My husband and I are new to all of this. We put a Motorvation Roadster on our 2005 Venture last week. We had it installed by Motorvation. We did a 200 mile day trip yesterday. Half back roads, half highway. He's having a hard time with the left turns, slow and high speed. The bike is stock. Any suggestions would be GREATLY apprciated before he pushes both me and the rig out to the curb!
Thanks!
Beth
If you mean it is hard to steer in left turns that could be 'normal' with a stock front end. If you are new to sidecars it may ease up after more seat time.
If Motorvation installed it I woudl think wheel lead woudl be minimal so that probably isn't the issue. Best bet is to call Mary and possibly talk to Gary as they will surely offer good assitance for their product.
a Venture with a stock front end is not an easy steering rig compared to some other combo's.if it is to remain as a three wheeler,a set of modified trees will make it much easier,at the expense of using it as a two wheeler again.learning to use the throttle will help,letting off on left turns will let the momentem of the sidecar help turn it.practice will make things easier as you are using muscles you didn't know you had.by all means go carefull untill you reach proficiency,this is a new game with new rules,be carefull and have fun.this is a great sport with a lot of nice people that are always willing to help a beginer. welcome to the club!
I'm a little confused, when my bike was stock left turns were reather easy it was the right turns that were really hard to do, is this rig mounted on the left side?
If u haven't taken the class from your local college or local bike dealership it would be money/time well spent. I rode a year before I could get into the class. Left turns were easy, it was the right turns that got the cart flying. I'm in the mountains of Va, so right turns are even worse going up or down a grade. The best tip I got from class was to give front brake while givin it gas as u go thru a right turn.
Thanks for the input, I'll play with the throttle, it makes sense. You mentioned a set of modified trees, do you have any idea who makes a set of trees for the Royal Stars?
Thanks again
Side Effects is one source for tree mods.
Check the Sidecar Vendors from the Home page here.
Lonnie
i will try to find out who we have been getting them from.we use them on the trikes,but have not had a request for one on a rig yet,i'll ask the trike guys tommorow(they are in a separate building from the sidecar shop)
Connie and I rented a rig for 5 weeks with a Royal Star as the tug. It had stock triple trees and steered quite hard either direction. Had it been my rig the first thing i would have done is invest in modified trees, or something else to reduce the trail.
sorry about being late relplying back.i talked to our supply guy today and found out we are having these made for us by a private small machine shop,we are his only costomers on these trees,but we will sell them to an individual. the price is around $1100,but you can call the shop at (270)753-4256 for specifics.i am the installer and dont have any dealing with the money end of things.hope this might help you out
I can't remember the name of the company right off the top of my head but they told me to send a triple tree to them (maybe buy one on Ebay) and they would modify the rake as many degrees as you wanted. I will look into it. I had the same problem on the left turns. I had to adapt by pulling with my left hand and pushing with the right hand instead of just steering. It did help a little. Regards, Les
Side Effects in Canada may modify the stock trees,they do a lot of other bikes.
Side Effects did my tree and there Great to work with, Pete is the head honcho and will take time to fully explain any questions or concerns you may have, The workmanship on my tree was excellent and the welding was aircraft quality, if you want more info go to http://www.sidecars.ca/, turn around time is very quick, I think mine was a week from when it left to when I got it,,,fast.
Thanks for the info on side effects..I was leaning that way based I what I saw on their site..Beth and I probably will wait until this coming winter to do the mod...I'll fight with her RoyalStar thru the summer(I hate to take the bike down now)...
Wally
Wally I was reading thur post and came across yours...I also have a Motorvation Roadster sidecar ....but on a Suzuki 1500 Intruder LC...I don't have issue with turning left or right but have issues with wind turbulance at hwy speeds with wind rolling off the bike shield and mixing with air rolling of the car shield right into my face..do you have any problems like that with the Roadster sidecar you have??? Thanks Steve
