well.. - hd made it on purpose so that the sidecar brake is too strong when the sidecar is empty - use primarily the front brake. when the sidecar is fully loaded the rear is balanced.
if you put in a valve on the rear, panic stops loaded will put you in the lane to your left - a supremely bad idea.
on any bike the front brake should be the first on, the main brake, and provides over 90% of the available braking horse power [yes brakes are rated in kwh or hp - just like engines] its physics in action. the rear brake is biased to the sidecar so that in a loaded panic stop its straight. in normal use you just barely apply the rear brake and grab a whole handfull of the front. ive ridden hd's since 79, the front is where its at for braking.
to
Thanks for the reply
I have been grabbing way more front than back as with any bike, ( 60-40) but have been driving mostly alone recently so I will see how it responds with a passenger. Where this rig doesn't have a Harley sidecar and was bought used, I didn't get a owners manual so don't know what Harley reccommends
Is it normal for the rig to pull to the left with mostly front brake with only the driver? Also my front brake has to be grabbed almost 2/3 of the way in before brakeing starts. Is that usual? Seems like a lot of free play , but there is no adjustment that I can figure.
With that much free lever you may need new front brake pucks.
Lonnie
Only 1000 miles on the brakes when I got it and about 2200 now and brake is the same as when I picked it up. Also had 1000 mile service done so the brakes should be good I would think.
A rig is the safest thing I can imagine.
In a car you might kill others, on a bike you might kill yourself (to me better that, then having to load my conscience). On a rig you know immediately when the grip to the ground is lost and you still have the opportunity to steer with your butt as if the rig would be a sleigh. And still you are able to jump off if you should go down a hill. (not for nothing I wear a spline protector, it saved me once in Spain)
And the fun factor is incredible.
The country where I live has very bad roads and is full of serpentines. I choose a light bike with a very light sidecar intentionally. That way already with 70kmh you can have a blast of fun. Now I just look for a light bike with a water cooled 4 stroke engine as new work horse.
On the first ride 4 years ago the sidecar's break cable was wrong routed by the agency and in left hand bends it braked of its own, blocking the sidecar wheel - for sure that were blasting adrenaline shocks in the mountains that day (13th dec. 2004 exactly on the day 18 years after the delivery of my first rig...140km... 3 times straight into the pasture!). Next day I adjusted it and since then I have no trouble with breaking.
Riding rigs to me means living minivacations each time I roll it out the shop and is much safer then any other vehicle, because I dominate it and not IT dominates me, or locks me into a cage.
Regards
Sven Peter
10ºN, 84ºW
For the passenger, the sidecar would be considered safer, simply because the passenger can't fall off. We had a local gal fall asleep on the back of a bike, fell off and was killed by the car behind them. When you consider a collision however, it might be better to be thrown clear and abraded over being trapped and crushed.
Anything that keeps your feet from touching flat solid ground and moving faster that a brisk walk, can be considered dangerous. It's all relative.
Concerning braking, I would have thought a sidecar with a brake would be safer and stop straighter.
In looking for my first hack I listed a brake as a 'must have".
Am I off base here?
If so, I might have to revisit a few rigs for sale which I dismissed because of no brake.
Sidecars are safe. Sidecar pilots are sometimes questionable. Proper maintenance of the rig is a great start, but only if followed by proper maintenance of the person pilioting it, as well. Practice, practice, practice......and then, just for a good luck measure, practice some more. 🙂
Drive defensively and pray the other fellow does the same.
Originally written by scrinch on 10/26/2008 10:44 PM
Thanks for the reply
I have been grabbing way more front than back as with any bike, ( 60-40) but have been driving mostly alone recently so I will see how it responds with a passenger. Where this rig doesn't have a Harley sidecar and was bought used, I didn't get a owners manual so don't know what Harley reccommends
Is it normal for the rig to pull to the left with mostly front brake with only the driver? Also my front brake has to be grabbed almost 2/3 of the way in before brakeing starts. Is that usual? Seems like a lot of free play , but there is no adjustment that I can figure.
My Road King did the same thing after a 4200 mile trip out West and back. I could almost touch the grip with the lever!The easiest solution is to remove the calipers, extend the pistons with the brake lever, spray the heck out of the pistons, tooth brush them, and put 'em back on.
This gave me a brake that grabbed with about 1/2" pull. Couldn't believe it!
Originally written by HENWAY on 10/28/2008 1:48 PM
Concerning braking, I would have thought a sidecar with a brake would be safer and stop straighter.
In looking for my first hack I listed a brake as a 'must have".
Am I off base here?
If so, I might have to revisit a few rigs for sale which I dismissed because of no brake.
A lot of that depends on the combination. With a big bike you may not notice the difference with or without. My Guzzi weighs somewhere around 600 pounds and pulls a Motorvation sidecar that goes about 250 or 300 on the road. It is the first bike I've owned that will pull left if I don't use the sidecar brake. My past combinations never felt like they needed an extra brake. These included XS850/Dnepr, XS1100/Dnepr, Harley/Harley, Goldwing/HitchHiker, Valkyrie/Ural, and a few others. In many cases, a brake is also something that can be added later.
Thanks for that tip Rotton Ralph. I will put that on my short list.
More brakes the better for stopping. No doubt about that in my mind. Part of this on my part might be getting used to a different rig. After 2.5 years on the Ural I got used to a certain feel of doing things, braking included. I could stop the Ural in a straight line on a dime.
Practice is good so I am going that route with the Harley.
