Howdy, I'm new here and I'm sure most of this has been answered over and over but I'm asking again. (I have been and will continue to scourer the archives for info). Also I'm working my way thru Hal's material too.
I just bought a used California Friendship-1 and I want to do a leaner like Armec's sidewinder. I'll be fabing the below engine frame and I'm looking for someone I can contact to discuss lessons learned?
I tried contacting Armec to make a visit to NJ to look over thier stuff and pick brains? Yea I know..read those posts..so I'll quit trying.
Ideally, I want an easy disconnect while the below engine frame stays on the bike. I'm really interested in what people have chosen for the pivoting components? Needlebearings, Ballbearings, rollers? And if they did a quick disconnect, what mechanism was chosen for that as well.
Any links or articles will be appreciated as well as any previous thread links on such.
Thanks-Al in ChesterSprings PA
Hi Al, you might talk to Piero Bassi from Minniapolis Min. I talked with him at the skunks in the woods rally and he told me he had planned to build a leaner rig and it sounds as if he had done a lot of researce on the subject.He is #1409 on the members list. I have set up my own rig to lean but am experimenting with a hydraulic actuated system.Key word here is experimenting. Mine is a Moto Guzzi Jackel with a california 1 sidecar body on a homebuilt frame mounted under the center of the bike. Good luck on your project, Ron
Claude is in PA .
May want to get his thoughts on the subject
Ron,
In designing your rig, did you make any provisions for the front of the car to lift alittle as you turn or lean to compensate for the tendency for the rig to dive?
I'm toying with the idea that as the bike leans , a cam changes the pivot center point of attachment to do this.
No, I did not raise my front pivot, I kept it in line with the rear pivot.I didn't know any better at the time,but it seems to work well. Then again I'm tilting my bike with mechanical means.(I think I've got it working now) With a free articulating rig I think you may need to have the front pivot higher. When talking to Piero at the skunk rally,I believe he said he was going to set his about 4 inches higher to help turn the sidecar into the turn.Make sense? Good luck , Ron
If the front lower mount is higher than the rear lower mount it will allow the sidecar wheel to 'steer' as the bike leans in the direction the bike is turning. Think of it this way. The bike leans left and the position of the mounts are scribing a radius with the contact point of the motorcycle tires being the center of the circle. With the front mount being higher than the rear and the lean being a constant it will travel futher, due to a lerger radial curve, than the rear lower mount that is lower and moving in a smaller radius. More travel equals more pull to the side. This 'steering',so to speak, being in the same direction as the lean of the bike is obviously more desirable than steering away from the lean which would be the result if the front lower mount was lower than the rear. Therortically if both lower mounts were the same height from the ground then there would be none of this 'steering' of the sidecar wheel. This theory does not take into consideration any front end dive under hard braking. I think the front mount should be higher even if only to prevent the sidecar wheel from steer the wrong way under hard braking. How much variation in the height of the lower mounts is optimal? I have no idea.
Don't forget that if there is a huge variation it could make coming out of the lean require more rider input as then you are having to 'push' (steer) the sidecar wheel back straight again.
The geometry of an articulating rig is much different than the possibly more conventional leaners such as Flexit or Equalean where the sidecar leans with the bike.
