the surge is all in the program, the 2007, had this as a problem. The new download should make your bike run a lot cooler and take care of the surge.
As far as dot four vrs five. Dot four is much more hydroscopic than five.
The problem with the hydrosopic issue is that most people do not ride their bikes enough to cook off the water, thus water in the brake fluid which will case air and boiling. Brake sponginess.
When they fitted the new rig they downloaded the latest software and told me there was no surging when they tested it- it still did it when I took it away from the dealers and still does.
I would normally replace the brake fluid with Dot 5 but as I don't want to invalidate the warrenty, I won't do that job until then.
A friend has just had a new Hannigan chair fitted to his GL1800 so I should be riding that in about a weeks time when he gets back, and as that seemed a better outfit than the HD ( I am used to European outfits with leading links,shaft drive and car tires)it will be an interesting experience- watch this space.
The wife does enjoy the ride in the HD as the leaf springs do take a lot of the shock out of bad road surfaces and she enjoys the fairground ride effect.
Originally written by sidecarbrit on 11/17/2007 11:15 PM
When they fitted the new rig they downloaded the latest software and told me there was no surging when they tested it- it still did it when I took it away from the dealers and still does.
I would normally replace the brake fluid with Dot 5 but as I don't want to invalidate the warrenty, I won't do that job until then.
A friend has just had a new Hannigan chair fitted to his GL1800 so I should be riding that in about a weeks time when he gets back, and as that seemed a better outfit than the HD ( I am used to European outfits with leading links,shaft drive and car tires)it will be an interesting experience- watch this space.
The wife does enjoy the ride in the HD as the leaf springs do take a lot of the shock out of bad road surfaces and she enjoys the fairground ride effect.
You criticize the HD sidecar design with faint praise. I've ridden many a mile with HD sidecars and have yet to experience the "fairground ride effect". That's a new one on me.
In any case, I did add a car shock between the tub and the frame as a general safety issue to stabilize the nose of the tub against really hard bumps.
Why fight your urges? Why not buy a European style sidecar rig with the leading link, shaft drive and car tires? Meaning no offense but life is too short to ride something you don't appreciate.
As to the DOT 5 versus DOT 4, I also prefer DOT 5 mainly because it doesn't eat paint. I was told by a technician at a Harley dealer that they changed to DOT 4 when they added the ABS units on the police models. For obvious reasons it makes sense to use only one type of brake fluid in a manufacturing setting.
As to your surging issue, this is controlled fairly easily with the use of one of the widely available aftermarket fuel injection modification units such as the Power Commander, Harley Race Tuner, Race Fueler, DTT, and so on. The dealers simply won't spend the time to make such changes, especially in this era of increasing EPA control. Such modifications should probably be done on a dyno anyway.
Happy Trails!
Sidecarbrit wrote:
The wife does enjoy the ride in the HD as the leaf springs do take a lot of the shock out of bad road surfaces and she enjoys the fairground ride effect.
gnm109 wrote:
I've ridden many a mile with HD sidecars and have yet to experience the "fairground ride effect". That's a new one on me.
Hack'n writes:
My bride agrees with brit. How many of your "many a" miles were ridden while in the rocking chair, Gaylord? The bike saddle doesn't ride the same as the "Banana seat".
Originally written by Hack'n on 11/18/2007 1:03 PM
Sidecarbrit wrote:
The wife does enjoy the ride in the HD as the leaf springs do take a lot of the shock out of bad road surfaces and she enjoys the fairground ride effect.gnm109 wrote:
I've ridden many a mile with HD sidecars and have yet to experience the "fairground ride effect". That's a new one on me.Hack'n writes:
My bride agrees with brit. How many of your "many a" miles were ridden while in the rocking chair, Gaylord? The bike saddle doesn't ride the same as the "Banana seat".
Interesting how you refer to the HD sidecar as a "rocking chair". I've not ridden many miles in the tub myself but I've ridden watching them quite a lot. Mine is not a rocking chair. It's actually quite stable. Some of you folks, that would be you - among others, are so negative about Harley-Davidson that it makes me laugh. I, on the other hand, am never negative about the other fellow's machinery. I figure that people buy things that please them and that's fine with me.
I suspect an ulterior motive. {-,-}
gnm109 wrote:
Interesting how you refer to the HD sidecar as a "rocking chair". I've not ridden many miles in the tub myself but I've ridden watching them quite a lot. Mine is not a rocking chair. It's actually quite stable. Some of you folks, that would be you - among others, are so negative about Harley-Davidson that it makes me laugh. I, on the other hand, am never negative about the other fellow's machinery. I figure that people buy things that please them and that's fine with me.
I suspect an ulterior motive. {-,-}
Sounds real mysterious!
I've owned Harleys since 1946 and have a new '08 model now. Several have had sidecars, Harley and others. The ones that got the best feedback from the passengers had full suspension, trailing link swing-arm with coil over shock. I've seldom ridden in the boat so I don't have an opinion on that side of the outfit as a passenger.
As driver I've found the bouncing sidecar body to be bothersome on rough roads especially in turns.
I'm not adverse to owning another Harley/Harley rig, nor is my bride, but they aren't the best riding sidecar in the marketplace. Nor the easiest to get in or out of.
If I get another Harley car I will try mounting a horizontal shock absorber to break up the harmonics as was recently posted here.
Lonnie
Originally written by Hack'n on 11/21/2007 5:02 PM
gnm109 wrote:
Interesting how you refer to the HD sidecar as a "rocking chair". I've not ridden many miles in the tub myself but I've ridden watching them quite a lot. Mine is not a rocking chair. It's actually quite stable. Some of you folks, that would be you - among others, are so negative about Harley-Davidson that it makes me laugh. I, on the other hand, am never negative about the other fellow's machinery. I figure that people buy things that please them and that's fine with me.I suspect an ulterior motive. {-,-}
Sounds real mysterious!
I've owned Harleys since 1946 and have a new '08 model now. Several have had sidecars, Harley and others. The ones that got the best feedback from the passengers had full suspension, trailing link swing-arm with coil over shock. I've seldom ridden in the boat so I don't have an opinion on that side of the outfit as a passenger.
As driver I've found the bouncing sidecar body to be bothersome on rough roads especially in turns.
I'm not adverse to owning another Harley/Harley rig, nor is my bride, but they aren't the best riding sidecar in the marketplace. Nor the easiest to get in or out of.
If I get another Harley car I will try mounting a horizontal shock absorber to break up the harmonics as was recently posted here.Lonnie
Nothing mysterious at all. If you have something you don't like, fix it or get rid of it. No point in keeping something that bothers you.
BTW, I posted the picture of the tub shock.
Gaylord,
Since adding the shock do you notice any improvement in the bouncing of the body? Any added stability? Any less steering feedback in the rough stuff?
Lonnie
Originally written by Hack'n on 11/21/2007 8:26 PM
Gaylord,
Since adding the shock do you notice any improvement in the bouncing of the body? Any added stability? Any less steering feedback in the rough stuff?Lonnie
Yes, Lonnie. It is quite a bit more stable. I couldn't get a straight 50-50 hydraulic shock anymore so I had to use a new-style gas-filled shock. It's really quite stiff but it works very well. Give it a try. See the picture above. I used 1-1/2" angle iron across the three front bolts holding the nose of the tub. The bottom bracket is a piece of 1/4" plate with two U-bolts. One is 1-1/4" and the other is 1-1/2" to fit the two different sized tubes on the frame. I made them a little larger and used curved sheet metal tack-welded inside the U-bolts to get a biger grip on the tubing.
The Camaro shock is just the right size but it didn't have a cover on the shaft. I made one out of 1-1/2" exhaust pipe tubing. It has a washer welded into one end to mount over the shock's threaded shaft.
I built a setup like this on the other two HD sidecars that I owned in the past. It helps to keep the tub flat over rough roads and that, in and of itself aids handling.
I never drill any holes in my bike or sidecar. All of my modifications are strictly bolt-ons. I learned this the hard way. LOL
Happy Holidays!
So before I post my ramdon experiance of Riding a Goldwing and Hannigan and how it compares to my Harley Rig.
A photo of the wife checking out another rig.
Merry Christmas
Paul
Well it certainly was interesting riding the GL1800 and Hannigan and how it compares to the Harley.
2007 Electraglide Classic and 2007 Ultra sidecar..........
1st gear is too high and you have to slip the clutch at anything under 10mph, and top gear is overgeared, not happy at speeds below 65mph.
Access to the sidecar is not easy, and there is a limit on the size of your passenger.
Weather protection in the sidecar-not good- but you know that when you buy it.
Screen could be better- more aerodynamic- the same applies to the bike.
Here in Florida and anywhere else hot, when stationary at traffic lites the temp from the Engine is unbelievable- I thought certain parts of me were cooking.
The Bouncy ride in the sidecar is fun.
The intercom between bike and sidecar is great but surprised that HD only supply one headset.
HD seem not to want you to do any maintenance on your Bike, otherwise you invalidate their warranty.
Nice engine noise from the Bike and plenty of Grin factor when riding around.
2005 GL1800 and 2007 Hannigan Sidecar................
Great first gear you can potter along without slipping the clutch at low speeds and top gear potters along quiet happily at under 65 without Lugging.
Because the engine is so Quiet that on the open road the transmission is very noisy- good job they supply radios.
Sidecar easy to get in with good weather protection and loads of options for the hack including AC!
Great screen on the bike, the bike visually when your sitting on it feels a lot bigger than the Harley- I almost didn't feel I was on a bike.
Heavy duty shocks had been fitted to the front of the Wing and handling was about the same on both bikes.
Apparently the Wing doesn't need a constant Honda maintenance programn.
Other thoughts:-
It was always interesting whenever we went anywhere to see the reaction of the public.
The Hannigan gets most attention and on one occasion someone asked what make of Car the Hannigan was- they thought it was a 4 wheeled car and didn't notice the bike attached to it!!!
I enjoy riding the Harley and at the end of the day thats what it is about.
You pay your money and accept the shortcomings you are prepared to live with.
The 2007 HD's are indeed geared too high. They are too high even for a solo bike. I changed the gearing on my 2004 version to a slightly lower gear using existing parts from the catalog. Much better. Unfortunately HD hasn't come up with lower gearing for the 2007's since the primary and engine were completely re-designed to lower emissions and lower gearing would not be good for that purpose. Sidecar owners will have to rely on the aftermarket to change gearing for sidecar use.
It's a good thing that HD only provides one headset with the Ultra. I have J&M headsets and they put the HD version to shame. The HD set is down about -40 db compared to volume on the J&M. With the HD set, it's hard to hear anything when riding. They are also too bassy. OTOH, the JM are quite good with regard to balance, volume and overall sound quality.
Federal law will not permit a manufacturer to invalidate a warranty if one does one's own maintenance.
The 2005 Honda has a 30K mile interval for valve adjustment. It is a minimum four hour job at the dealer. The Hog has hydraulic lifters since 1948. Those are my personal favorite for a touring machine of any kind.
do the J&M headsets plug right into the standard sockets?
especially with my openface helmet i often cant understand whats being said and folks often cant understand me...
with my full face its "usually" just fine.
and its still way way better than shouting.
as far as the warranty/maintenence goes - its mostly all about epa tampering - harley owners are renowned for tampering and the feds are basically fed up with it.
to
to writes: "harley owners are renowned for tampering and the feds are basically fed up with it."
Should read: "Motorcyclists in general are renouned for tampering and the Feds are fed up with ANY thinking outside of their own small envelope."
Lonnie
QUOTE]Originally written by timo482 on 1/6/2008 11:26 AM
do the J&M headsets plug right into the standard sockets?
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Yes, indeed. The J&M sets are designed to plug in to the standard HD headset ports. The HD is a 7 pin DIN connector and the J&M is a universal 8-pin mini. J&M provides an interface cable that goes between the headset and the bike. They make various adapter cables for all of the popular bikes such as BMW, HD, Honda, etc.
I found out about J&M when I had a Goldwing for 6 years. They are quite popular with the GW riders and I tried them and discovered the good quality. You can get them on-line from either J&M or Sierra Electronics. Sierra also does excellent radio repair for bikes and cars.
J&M makes headsets for full-face helmets and open face. I happen to like the open face helmets and my sets work very well. I recommend them. I have heard that there are other brands that are just as good but I haven't seen the need to change.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned some stock in J&M or or Sierra or that I was related to the owners but, unfortunately, I don't and I'm not. LOL
