I understand what the purpose of a tilt control is and have one on my Escort. When I operate it what happens is the sidecar raises up or down. While operating the tilt control statically I can observe the tire change its perpendicularity to the ground. In other words the tire is now running more on one edge or another. Seems thats not good for tire wear. Recently read a comment that made me question if what I'm observing is supposed to be what happens when using the tilt control. Plus, operating the tilt between its extremes while in operation only makes what I judge (no other hack experience) as a small difference in tracking. So, now I'm worried I have a problem and ask for clarification on WHAT the tilt control actually changes to modify tracking and if I have an actual problem.
In general electric timing options like our electric trim and what Champion calls T.I.L.T. raise or lower the upper pick up point for the shock. The reason you are seeing changes with the tire contact is that as the sidecar comes up or down you are leaning the bike slightly and as such changing how close to perpendicular the tire sits to the ground.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
866-638-1793
www.dmcsidecars.com
Valkrider - 4/22/2018 10:18 PM
I understand what the purpose of a tilt control is and have one on my Escort. When I operate it what happens is the sidecar raises up or down. While operating the tilt control statically I can observe the tire change its perpendicularity to the ground. In other words the tire is now running more on one edge or another. Seems thats not good for tire wear. Recently read a comment that made me question if what I'm observing is supposed to be what happens when using the tilt control. Plus, operating the tilt between its extremes while in operation only makes what I judge (no other hack experience) as a small difference in tracking. So, now I'm worried I have a problem and ask for clarification on WHAT the tilt control actually changes to modify tracking and if I have an actual problem.
Valkrider. I have a Goldwing 1994 gl1500 se and a csc with a friendship 3 and the tilt control. This is the first rig I have had with tilt control. I have noticed the same things you mention accept my up and down movement is quite radical and makes a huge difference. So far I have been able to adjust for any crown in the road or heavy cross winds and also pulling my old kwik Kamp trailer which weighs 600 lbs loaded....with my girl friends purse.... LOL. The hitch ball is pretty much in the center between the side car and the bike with a little bias toward the bike. With the tilt control adjusted properly on a straight road I take my hands off the bars and it goes in a straight line. On acceleration or de-celeration there is very little push or pull.
Tilt controls are a great item and are one super way to adjust , while on the go, for road camber variations. loads in the sidecar , weight distribution on the rig etc. However, what we call lean out is the static adjustment with 'tilt' being the fine tuning adjustment. lean out is leaning the bike away from the sidecar and tilt is leaning the whole outfit as a unit. We do a lot of Hannigan sidecars and even though we do not push many options we do highly recommend their electric tilt control which they call an ECC (Electronic Camber Control). Great option. We have also redone a fair amount of these systems from other sources which either failed or were almost guaranteed to do so. Today it seems that all who offer them have it on track quite well though.
Well, I guess I'm okay. Was mainly worried about the big change in tire contact to the road and premature wear. Total adjustment changes car height a couple inches or so and does make a few degrees leanout difference. Bone says his makes a huge difference and I have to run mine almost all the way to the extreme to really make a detectable to me difference. As recommended by folks here I set the rig up with the TILT or ECC adjusted near the lowest extreme. I rarely change it. The physical dynamics of sidecars is sometimes difficult for me to visualize.
Valkrider - 4/25/2018 1:00 PM
Well, I guess I'm okay. Was mainly worried about the big change in tire contact to the road and premature wear. Total adjustment changes car height a couple inches or so and does make a few degrees leanout difference. Bone says his makes a huge difference and I have to run mine almost all the way to the extreme to really make a detectable to me difference. As recommended by folks here I set the rig up with the TILT or ECC adjusted near the lowest extreme. I rarely change it. The physical dynamics of sidecars is sometimes difficult for me to visualize.
Just a point at the risk of splitting hairs but here goes.......................LEAN OUT is the static adjustment of leaning the bike slightly away from the sidecar. This makes for good tracking under the circumstances it is set for. TILT is the whole rig to make for good tracking. TILT is what is adjusted with the typical electric tilt control as it simply jacks the sidecar suspension up or lets it down. TILT should be thought of as a fine tuning device to compensate for sidear loads, road camber variations. side winds etc. We typically set lean out with the tilt adjuster place at close to it's lowest setting as there are not many cases where a rig would be pulling away from the sidecar. Once the tilt adjuster ( liner actuator) is checked to be in this position lean out is set as if it did not exist. Then toe in is checked and set as needed. Toe in should be checked any time lean out is adjusted as the lower mount placements can create a situation where lean out changes also change the toe in. Once one gets to know their own rig they will know how much one adjustment affects another as this can vary from rig to rig. Bringing this up as too much toe in will create excessive tire wear and may not be felt at the handlebars. Toe out, however, will cause a pull toward the sidecar. If leaning the bike out does not do away withe the pull toward the sidecar it is probably due to lean out adjustments putting the rig into a toe out situation which counteracts the mission at hand. We can talk number and dimensions all day long but it is the feel when the rubber meets the road that counts. the key is to keep toe in small and think of lean out as the solution to good tracking with tilt being the means to fine tune the rig . Hope this makes sense.
