What to check for when purchasing a motorcycle with a sidecar?

She is looking good!

Posted by: @cms062407

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She is looking good!

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Sure is.  I noticed you're not showing the flames side though.

Have a safe trip back.

@andrew-baker lol

Set the rear suspension  preload at 13 on setting  #1......and at 20 on setting  #2.

Grasshopper, how far did you get on your first day of ever driving a sidecar rig ? It's getting close to dark where you are, so ...stop somewhere along the way to home, or did you make it the 500(ish) miles home today.

Just....Be Safe Grasshopper....Be Safe 

@miles-ladue is the 13 for when I have no passenger or load and 20 for when I have a passenger or load?

Chris S, you are signed in as @swampfox.... again.

The answer is YES.... setting # 1 at 13, for when it is just you, and no passengers or real load in the sidecar.

Setting # 2 at 20, for when you have passengers AND a heavier load, as in also towing the trailer.

@miles-ladue i did make it home at 330 CST and woke up at 1130 today. My father insisted on meeting halfway, so we took our time to get home.

a few things I noticed that I'm not sure are normal on a sidecar (given my first ride ever with one)

1. When you hit the brakes, is the entire setup supposed to jolt to the left?  For example, I have the cruise set to 70 mph and need to slow down to take an exit at 40mph. Once I hit the brakes to disengage the cruise, the motorcycle and sidecar go left. This may be because I am not braking properly and using more front brakes than the rear brakes.

2. I set the front and rear tires to 40 psi and the sidecar to 32 psi, and the TPMS light stayed on the entire time, except for one stint when it went out for about 5 miles. 

2. I know Gold Wings have Linked braking, but how do you recommend slowing down/coming to a stop with a sidecar? Is there a way to make it smoother without the entire rig wanting to push left?

3. As you know, these sidecars have a switch to change the camber on the fly for the sidecar (I believe that is what the switch does)...How would I just find the halfway point from the car being 100% lowered and 100% high? I think I would just prefer to have it at a 50% neutral setting, where it is completely flat, and just leave it at that setting and not worry about adjusting on the fly...unless the road just got REALLY BAD and I had to adjust.

4. Sparkplugs on the side of the car near the sidecar look like they are going to be a stinking pain, considering the frame of the sidecar is only like 1-2 inches from that cover with the 5 bolts 🙁

5. I learned that maybe my hips are not flexible. The wing has a much wider stance than my Africa twin, so my hips and legs are spread out more. Actually, my knees and hips were hurting for a long bit of the ride. I am 6 foot with "decently" long legs, I am going to research and see what I can do about lowering the footpegs so my knees aren't so bunched up. I am hoping my body will adjust to this position!

@miles-ladue how do I fix the signed in as Swamp? just sign out and back in? and thanks, I will put it to 13 now that I have offloaded the trailer!

I am happy to report that the flames came RIGHT OFF, as well as that LED strip that only halfway worked. I am now hoping that a little waxing will take off that mismatch of color on the wrap.

I also quickly found out the MPG is definitely not like my Africa Twin. I was averaging around 30-32 MPG on the highway. But I can't complain. I knew going into the purchase that the gas mileage wasn't amazing on these, and then add a sidecar, it gets worse.

I did gas up, I think, 4 or 5 times (usually only had 2 gallons left when I filled up), and each time, I put some injector cleaner/fuel system cleaner in...so I at least feel good that the fuel system is probably cleared up. I think I am just going to run two more tanks with Chevron Techron and call it done, at least for the next 5k miles or so.

Well, I found this little bit in the Arkansas MSF catalog...so, it does seem like the bike is behaving normally when braking or accelerating...apparently, I just need to figure out which way to turn the bars to compensate for that jolt when I brake.

Posted by: @swampfox

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@miles-ladue i did make it home at 330 CST and woke up at 1130 today. My father insisted on meeting halfway, so we took our time to get home.

Chris S...not a Swampfox...I am going to answer your questions within this quote, and my answers will be in BOLD. 

a few things I noticed that I'm not sure are normal on a sidecar (given my first ride ever with one)

 

1. When you hit the brakes, is the entire setup supposed to jolt to the left?  For example, I have the cruise set to 70 mph and need to slow down to take an exit at 40mph. Once I hit the brakes to disengage the cruise, the motorcycle and sidecar go left. This may be because I am not braking properly and using more front brakes than the rear brakes.

# 1, you are a poopy head...a poopy head I say... for even thinking about using the cruise control on your very first Goldwing ride, and sidecar drive, towing a trailer. WhatsammatU ?  I rarely ever use the cruise control on any of my motorcycles, because I am adamant that the rider needs to maintain full and complete connection between their brain, and their throttle hand. Never again admit to me that you used the cruise control !!!!!

Having read through your other questions below, I can now tell WHY your rig pulls to the left when you brake, and this is easy to fix, once you make some minor adjustments.

 

2. I set the front and rear tires to 40 psi and the sidecar to 32 psi, and the TPMS light stayed on the entire time, except for one stint when it went out for about 5 miles. 

This would indicate to me that we move on to step # 2 in diagnosing the problem. If it were mine, I would remove the valve core from both eht front and rear tire, inspect the valve cores, check to see if thy are bad, worn, and matching. They are cheap enough, I would want to replace both valve cores, simply to 100% eliminate that question. Once both valve cores have been replaced (that just cost you 50 cents), I would reinflate the tires to 40 psi, and do another test drive of 10+ miles, and if the light does NOT go out, then I would move on to step # 3 in the diagnosis, which is considering a faulty TPMS sensors at one of the wheels.

Having said that....I am not a genius on this Honda TPMS system. I would do an Internet search for this exact problem you are having, and see if there is a common denominator that could be the cause.

 

2. I know Gold Wings have Linked braking, but how do you recommend slowing down/coming to a stop with a sidecar? Is there a way to make it smoother without the entire rig wanting to push left?

Yes, there is a smoother way to brake, so that the entire rig stops straight, or darn close to straight, but I think the primary problem is YOU, and I will address that in a coming up question. Stand by to be flogged.

 

3. As you know, these sidecars have a switch to change the camber on the fly for the sidecar (I believe that is what the switch does)...How would I just find the halfway point from the car being 100% lowered and 100% high? I think I would just prefer to have it at a 50% neutral setting, where it is completely flat, and just leave it at that setting and not worry about adjusting on the fly...unless the road just got REALLY BAD and I had to adjust.

Prepare to be flogged.....flogged I say.

To correctly set that ECC switch...as in Electric Camber Control switch, what you want to do is use it as little as possible. STOP playing with it. Learn to set it, and forget it, unless there is a real need to adjust it, due to severe road crowning.

What you do to initially set it, is park the sidecar rig on a flat and level surface, such as a concrete pad in front of the garage, or in the garage itself, someplace that you feel is pretty level, without using an actual level to check. Then....hit that switch so that the ECC lowers the sidecar to the lowest point, meaning the sidecar is lowering, and it feels like the bike is leaning (a tad) to the right, towards the sidecar. Now...hit that switch again to raise the sidecar just enough to level out the entire sidecar rig, which is raising the sidecar.....not too much....just enough that you feel the bike itself is level, and you are not leaning left or right whilst sitting on the bike.

Then, STOP playing with the ECC switch.

Herein lays the problem you were having with the sidecar rig pulling towards left when braking. You had the ECC switch set so that the sidecar was more UP than it needed to be, and at the same time you had that rear suspension pre-load set at 25, which meant the entire bike was jacked up....literally jacked up....suspension wise and frame wise, with a cant to the left. Hit the brakes, and the bike/sidecar wanted to go to the left.

Level out the bike/sidecar with the ECC switch as instructed above, AND....set that rear suspension pre-load to 13, and the bike will stop much straighter than it did before. 

 

4. Sparkplugs on the side of the car near the sidecar look like they are going to be a stinking pain, considering the frame of the sidecar is only like 1-2 inches from that cover with the 5 bolts 🙁

Stop whining, that cover over the spark plugs will slide out from under that sidecar subframe fairly easy. I have done it on my '06 Wing w/Champion Daytona 2+2 sidecar, and even a BMW guy that has owned that same '06 Wing w/Champion Daytona 2+2 sidecar rig was able to do it, without complaining. Once you remove those 5 allen head bolts, you will see that the cover will basically fall out, and slide down under that subframe, and you can access the spark plugs. Use a small amount of anti-seize on the spark plug threads, and (again) I would install the NGK Iridium plugs, rather than the V-power plugs, but that is just me.

 

5. I learned that maybe my hips are not flexible. The wing has a much wider stance than my Africa twin, so my hips and legs are spread out more. Actually, my knees and hips were hurting for a long bit of the ride. I am 6 foot with "decently" long legs, I am going to research and see what I can do about lowering the footpegs so my knees aren't so bunched up. I am hoping my body will adjust to this position!

I do 90+ % of my riding with my feet out on my highway pegs, and my legs are shorter than yours. (yes, I did measure both of our legs)(yours and mine)

I agree that the OEM footpegs can make a rider feel cramped, but there are solutions. Knowing (and you will learn this Grasshopper) that you can't fall over at a stop when you have a sidecar attached to your bike, and you don't need to put a foot down....you can spend more time with your legs extended, with you feet on the highway pegs.

If you can jack the entire rig up in the air, or...at least the sidecar wheel off the ground, do a test of spinning that sidecar wheel, then slamming on the rear brake, to see IF the rear brake pedal does in fact STOP that spinning sidecar wheel. It should.....but if it doesn't, then you might need to bleed the brakes, so that the rear brake on the bike also stops the sidecar. On all my Wing sidecar rig, I have balanced out all the brakes, so that in a panic or emergency, my rigs stop straight.

Couple of thoughts...

1. If the rig dives left when kicking the cruise off with a light brake tap, you may find applying enough gas to match/slightly accelerate at the instant you tap the brake cures it.  Suddenly going from the engine pulling on cruise to a closed throttle can be a little dramatic.  More so at 90mph into a headwind!

2.  Left pull when braking and right pull when accelerating are pretty normal conditions in the hack world.  Once you get comfortable, you can use this to your advantage.  However, diving left on braking might indicate you want more force than you currently have on the hack wheel caliper. 

You may have a brake proportioning valve that can manually adjust this.  It would be somewhere on the line from the rear master cylinder that runs over to the hack wheel.  I had one put on mine at build, and now have it set up to stop "pretty straight" if I apply a lot of brake, suddenly. 

Your hack wheel caliper may also be stuck.  Worth testing that with the hack wheel off the ground and a friend hitting the rear brake while you rotate the wheel and feel for actuation.

Overall, sounds like a great first ride, congratulations and welcome to hack world!

Busy day for everyone!  I go get garden stuff cleared up at the end of the season and BANG!!! dozens of posts to get caught up with.

Scott, glad you made it home intact and without major pucker moments.  Glad, too, that your dad was able to join your motorcade for the triumphal entry.  I will concur that the seat on Goldwings is different than most others, and using highway pegs makes things much more tolerable on the "long" rides.  I've never had any before so it's a new experience for me.

The yellow is genuinely an eye turner!

Ride on, Garth!!!

ETA for the inquiring minds: I put up 15 pints of pesto, 6 bags of dehydrated apples, 5 lbs of dehydrated potatoes and put another batch into the dehydrator between 9am and 430 pm.  The larder is getting stocked.