Following our Goldwing Chapter breakfast meeting on Saturday morning a group of us went for a ride to visit "Freedom Rocks". An artist from Greenfield, IA, "Bubba" Sorenson, painted a large rock north of that town and south of I-80 as a memorial to veterans. The rock has several scenes painted on it, mostly depicting WWII and Vietnam wars, and he changes them each year. This year be began a project of painting a "Freedom Rock" in each of Iowa's 99 counties. Those rocks will not be changed each year, and it will take several years for him to complete the project. We visited the rocks at Rockwell City and Sac City, IA, rode around Twin Lakes near Manson, IA, rode around Black Hawk Lake at Lake View, and then rode to Odebolt, IA for supper before heading for home. We put about 250 miles on the rig Saturday. Except for being windy the ride was a very pleasant one and the first real outing of the season.
I see you put the sports windshield on for Petey. Is he used to the new rig yet?
Lonnie
That windshield is just right for him. And he wears Doggles now. He can look over it or hunker behind it at speed. He likes it. And I like the fact that I lift it open and he can step right in. Then when he's in and it's shut, he's got the idea that he can't get out until I open it again. I put a towel on the seat and that's where he stays. Unlike the Liberty, he doesn't have a bed the length of the sidecar. I thought maybe he'd lay on the floor if it was softer. I cut a piece of 1 1/2" foam and put under the floor mat. He stays on the seat. He's very contented to ride in it though. But he likes the Liberty still too. Perhaps like me, he thinks options are good!!
What did we do last weekend... here are a few pictures.
1 Saturday we rode 110 miles one way to South East DC to the Kingdom Knights 10th anniversary bike show and party at Harley Davidson of Washington , Ft Washingotn MD
2 & 3 Sunday morning we went to the 88th annucal Apple Blossom Festival and entered our rig in the car show again.
4 & 5 Sunday evening we finished the weekend off by going to Dairy Queen
Doug, your what this sidecar stuff is all about. You modified your bike and sidecar yourself and then you and the little one are out riding the roads. He's going to remember all the good times when he gets older and these times with you will make him the man that he will become.
I also like the little trike on the back. Great job that you are doing and I wish you many great adventures in the future.
Johnny Sweet PE.
Sweet Sidecars
A dingi is always a good option to have!
Aiden, go on.
Doug for sure you had a nice weekend.
Sven
Thanks guys. Johnny here is a good pic of his trike. we built it so he would have something ot do when we went to bike shows and such
great weather for early may 80+* put a new skin on the rear 165/60/16 Goodyear assurance? took it out for a test worked great..
When I ordered it from Discount tire in Lacy Wa. it was supposed to take 5to7 days not so got it the next day. touched both sides of the finder until I mounted it on the 3" wide spoke wheel popped on at 64# and gave me about the same side clearance as the 150/85/16 Dunlap HD tire only 24.2 tall Harley tire is 25+ so It raises the gear ratio less than10% on the '07 Heritage.
Did some stuff here at home this morning then this afternoon, Petey and I took advantage of the fabulous spring weather and rode the Dyna up to Chewelah via SR 231. Nice ride. The canyon is gorgeous right now and smells sooo good! Came home the same way. Good ride.
I have been fiddling with the alignment since getting it home. It seemed to be changing lean out after every ride. Yesterday the obvious finally smacked me upside the head. The upper bolts on the upper struts were 5/16" bolts in 3/8" fittings. Fixing that solved a lot of problems. So I planned to take it out for a longer ride today. Yeah...all the way to the gas station where after filling it. DEAD BATTERY. I called my son for a jump start to get home, then ran around town looking for a new battery. (The load test indicated bad) I finally got to ride about 5:00 and had a couple of hours riding in before twilight. Now that it is property bolted together it is holding the adjustments and handling is much more predictable.
It was a delightful ride this evening. I'm loveing this new sidecar thing.
jim
jim
I decided to try tightening the steering head bearings to remove the low speed wobbles. I also decided to cheat a little and not remove everything from the bottom as suggested
I just removed the handle bars and bridge, then I carefully cut the wires for the turn module going through the center tube. I couldn't find a socket to fit the 4 point slotted nut so I just used a punch and hammer and slowly tightened it while turning the bars from side to side after each turn of the nut, when I began to feel the slightest resistance I stopped and put it back together. I figured the actual torque was not as critical as it would be without the sidecar. I soldered the wires back together.
I decided to raise the bars a little forward to see if it would relieve some of the pressure from my shoulders.
Well the wobble is totally gone now and I couldn't be more pleased about that, I'm still undecided on the bars, I'll ride it this way about a week unless it becomes uncomfortable, then decide if I like it or not
the ride in to work this morning felt pretty good
Jim Tinboatcapt, go over your rig and check...
5/16" screws in 3/8" holes where are supposed to be used 9/16" or 5/8" screws does not sound right at all!!!!
My wife once bought a Toyota Landcruiser (old style 3 shift). 3 weeks later I went straight towards a bus in a 90 degree corner.
Where a ball joint was supposed to be, the former owner had mounted a 1/2" screw that sheared off!!!
We later found dozen of similar hair splitting errors, that each one could have cased an accident!!!
Safety first!
What You found sounds like you need to check the whole rig for further Mickey Mouse solutions from the former owner.
Best visit a professional.
Sven
Thanks Peter Pan. I did check the whole rig, replacing all the tub mounting bolts including those that were the right size. I didn't want to take a chance that the others had been unduly stressed by the shifting.
jim
We got on the rig at 6:30 Saturday morning. it was 38 degrees F. We rode to LeMars, IA (home of Blue Bunny ice cream) where we met with friends to ride to Yankton, SD to attend a bike blessing in a park beside The Missouri River. After the blessing we went to a large buffet for lunch and then crossed the river bridge into Nebraska to the Gavins Point Dam/Lewis & Clark Reservoir visitor center and bluff overlooking the dam. We crossed over the dam back into SD and started for home where we arrived a little before 7pm. It was a very pleasant day of riding. We ran into some rain sprinkles near the dam, but it didn't amount to much.
Time for fresh rear rubber, @ 13,500 miles on original.. Should have done this before we had the sidecar installed. BUT, I did get to use the dolly that was an accessory, find the loose connections after the first 150 - 200 miles, as per installation follow up instructions. Hope I don't have to check every 200 miles... Off to HD for new rear tire.
