I installed an old Russian Jupiter Sidecar (right side mount) on my 73 BMW R75/5 last winter. After quite a bit of trial and error I had the toe/lean out set to tolerances. I found that for every adjustment action there are two or three reactions. I have 40 years riding experience but no sidecar experience. After some warmup runs around town I was confidant enough to do a 1000 mile run. Had no problems and was comfortable with the experience. I carried my wife in the hack and we had quite a load of gear as we were camping for a 7 day trip. I had quite a workout on some roads with a right slope, a lot of left side effort to keep in a straight line. On level roadways the effort was reduced greatly. I installed ballast initially when the car was empty but later found it unnecessary as the rig handled fine empty. The Jupiter side car is all steel so maybe the cars weight helps.(?) I experience a pretty good front end wobble and have been snugging up the fork damper to overcome the wobble. Is this an acceptable practice? Will it cause undo wear/notching on the steering head bearings? One fellow told me it would lead to notching and another told me it wouldn't.(?) What other methods could I use to overcome the wobble? I have the standard forks and suppose an Earls style front end would be an answer to some of the issues but the costs of that addition are high. What about a hydraulic cylinder type damper? Who makes them? Any input for a newbee would be appreciated. What all am I missing? Thanks ya'll. Doug Smith- Montana
If rig is pulling to the right, set toe-in at about 1/2" measured directly below the bike axles. Use a straight edge placed against the sidecar wheel and measure from the center of the bike's wheels to the straightedge with the front wheel centered. You should have the bike leaning away from the sidecar a tad. So the rig is sitting vertical on a normally crowned road. Road test to see which way it pulls. If still to the right, increase the bikes lean-out. Adjust leanout till you get neutral steering on a normal road.
There are many other ways to accomplish this but this method is easy and it works.
Tighten head bearings till the front end no longer "flops". Beyond this point you risk bearing/race spalling.
There are several mfgrs. of dampers or you can use a VW steering damper if you cannot control the nose wiggle. Usually this only occurs at slow speed when taking off or stopping. Always keep both hands on the bars with a sidecar to keep the steering steady.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
A little slow-speed wobble is normal- especially if you hit a bump like a driveway entrance or something. Usually a little gas makes it go away. Also, I find my rig is sensitive to low tire pressure. It doesn't have to be down much at all, either.
SC rigs like the steering bears a little tighter than solo bikes do, as Mr Lonnie mentioned.
