I also posted this question at ADVrider-Hacks.
I have a question about riding in the snow. A little history first. Back in the 70's & 80's I first got into hacking, attaching a Ural sidecar to two different Moto Guzzi's and a Vetter sidecar to a Kaw 1300. Back then during the winter time I had a fun time riding in the snow (streets, no off road stuff) and only got stuck a few times. Even then all I had to do is get off and push the rig around and continue on my way. I had better traction going forward that most cars, but stopping required planing. Then I got away from sidecars for many years until last year.
Fast forward, last year I got back into sidecars with my Goldwing/Escort rig. Even before the sidecar I was using a car tire on the rear of the bike, and that was one of the first things I changed to with the Goldwing. The bike has a Continental ContiProContact SSR 195/55/16 on the rear, I am finding out now that the way it is setup the rig is useless in the snow. The rear Continental ContiProContact tire does not get any traction at all, snow plows up in front of the front tire, and even underneath the bike and sidecar so it is high centered.
My question is do you think a dedicated snow tire on the rear would solve this problem? With the Champion EZ-Steer triple tree the rig seems to sit a little lower than stock, I assume this is normal. Any other suggestions? Maybe I should just ride on snow free days, this would make my wife happy.
I doubt a snow tire would keep it from high centering. C'mon, you don't often get that much snow in Marysville, WA anyway.
You can raise the front end a bit with 1" spacers on the fork springs.
Lonnie
(Ex Marysvillian)
Your right, I really don't get out in the show too much any more, but there are those times... I have already changed the fork & rear spring to a heavier rate.
I am glad you mention Marysville, I moved from there about 8 years ago. I updated my profile to correct my location to Spanaway.
if the bike and sidecar frame are that low that they push snow, then you probably will not become happy at all because the high snow will make you turn right and stop.
If there is space then I had good results with a deflection sheet metal, that made the sidecar lift up and not stop. But that was on a lightweight MZ Sidecar and there had to be a lot of snow on the road before the s/c frame would catch snow.
Anyway that deflection sheet made great work to protect the s/c frame and the spare tire below the s/c. In the forest too, because no branches were caught any more. only the adrenaline level got rises quite often because the sidecar was lifted...
We had 22" in Winlock, WA 2 weeks ago. Fortunately I have a Ural Patrol 2-WD! Still high centered at times.
