suspension about the only thing you could do would be to hook one up to adjust the attitude of the body in relation to the frame. It would make the passenger sit up higher during high water maybe but no handling help to be had there for the pilot, LOL.
Two people to set the lean on a H-D car? I must be doing it wrong.
Lonnie
If you've got any tips I'm all ears. What I described above is how the sidecar shop manual says to do it. We tried putting a lift under the bike to keep it upright while the bolts are being tightned but there wasn't enough clearance. When you back off on those bolts the bike just flops over in whatever direction it is leaning. There's no threaded adjuster like there is for toe-in.
Joe
Joe,The way I use to adjust my HD rig was to use a hose clamp on the j-bar to mark where the lean was at.From there I played with it from there adjusting it in or out till I found where it seemed to handle the best.Something to think about with mine how it handled and how it handled when loaded and traveling I had to tweak mine a little for better handling.When I adjusted the lean I never loosened the bolts to much always kept them with a little "drag" on them and used a floor jack under the bike frame in order to do it my self.
Thanks Chuck, I'll give it a try. I guess so long as the bike is braced up you could place the hose clamp at the point where you want the final adjustment to be by eyeball and just tap the end of the strut with a wooden dowel or drift after backing off on the bolts a little. We noticed that as you torque the bolts up the strut tends to creep a little bit out of adjustment but a hose clamp on both sides of the bracket before tightening should prevent this.
Joe
Joe,
Forgot to mention one other thing........as a precaution I also put the kickstand down.
DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Listen to Lonnie and give Pete a call at Liberty sidecars !!! That 5 degree
triple tree rake will make a world of difference!!
I own a 1984 HD Heritage softail/liberty sidecar rig and I love it.
Doug Bingham built it and the tress are actually from a 50's pandhead
(specifically for a sidecar rigsetup). Power steering plus!!!
But you still have to work on the twisties(depending on how fast you go).
As the others stated above you will get more used to the rig and will be able to make better decisions on upgrading power and handling. You will also feel more comfortable as your skills improve and become one with the rig. Thats the fun of it!!!!
Hello, lots of info here, I just came across the site and love it. I’m a little nervous about taking delivery of my new ultra (11/10/05) as I have never even rode a sidecar. The handling is what I’m most anxious about, and my wife of 34yrs. will be on the back. We bought our first new 2 wheeler in 1980 and have been on two wheels a long time, 3 wheels should be cool. We are very excited!!!!!!!!!!!
put your wife in the sidecar. do not ride a passenger on the back of the bike with an empty sidecar......fly
In my signature below there is a link to download hal kendall's books on sidecars ..there is good info there and it is free. ABSORB IT!
Also...as Fly said, do not put your wife of 34 years on the back of the bike with an empty sidecar. We want you all to have a 35th annaversary and so on!
These things are a ton of fun but take some getting used to . Read and practice. Feel free to post questions here...and then practice. Go to a safe place to practice like a parking lot , with few poles in it. Then read some more and practice.
B N Touch. Hey did I MENTION PRACTICING?
I hadn’t read the ignorant or stupid thread before saying Hello, but have pretty much spent the afternoon reading some things that I was definitely ignorant to. Reminds me of the three wheel ATV’s that were outlawed several years ago. No doubt this sidecar thing is going to be a new animal to us. The idea was to use the hack as a storage compartment on long trips. I’ll download the info when I get home and look it over.
I’m actually a little scared of the whole thing???????
No need to be scared of it. Sidecars are really safe vehicles but do need your respect in geting used to them. I am sorry if we (me) sounded bad in my last post. You are in store for a whole new experience and, I MIGHT ADD, A GOOD ONE. Please keep in touch.
Oh, you can put your wife on the rear if the weight distribution and your setup is dialed in for it. I would not go there until you become mnore familiar with your rig and how weight variations afect it though. Again, it has to be setup fo rit if you are going to put a passenger on the rear of th ebike. Not only that she has to be aware that the cornering forces on a sidecar are diferent than on a solo bike. On a solo u can crank it into a turn real hard and th epassenger stays on the seat with little to no effort. On a sidecar rig the cornering forces are more 'lateral'. In other woirds she will tend to slide off the seat more in a turn. You really do not want to have her slide half way off in a right hander as the weight disctribition can really good you up there.Again, please don't take this wrong but if we did not mention these things we would be doing you and your wife a great diservice. I do not mean to overstate these things but they need to be said.
Anyhow..read Hal's stuff I think it will be of interest to you. Also feel free to post here often. You can call me at home if you want to at 570-837-5182.
Welcome to th eworld of sidecars. You will soon wonder why you didn't get into thsi sooner. They are a ton of fun.
