this is a test
Good eugene. Be sure to enter the right hander at a speed you presently feel comfortable with. Then when you can see through the turn that all is clear you can accelerate. By doing this you will be in control as if you get to feeling uneasy you can simply ease off on the throttle or apply some front brake. Keep practicing and do not feel odd or funny about adding ballast, nothing wrong with it.
You should also practice in a clear parking lot. Do left handers and right handers and figure eights. Read Hal's books that can be downloaded for free here.
lumpy,
to add a pic to your avatar signature, go to your settings page, and towards the bottom there is a place where you can click to 'add picture to avetar'. click on that will bring up page to select the photo from your picture documents. select one and click 'open' . that will post it in your avetar.
Ok, I think I got it, do you see the difference in our rigs?
yeah,
nice looking rig!
I know the Velorex is a light tub...about 80 pounds lighter than my present Terraplane. I had one before the TP. for 2 weeks.
as mentioned in the ISOK forum, a rule of thumb is the tub [with ballast] should weigh approx 1/3 of the bikes weight, [33%], with the rider on the bike.
My bike and rider weight is around 750 pounds, and the TP weighs about 240 with the extra tank, tools and jack loaded in the trunk.no passenger.
more than the normal reccomendations, so I can ride very safely with it...and carefully, of course!
I add my wife , and no problems with it being tippy.
By that formula I should have about 110lb ballast
that would be PERMANENT ballast, not counting the passenger.
a lead sheet under the floor carpet and seat could do it or 4 25# bags of lead shot from a sports shop some in tub trunk and over the tub wheel.
some riders have gotten away with less weight, and taking turns carefully, but the time will come, in an emegency maneauver, that you will be glad you had the extra wieght!
I don't have any permenant ballast and remember I been driving this rig a total of 4 days probably 50 miles
your doing fine,as long as you realize you need the ballast. you will find out how much safer it feels with it. for now just put sand bags, concrete bags,blocks, whatever ya got, and practice ,slowly.. thats the main thing. increasing your speed on the straights and in the corners as it feel safe to do.
go out in a parking lot and drive all over there, doing circles, figure 8's, practice braking, ETC.
soon it will be great fun!!
Yes, install some ballast. The place to put it is as close to the sidecar wheel as possible and to the rear. Do not put it in the nose as it may just do you more harm than good especially on left handers.
To check th estability of an outfit try the methods described in Hal's Books.
anybody ever ran one of the dauntless steerin mod on the 1150 gs?
curious george...........
mp
I feel kinda bad about hijacking this guy's post do you want me to start another same subject? Today I did 100 mls. 50 on hiway at 55-60, 50 0n freeway at 65-75. is this what I have to look foward to? pulling to the left constantly?, wore me out! I stoped on the way up and let some air out of shocks, and it did seem to straighten up, but donno'? then aired 'em back to 25psi for the way back. 40psi in bike tire 32 in car, back to 20 in shocks when I got home.
if it's pulling to the left constantly, you need to decrease the lean out, or else the toe-in is not in far enough.
should track straight-on with no pull left or right when set properly.
lean out should be about 1/4 " out from vertical, measured at the rear tire sidewalls, with a carpenters square, from top to bottom. your tire might be slightly not perfect, but the measurement there should get you into the ballpark. toe-in should be approx 3/4 to 1" narrowwer at the front measured just in front of front wheel, for starters.
if the toe-in is OK, then decrease the lean on the bike until it tracks straight at speed.
Bob wrote:
>>if it's pulling to the left constantly, you need to decrease the lean out, or else the toe-in is not in far enough.<<
Yes, decreasing lean out should be the answer. This will also make it feel a little less tipsy on right handers.
Don't worry so much about what the lean out setting is at this point but rather adjust it until the pull to the left goes away.
After adjusting lean out be sure to check toe in as it may have changed. Run as little toe in as possibly, yes it needs to be measured and not eyeballed.
I diagree with the second part of Bob's statement above. Bob , was that a typo??
Claude
what I meant was if the toe-in is not enough the rig will [could] track to the left, even after reducing the lean-out . needs BOTH toe-in and lean adjustments.
