Last summer I put a Hannigan Classic on my BMW R1200CLC. I love it, but the steering is a muscle builder and that reduces my touring range (and enjoyment) somewhat. Hannigan could not offer any steering mod for the CLC. Dauntless has a ball joint mod to increase the rake on a R1200C “Telelever” front end, but not for a CLC. I would have to send in the whole ball joint mounting plate for them to fabricate a mod for the CLC and that would probably require having the bike disassembled for a couple months or more. No word on what it would cost and I would be the guinea pig to see if it works or not.
I know there are several CLC sidecar rigs out there. Does anyone have experience in raking the front end or other mods to improve steering effort?
I know Blue Moon made one up with a R1200C and a Steib sidecar, don't know what if anything they did to the steering, also Claude had the same outfit in his shop, I'm sure he will respond, good luck, Doc.
Doc,
The 1200C/ Steib rig we had that you mention was taken in on trade by Velocity Cycle the BMW Dealernear Harrisburg,Pa. . They came to us to remount it as it was quite a mess. (20" of lead, loose mounts, parts of subframe missing etc etc ...whew)
In defense of Blue Moon they built the subframe for it but DID NOT mount the sidecar. I had spoken to John L. down there when we first got the rig into the shop.
Anyhow....It had stock steering on it and to me felt fine as it was after we remounted the hack. I probably put 100 miles or more on that rig. Note that Harry Tarzian , who is a little guy, rode it too and said it steeried and handled great.
Granted a smallish Steib is a different animal than a Hannigan.
As far as Hannigan goes Dave Keese, the chief installer, says he just loves those 1200C rigs. I just wonder if maybe inquiring with him about setup woudl help it to steer easier if that is an issue.
Claude and David,
Thanks for the reply. The R1200C front end is quite a different animal from the CLC. The fat, 16mm, tire on the CLC requires wider spaced forks a different ball joint plate which is quite a bit wider than the C. Hannigan and/or Dauntles has a steering mod for the C, but not for the CLC. The fat tire requires more steering effort, but the CLC also has wide set handle bars, which help some. I can live with it as is, but would consider invensting a little more in the rig to get "power steering".
Thanks,
Larry S.
