Hi everyone and kia ora from New Zealand!
I have been toying with the idea of getting a sidecar for ages now, mostly so that we can take our dog on rides. Can't find any forums or anything in NZ to help with some very basic info, and we don't know anyone who has a sidecar, so thought I would try my luck here.
We found a sidecar & bike for sale and took it for a ride last night. That is our one and only experience with a side car, and what a hoot! I couldn't stop laughing.
Something was way off with it though. In NZ we drive on the left, so the sidecar is mounted on the left side of the bike. It pulled badly to the left, and right turns were incredibly hard. This was just around town doing minimal speed - we didn't get out of second gear!
I've had a look at the Hal Kendall sidecar manual which says "If the sidecar is too heavy it will drag or pull hard to the right
when accelerating. It will also push hard to the left when braking.
Is that very much a generalisation, or pretty much going to be spot on? We were thinking the alignment must be way off (and the under-inflated front tyre wouldn't have helped either!) but after reading that, could it be a simple as the sidecar being too heavy for the bike? Or a combination of alignment and weight?
The bike is a late 80's Suzuki Savage 400, which has only done 8000 miles. Couldn't see any branding to identify the sidecar, but looks much older than the bike, and it's constructed of fibreglass.
Any very basic comments, hints or tips would be very greatly appreciated! We are quite keen to buy this as a "do up" as the sidecar needs some TLC.
Cheers
Maree
:o)
A Savage 400 is somewhat limited in power for high speed sidecar work but it will pull a lighter sidecar quite well. We have put the 562 Velorex sidecars (154 pounds) on 250 scooters and 350 bikes for local back road use (not highway).
If setup correctly the rig will not pull either direction when travelling at a constant speed unless the road has a lot of crown (camber). then it may fall off to the low side. Many rigs are out of alignment and will be hard to handle. A look at the sidecar tire can tell a lot about the existing alignment. If it is showing unusual tread wear, scuffing or cupping it's a dead giveaway.
You can check for correct toe-in of the rig by placing a straight edge tightly against the rear bike wheel (blocked up about 100-120mm) and another placed the same way tightly against the sidecar wheel. Measure the distance between the straight edges in back of the rear bike tire then in front of the front tire. The measurement in front should be about 10mm less than the back.
The other important measurement is the lean-out of the bike from the (level) sidecar. The bike should lean away (at the top) from the sidecar a small amount. About 1 plus degrees with the rider in the saddle. This helps overcome the road crown so the rig is more or less vertical and doesn't want to fall off to the lower side of the roadway.
I hope this helps.
Lonnie Cook
Northwest Sidecars
"I've had a look at the Hal Kendall sidecar manual which says "If the sidecar is too heavy it will drag or pull hard to the right
when accelerating. It will also push hard to the left when braking."
That part there is just the nature of a sidecar, has nothing to do with how heavy your chair is. If it's doing it at a constant speed and the crown of the road isn't at issue then it's exactly as Hack'n says. If it's a missalignment of things, then yes it will make life much much harder on you, and it sounds like that is exactly what the issue is. Even once you do have everything lined up proper it will still take a bit of adjustment to learn driving the thing. It's much different from a solo bike or a car in that you can accomplish a lot of steering via the throttle. Granted, it's much more pronounced for the rigs I drive, something about the big fat F1 tires a run but, accelerate and the rig will pull left, deccelerate and the rig will pull right. It's a matter of the chair wheel causing drag on acceleration and the momentum of the chair on decceleration that causes this. Once you get it down you can accomplish quite a bit of steering this way. Granted, horsepower helps to do this.
You may also want to look into the braking system as well. First, is there a chair brake? Second, how is it plumbed? If the chair brake is hanging up that will cause some serious pull to the left on your rig. If it's plumbed to the front brake you may want to consider replumbing it to the rear. Having the rear and chair brakes tied increases controlability of the rig. Check all the lot Hack'n mentioned and the brake system and you should be straight.
Thanks Lonnie & Mike 🙂
There sure is a lot for us to learn! If we do buy it (it's an online auction) we will have a go at getting the alignment and toe-in correct.
We realise that the Savage is underpowered and would struggle to make open road speed. Our original plan was to get a sidecar for my VS1400 Boulevard - but I'm not keen on the thought of having it on permanently so shelved the idea. In NZ any bike newer than 1990 has to have the sidecar set up certified before being allowed on the road, so it could get quite complicated. Because the Savage is pre 1990, it doesn't need certification.
The savage & sidecar would give us a start without huge outlay and I'd still have my VS.
Steering it was alot like riding an ATV quad bike, which I used to ride (I'm the secretary of our local dirt bike riding club, and hubby has a big killer ATV), so it wasn't a completely foreign feeling.
There is no chair brake, but that is something we could look to add.
Thanks again for your help!!
Maree 🙂
Chair brake is helpfull to be honost. Check all the bearings on the chair too, could be some issues there as well. So many more things to go wrong, but so much more fun to be had. There are a few sidecar racers in NZ but not many, mostly over in Oz. The road racers may have some insights if you can get in touch with them and it's a bit closer to home for you.
Hello Maree, doe doe here from Chrustchurch, NZ, i too share your excitement, ive got myself a sweet 900cc Bonnie and a Sabiston chair that im planning on fitting as soon as.....ive figured out how to do it ....any comments apprieciated ...thanks
