I am waiting to receive my new Champion Escort and I have heard that the tires on my gl1800 will go bye bye real quick. Does anyone know what tires I should get and where to find them. Also my bike is 920lbs and my new cars weight is 190lbs. Is this a bad weight ratio? Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me. Ride Safe Mike
I cant answer about the tires..other GW riders will do that. But, as far as the weight is concerned, add your weight to the unladen bike weight, then divide by 1/3, to get a close figure what the SC should weigh, without a passenger in the SC.that is a close formula for safety reasons.I.E., a 900 pound bike and driver should be hauling a 300 pound sidecar.plus the passenger.[in the SC, of course]
Originally written by Bob in Wis on 1/11/2006 8:34 PM
I cant answer about the tires..other GW riders will do that. But, as far as the weight is concerned, add your weight to the unladen bike weight, then divide by 1/3, to get a close figure what the SC should weigh, without a passenger in the SC.that is a close formula for safety reasons.I.E., a 900 pound bike and driver should be hauling a 300 pound sidecar.plus the passenger.[in the SC, of course]
I was OK until you wrote plus the rider. If the car weighs 190lbs and the passenger weighs 170 lbs does this mean I have 360 pounds of sidecar or are you saying that just the car must weigh 300 lbs.
the general rule is to determine the weight of the sidecar WITHOUT the passenger. because many times you will be riding it with no passenger.get the ratio close to the 1/3 formula weight. you can add ballast to the sidecar to bring it up to the recommended weight, WITHOUT the passenger. usually under the SC frame or in the SC trunk as far out as possible. leave the ballast in permanently . you add the passenger whenever you want, and the added weight from the passenger will always help keep the rig stable in turns.A good test recommended by our SC expert, is to park the rig, engine off. turn bars to left. stand with left foot on the left peg, and grab the bars, shift your weight to the left,and pull on the bars, and try and get the SC to lift off the ground. If it lifts easily, you need more weight. keep adding until the SC wheel stays on the ground when trying to lift it, or raises just a SMALL amount. at that point, you have a safe amount of weight balance between the bike and SC.remember, this test is with an EMPTY SC.anything you add later is a bonus..passenger, camping stuff.I gont know if the 920 pound bike weight includes you as the driver. if not, add it to the bike weight for calculating.
ooooops! I meant put your RIGHT foot on the left peg, and pull on the bars............remember , the 170 pound passenger is NOT included in the weight of the SC when calculating, or doing the 'lift' test
Originally written by Bob in Wis on 1/11/2006 10:10 PM
ooooops! I meant put your RIGHT foot on the left peg, and pull on the bars............remember , the 170 pound passenger is NOT included in the weight of the SC when calculating, or doing the 'lift' test
My bike weighs 920 lbs I weigh 275 total 1195lbs Divide 1/3= 398lbs. My side car weighs 190 so I should add 208lbs. Momma Mia, I have to get the Queen Mary boat anchor then. Thanks. Ride Safe
If you dont add any weight, please be careful in right turns...the SC will come up VERY easily.
yup, your correct.but not quite the queen mary anchor. you need a heavier sidecar, in the 300-350 pound range, at least, for a bike that heavy.My bike with me on it, weighs around 800 pounds. My sidecar weighs around 240+a good balance. I cannot lift the SC off the ground using the earlier test mentioned.
Originally written by Bob in Wis on 1/11/2006 11:35 PM
yup, your correct.but not quite the queen mary anchor. you need a heavier sidecar, in the 300-350 pound range, at least, for a bike that heavy.My bike with me on it, weighs around 800 pounds. My sidecar weighs around 240+a good balance. I cannot lift the SC off the ground using the earlier test mentioned.
Found out today my car weighs about 225 so that helps some. Thanks Bob
gettin' better! now you will need to experiment when you get it hooked up. try the lifting test first thing, and go from there. it is a given, that if you can get the sidecar off the ground easily, it will most certainly lift on right turns TOO easily, unless going around at a snails pace.I'm not trying to discourage you. just making it safer, to enjoy the ride!guys have added bags of lead shot or lead wheel weights inside the SC trunk to get it to the corect balance. It will really make a difference riding around, going thru the twistys , keeping the SC wheel down.drivers have gotten away with less weight, but are riding like they have a crate of eggs in their SC.not good in emergency manouvers.the extra weight wont hurt the bikes' handling at all. it will actually help it, as long as the suspension is adequate.should be on that SC.
I have a GL1800 with a Hannigan sidecar. Tires I use are Rear Kumho 195/50R-16 (car tire mounted on Honda 1800 rear rim). Front Bridgestone BT45 130/70-18 Motorcycle rear tire mounted on Honda 1800 front rim.
This works great for me but you can not take off the sidecar and ride without it.
Floyd
Originally written by Milow on 1/11/2006 9:13 AM
I have a GL1800 with a Hannigan sidecar. Tires I use are Rear Kumho 195/50R-16 (car tire mounted on Honda 1800 rear rim). Front Bridgestone BT45 130/70-18 Motorcycle rear tire mounted on Honda 1800 front rim.
This works great for me but you can not take off the sidecar and ride without it.
Floyd
Thank You Floyd for the input. I shall check into it. Ride Safe Mike
I have just had my Metzeler 880's checked with 8500 miles and my guy says I have another 8500 to go. I don't believe that, but I do think 10 to 12 K is possible. I still have 5+mm left in front and rear tread. The tub's tire is still like new. Most of my riding is solo, and I carry no balast. Just me and my R1200C and Champion Escort. I will be replacing my rear tire with a car tire but keeping the front as a Metzler. Love the tire and the way it treats road surfaces. It leads and I follow. I carry 42 lbs in both front and rear and 36 in the tub. Seems to work.
Tires are usually a preference for different reasons,however to date the best found for my use are metz 880's-thus far trike=25,000,dedicated1800 sidecar=800+with more to follow rear tire on 1800is a mich 130/r18m63h radial =mileage2 PRESENT 18,000 as MR.vand der Leen stated 41 p s i is a good range
Originally written by mike149 on 1/11/2006 9:18 AM
I am waiting to receive my new Champion Escort and I have heard that the tires on my gl1800 will go bye bye real quick. Does anyone know what tires I should get and where to find them. Also my bike is 920lbs and my new cars weight is 190lbs. Is this a bad weight ratio? Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me. Ride Safe Mike
You may want to talk to other owners of the same combination you are putting togehter to see what they are doing for ballast. Also if you mount the sidecar out from the bike more it will help stability. Also talk to champion as they have much experience with your combination. The 1/3 weight rule is a valid one as a starting place but is not cast in stone. When doing the test that Bob mentioned you will have a pretty stable rig is the sidecar wheel comes up and wants to go back down. If you have a rig ,which you won't, where the sidecar wheel pops up very quickly and wants to stay up then you will have an unstable rig.Rigs where you cannot hardly get the wheel up in doing that test will be extermeely stable in right handers but can be 'mushy' in left handers dependant upon the rig. Middle ground is really best in most cases. And it doesn't matter if you stand on the left peg with your left or right foot 🙂
After you practice and get more familiar with your rig it should be quite stable for you with a little ballast. Take it easy at first . And read all of Hal's books offered free of charge at this site. In my signature below you will find a clickable link to these training materials. Don't get overconfident. Take a sidecar class if you can. Practice in a parking lot or a clear area. Practice and allow the sidecar wheel to come up under controlled conditions. Many times the ones who warn so hard about how the sidecar wheel should never come up are the same ones who have never practiced enough to learn what to do when it does.
Reading and practice are the key ..you will be fine.
