With a Hyd. brake on a sidecar is it best to hook it to the front or rear brake on the tug.
Originally written by Shadow1100T on 6/24/2007 3:24 AM
With a Hyd. brake on a sidecar is it best to hook it to the front or rear brake on the tug.
When brakes are integrated some prefer front and some rear. Opinions differ . I often wonder if those who say they prefer one way or another have experience with each method though.
Of course either method will work okay but I strongly prefer the sidecar brake to be plumbed into the rear if a choice is given.
Why? If the sidecar and bike rear are together you wil have much much more control under more conditions.
Keep in mind that a locked wheel will not steer! If the sidecar and bike front are linked you will be limited under hard breaking especially if road conditions are less than the best. Sand , gravel, dirt, snow etc will allow the front wheel to lock up easily and any corective steering input will be lost. This can also happen on clean roads.
Number two is that during spirited cornering a great technique is to use the front brake while under power to allow the slip angle of the rear tire to explore it's limits. This allows better cornering speeds in right handers and will help to stabilze the rig in keeping the rise of the sidecar wheel minimal.
Most all, or at least all I have seen, High Performance Sidecars have the rear and sidecar brakes linked together. It just makes much more sense under many different conditions.
Claude
