Hey all,
I recent purchased a Concours/Hannigan Sprint rig with electric camber control and Steerite trail reduction done.
The whole rig has a slight (but a little annoying) side to side shimmy between 45-55 mph.
I don't think its the front end, I can let go the bars and they don't go into any wild gyrations, infact they dont move at all.
It seems to be the whole rig that shimmy's.
Its a constant shimmy, that is not effected by acceleration, deceleration, road surfaces or electric camber inputs.
Other than this one speed zone, the bike is rock solid at every other speed (even stupid fast) and tracks great.
Any ideas?
Could it be something as simple as wheel balance?
Hey Ogre, we had a similiar problem with Jena's Burgman/Texas rig. Turned out the sidecar tire was ever-so-slightly out-of-round. We discovered it by raising the sidecar with a jack such that the sidecar tire cleared a flat concrete surface by the smallest margin -- spinning the wheel resulted in the tire dragging some and free-spinning some.
Oh yeah: Welcome to the USCA and the offset universe of sidecarists.
Lee
MB5+TW200+CRF250L+GTV300+INT650
XL883R w/Texas Ranger Sidecar
Zuma 50F + Burgman w/Texas Sidecar<Mrs. SwampFox
Have you snugged up the neck bearings so the front end doesn't just flop from side to side?
is your front tire in balance, true and nwith no signs of cupping? Rear tire?
Swing arm bearings in good shape?
Any of these could cause a shimmy condition.
Lonnie
Check your wheel bearings, also if there's a lot of miles on the connie check the steering head bearings, the BALL bearings can get indentations in the races and want to self center, All Balls has taper rollers that will cure that if that is what it is, if it were me I would change them any way.
Thanks All,
I am hoping its the car wheel, will check things out this weekend.
Its hard to tell but it does not seem to come from the bike but the car.
Its not the "typical" front end wobble, I do know what that is like.
As noted I can release the bars when this is happening and they don't move or wobble.
The Connie has 4,200 miles on it, I think 1/2 or less were with the car attached, so I think bearings should be OK.
I have checked/snugged the steering head and its OK.
Don't rule out the bearings, they can last 100,000mi or 1000, get the wheel up and spin it, maybe it's bent or spokes are loose, it could be also that there's a piece of crud under the mounting flange.
We used to see that on Urals with the steering damper too tight. It did not allow the bars to respond to the little steering corrections made constantly and the bike would weave side to side.
Your steering head bearings could be too tight or worn. If they are worn into a groove they may be preventing steering corrections.
I've also seen that kind of weave come from too much lean-out.
Al Bond
05 V-Star 1100 with Texas/Ural hybrid
If it is a side to side 'shaking' and not a headshake or wobble felt throught he bars it is more than likely a wheel, tire of even a hub glitch. Sometimes a shake is thought to be a wobble but they are not one and the same even though a shake can initiate a wobble.
Check the sidecar wheel to see if it's bent from hitting a curb.
