New Hack Owner - 1st Post

Practice!
Practice!
Practice!
All rigs handle in a different manner.
The more you ride the more comfortable you will be with your rig/skills/roads.
If you don't like to go fast map out your trip on slower roads, and give yourself more time to get to your destination.

Always remeber to drive within the limits of your skills.

Good luck

Mark,
the electric lean is adjusted while you are cruising at the speed you are currently driving, with nueteral throttle [steady speed] , on a level road. set it to lean the bike out slightly, away from the tub. keep tapping the button a little until the bike tracks straight with no effort to keep it from pulling left or right.
there will be various settings for the lean, depending on the load in the tub, speed, wind, etc. after a short while you will learn to quickly set it where you want.. great thing to have!

Yes..practice practice and practice some more....Also download the books avaialble on this site that Hal Kendall, co founder of the United Sidecar Association, has provided free of charge.Read and practice in a safe invironment and do not get overconfident. Your rig should be a stable outfit wehich is a good thing. I would nto play around too much with the electric lean until you have practiced more on the outfit. Basically you tilt it to the right to make it go right and visa versa. This comensates for varied loads in the sidecar, road camber changes, wind loads etc. ...but...especially if it is the true lean adjuster that actually tilits th ebike away and closer to the sidecar you do not want to lean it out and then come up on a right hand turn. Proceed with caution and take th etime to get used to it. It is a wonderful tool but give yourself time to get used to what it can do for you.
Oh..did I mention practice?
Wish you were closer to Pa.

Mark,
On long trips, I like to plan enough time so that I can take "The roads less traveled". I take secondary roads as much as possible. Different sights, sounds, faces and places that are mostly bypassed by the superslabs. I am planning a run to the 34th Griffith Park Sidecar Rally to see Doug B. and others in October. There will probably be only two of us (old farts) that will be able to find the time to go. We plan to hit the Pacific Coast Highway in Northern Washington and get off it in Burbank, CA.
You don't have many road options on the Daytona run but it's considerably shorter on Hiway 4 going "Coast to Coast" as it were.
When on the Freeways, I stay pretty much in the truckers lane (far enough back that I can be seen easily), or if there are HOV lanes I will use them. Either choice gives less chance of getting cut off by those entering or leaving the freeway that don't believe in Right of Way rules and there are a lot of them.

Lonnie

OK

So what you are saying is that I should practice, practice, and practice again. 🙂 I can do that.

Thanks for the response on the electric lean. I understand how it works now. I'll try it in the neighborhood tonight.

Will I feel a difference when on the interstate? Meaning, if I am cruising at 65 mph and the road starts to turn, will I have to adjust the lean in the curve or will it track like it was on the straightaways?

I would also assume I should slow down considerably when taking an off ramp.

Thanks,
Mark

Truthfully I think th eanswers to those questions wil come to you beter after you have had more seat time. Go slow at first and from what you have read you will begin to hear the rig talk to you. It is in thsi cominication, after you have learned th elanguagfe, that you will know what to do with th elean adjuster and other things. Sounds weird?...let me know aftet 6 months if I was right or not..LOL
Keep us posted! Oh by the way I was born and raised in the Tampa area ...last time I went back for a visit I got lost due to all the changes. THAT was weird...like stepping into the future or something..whew.

Mark,

I have a 1994 GL1500 with Hannigan 2+2. I added this last year about this time to take my wife and son. I do not have the EZ-Steer but I do of course have the tilt. I have found it it to be particularly helpful on rodes that fall off to the right. Also it is handy when having two in the sidecar. A simple adjustment while riding makes steering a lot easier by stopping the extreme pull to one side or the other on some roads. I am told the tilt is used quite a bit less on bikes with the EZ-Steer. I plan on finding out this spring when i add the CSC PowerTrak.

Be careful out there with this rig but don't forget to have fun. I find the highway to be a pretty easy ride. The gas mileage isn't great but it is still better than my mini-van 🙂

Fred

zzzzzzzzzzzzz........Will I feel a difference when on the interstate? Meaning, if I am cruising at 65 mph and the road starts to turn, will I have to adjust the lean in the curve or will it track like it was on the straightaways?<<<<<<<<
No, you dont keep adjusting every time you come to a curve in the road. just set it to track straight on the road you are using. when you come to a curve, left or right, just turn into it....but slow down, if it is not a gentle, regular speed curve.. best to slow down at ALL the curves, untill you are used to what the rig can handle left and right at the speeds you are traveling.
the turns will normally be harder to negotiate than the straights, just set the lean and foget it, till the actual road type you are traveling on changes from the previous one...then re-adjust a little for the new road, load or wind change.

Bob's description of the usage of an electric lean adjuster is good. Taking it easy with it and only using it as required is the best policy at first. If you do have the true lean adjuster that Hannigan had where the bike actually tilts into or away from the bike it will work very quickly. I think the only rig Bob has ridden with a lean adjuster is the manual teraplane he has..right Bob? The reason I am saying this is that with the early Hannigan adjuster you can lean the bike to full angle real quickly, left and right. Many riders do this and it WILL get you through the twisities about as fast as some of the high perfomence rigs...the down side is that if you lean it full to the left for a left hander which is followed right away by a sharp right hander you MUST get it leaned back to the right in time or you are in for a 'big eyed' experience. Most of these units were hard wired that I have seen in an efort to curtail blowing a fuse at a bad moment. NO DOUBT an Excellent tool but proceed with caution until you are familiar with what it does.
Claude

Thanks for all the info guys. I think I'll do some riding during the week and get to know this rig better.

Y'all have been a great help.

Thanks again,
Mark

Hi, Wingin it
I have a GL1500 w/Champion Escort with lean adjuster. I rode it for a
dozen or so times before I had the nerve to change it. It pulled to the
right pretty bad but the only experience I had previously was with a
Harley rig without lean and was pretty much the same. Finally one day
I was running about 50 mph and started bumping the lean to the left
and it became so neutral in the steering that I could let go of the
bars (not that I do very often) and since then like Claude said the
rig talks to me and it is easy to find that spot. Even after I demonstrate
how it works to someone sitting still I can dial it in right away.
Ralph Taylor

Hi Mark,

I don't live in your area, but I plan to be in Daytona for Biketoberfest. My Wing is a '90 SE with a California Sidecar Friendship II (no electric lean, no anything extra). I doubt that I'll be riding my rig (I'll probably ride with my husband on his 1800) because the resort where we'll be staying doesn't provide but one parking space per unit and there will be three couples in our unit. So with parking being so limited, we've pretty much decided that I can't take my rig. However, if you're still interested in talking to another sidehacker and you don't find talking to a woman demeaning, I like coffee.
Since you're in Florida, you won't have many too curves to deal with anyway. My first trip with a rig was down the Blue Ridge Parkway - lots of curves. Of course, you won't have a big guy behind you barking at you on the CB to speed up. Things like that encourage you to learn fast. That was nine years and many thousands of miles ago and believe it or not, I just got home last evening from another trip down the Parkway. Anyway, since Florida's roads are relatively curve deprived, I doubt that you'll have the difficulty that I did. Avoid doing the interstate to Daytona, if you can. Although I ride them all of the time, I hate interstates with a sidecar. I-4 is a bear in a car, personally, I wouldn't even consider it with a rig unless it was a dire emergency. But if you do take the interstate, watch out for the gawkers! Lots of folks will find you so fascinating that they'll be drawn to you like a moth to a flame. These are the two things that I knew from the beginning of my sidehacking experiment: 1. Keep at least a hundred pounds in the sidecar (flying the car is not for me). 2. If at any time you feel that the sidecar is lifting (and if that's not what you want to happen), tap your foot brake. Others may tell you to use the hand brake (and I do sometimes), but you'll find that your hands are pretty busy most of the time when driving a rig.
I'll probably get my head handed to me for saying this on this forum, but I totally disagree with everyone who thinks that you have to learn to fly the car. There are people who are skilled enough to drive an automobile on two wheels, but the vast majority of drivers could never do that. Most of us safely & happily drive our autos for years with all four wheels on the road. I drive a three wheeled vehicle and I want all three of those wheels on the road. I'm sure that it takes lots of practice to drive without any weight in the sidecar and if that's the way that you are planning to drive then you should certainly practice to develop that skill. As for me, I'll take the easy way and just keep the weight in the car.
Hope you have a great trip to Daytona!

Connie

Hi Connie

I'll probably use some back roads over to Daytona. My wife and son are following me over, so I'll be riding solo.

Not real sure I could fly that double sidecar if I wanted to (I don't). LOL

Where are you guys staying? Maybe we can meet up for breakfast, lunch or just coffee.

I own a TS at the Fairfield Ocean Walk (3 blocks off Main St.). Staying there from the 17th thru the 23rd. It's right across the street from the Starlight Diner (great coffee BTW).

Let me know.

Connie wrote:
>>I'll probably get my head handed to me for saying this on this forum, but I totally disagree with everyone who thinks that you have to learn to fly the car. There are people who are skilled enough to drive an automobile on two wheels, but the vast majority of drivers could never do that. Most of us safely & happily drive our autos for years with all four wheels on the road. I drive a three wheeled vehicle and I want all three of those wheels on the road. I'm sure that it takes lots of practice to drive without any weight in the sidecar and if that's the way that you are planning to drive then you should certainly practice to develop that skill. As for me, I'll take the easy way and just keep the weight in the car.<<

Connie and all,
No, I am not going to hand you your head on a platter for saying that , in fact I agree with you 100%. No there is no real reason to learn to 'fly the chair' if we are talking about riding down the road with the sidecar balanced in the air. But... (you knew this was coming I bet..LOL) There is a benefit in learning how th erig feels as th esidecar comes off the ground. The reson thsi is important is simple. There has been many sidecarists who have went into a right hander , possibly a decreasing radius turn, too fast and when they thought the sidecar wheel was coming up or when it did come up, they overcorrected and had the rig go across the centerline. To gain the experience to keep this from happening it is a good idea to at least be familir with what it feels like to have th esidecar wheel come off th eground. This can be done under safe conditions in a vacant parking lot. Simply go around in a circle to the righ and increase your speed or make th ecircle smaller until the sidecar becomes light and finally until the sidecar comes off the ground. This simple exercise will alows ones skill level to go up a notch and that may be enough to give them a beter chance of doing what is right when the moment of truth comes unexpectadly. This has noting to do with 'flying the chair' as one may do to show off vy riding around with the sidecar in the air. It only gives you th eability to know th e feel of th esidecar in th eair which may prevent an over reaction to thsi later on. Connie,, I am familiar with your rig and .yes, it is pretty well balance and for you the speed in the practice circle may will have to be greater than someone who is riding a smaller outfit. No matter, you would still be learning you and your rigs limits in a safe fashion. Again this has nothing to do with true flying or the term called steering reversion. It only has to do with getting to know your limits and the limits of your outfit in a safe manner.
Let me reemphisize that we have reports of crashes taking place due to a sidecarist trying to correct a sidecar that he felt was up in th eair and reeady to flip over when in reality the sidecar wheel was either not off the ground or barely off the ground.If we are diligent to know where ther limits of out individual rigs are and then allow out skill limits to reach that point our odds for survival by not doing something really stupid are increased dramatically.
Besides all of that it is a fun excerise.