I took a couple pictures of the leading legs installed by Dauntless.
http://www.sidecar.com/megabbs/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=234
Greg,
Usually the trail reduction modifications lessen nose wiggle or eliminates it altogether. Too much reduction can also cause steering problems.
I know that with 5 degree raked trees the damper can be eliminated altogether in many cases, perhaps not all cases since different bikes have different trail numbers.
Perhaps the flat plates used in this leg conversion are allowing lateral flex in the front end causing this "tank slap wobble". Some type of reinforcement to eliminate the flex may be in order. Perhaps a "Strongback" welded to the flat plates?
Just a thought,
Lonnie
Greg, thanks for all the info and photos. You have successfully convinced me to hold onto my V-Strom. I plan to add the Ural to the bike within the next year (probably over the winter).
Thanks again,
Mike
Updates (11/30/06)
I took a sidecar training class back in September.
Eagle One Express picked up my Suzuki V-Strom DL1000 on Monday for delivery to Dauntless by Christmas. Jay will be mounting a Ural sidecar to the bike after the first of the year. I plan to fly out there in the Spring (after the weather breaks) and drive it back to Chicago.
The sidecar will be painted silver to match the bike. I am adding a disk brake and electric trim, plus external racks on the front and back.
In addition, I changed out the sprockets on the V-Strom to increase low-end torque. I went from 17/40 to 16/43. I will have Jay install leading legs on the front fork of the bike to improve steerability. I am holding off on a sway bar for the time being.
Thanks to Greg and all the others for all the help in guiding me through the process/project.
Mike
ps, I didn't mean to hyjack the thread, but this seemed like a good place to post it since Greg's rig is what convinced me to move forward on this.
Hi Mike, that is great news, bet you are excited.
I have made a few changes/improvements to my rig, which I will share.
First, and most important, the stock V Strom suspension is not really adequate for the weight added by the SC. I never really focused on this untill recently.
Wilburs offers a heavy duty rear spring (works on the stock shock) for under a $100. Made a world of difference on mine. I have since purchased the Wilburs front springs, not yet installed.I highly reccomend this addition. Klaus at Wlburs is knowledgeable and helpful on SCs.
I am in process of adding a swaybar, all wisdom on this site suggests it is very helpful. Were I doing it again I might have had Jay do this instead of the TILT (if $$ were the issue).
I also added wider/more pullback Flanders handlebars (see separate post) which helped the steering a lot, even after the leading legs.
Ural offers a spare gas can which I have mounted on my SC. I will post a couple pics as soon as I can. It looks cool, as well as very funtional, letting me ride closer to empty than before.
I have put about 7,000 miles on the rig since adding the SC. I use a Metler ME 880 Marathon rear tire, got about 5k on the 1st tire, fwiw.This was the higheat mileage tire i could identify.
I think you made the perfect choice on sprockets, I changed the front from a 17 to a 16, and will change the rear to 2-3 teeth larger in the next month (from 41 to 43 or 44. Even with all the torque of the DL1000, the overdrive 6th is not really ideal.
I just returned from a week trip to Arizona over Thanksgiving, about 1400 miles. I cruise at 75 on the interstate, runs great. However, at these speeds, the mileage drops to 27 or so mpg.
Really love the rig so far
greg
Thanks for the input Greg. I have been back-n-forth on the sway bar vs. electric trim issue. The cost is about the same. If I had to choose, then Jay thinks that the electric trim is more important than the sway bar. Even if this is incorrect, I can always add the sway bar at a later date. The same cannot be said for the electric trim.
Another reason for holding off on the sway bar is that the sway bar should be tailored to the suspension of the bike and the car (at least this is my understanding). If that is correct, then changing the suspension on the bike (which is a great suggestion, btw) will impact the design of the sway bar. Thus, adding the sway bar should probably be done last, and after I get some miles on the bike. It makes sense for me to have someone local do that after I get the rest of teh rig dialed in.
Thanks again,
Mike
Makes sense mike.
One thing you might ask jay has to so with the amount of travel on the TILT. Mine has more than I need, and if fully raised it may interfere with the swaybar. In my case, I just need to be aware, but Jay had mentioned once that they could add a limitor to the TILT to limit how far you could raise it. Just a thought.
Re the swaybar, i will try to get pictures as we (my buddy) do it, will be happy to share them with you if you decide to add one later.
Keep us posted
greg
