Hello all. I've been on the forum for some time but this is my first post on this bike. I just got it setup and it still tracks a bit left. What could be causing this? My toe-in is a bit off (about 2 in instead of 3/4 inch) but I can't adjust any further. Is that the reason? Is my lean out too much? I'm only out about 2° according to my phone's level. Any input is helpful. Thank you!
Someone actually qualified will be along to answer. But to me it sounds like both your lean out and toe in are kind of extreme. Either might make the rig drift left and together even more likely. In my limited experience I’ve never heard of that much toe in. Your 3/4 inch figure seems a normal amount. What’s preventing you from reducing it further? Good looking family.
My toe in is maxed out. The threads have run out to increase in the front and they have run out to decrease in the rear. It's a jimmy rigged home job.
I'll adjust my lean before I go out again.
Thank you!
Did you check your lean out with you or your equivalent weight on the bike? If you check without the weight, and then add it in use, your lean out will be more than the measured 2 degrees. Of course, if you did it right we'll have to look for other causes.
Two inches of toe in sounds like a huge amount. That much toe in will probably cause lots of rear tire wear. DAMHIK. It's possible [but highly unlikely] that your toe in is correct BUT, if it works for you without ill effects, use it. Right now, it sounds like it's adding to your problem. Maybe you should start looking for alternative mounting pieces.
Sidecar rigs are a huge compromise. Every adjustment bears on every other adjustment and no two rigs are exactly alike.
A
I was on it when I measured lean.
I know, I wish I could fix the toe but that's all I can do
This is how we would address the issue if the bike were in our shop. First we would make sure all of our connections are stout, not flexing, no play and that you have good triangulation. Next we would make sure that your swing arm pivot is not worn out or out of adjustment as well as checking your wheel bearings. The idea being we really do not care all that much what the readings are when static, however static is the only way we have to measure and adjust things, what we care about is dynamically where they are. In other words how they are going down the road so for instance you say you have 2 inches of toe (if this were the case you would have horrible tire wear) If your swing arm pivots are loose once you get rolling your toe will be totally different. Next we would check your current settings for toe and lean out to establish a base line. If toe needs to be adjusted as it sounds like it does we would address what ever is keeping it from being able to adjust. Then we would start from scratch as out lined at this link BASIC-SIDECAR-INSTRUCTIONS.pdf (dmcsidecars.com) We have found that it takes less time to just start over then to try and fix one part at a time. Not knowing how your mounts were done some thing to keep in mind. If your lower mounts are not about the same distance from the ground, when you change lean out, you will change toe settings. We try and keep the lower mounts about the same height from the ground as it makes alignment much easier. Not long ago I was helping some one over the internet who had mounted a sidecar from India on their FX (not a good match!) they had used the "universal" mounts that came with the sidecar (not a good idea). They used a universal clamp for the lower front on the down tube for the frame, much higher then the universal mount that they used for the lower rear. With this set up if you lean it out a bit, you toe it in a lot so you have to go back and adjust toe every time you change lean. Another thing I have seen with to much toe, every thing works great until you put a passenger in the sidecar. Only with the weight of a passenger is your sidecar tire able to get enough traction to have much in put.
You must be able to fix your toe setting in order to have any hope of having it track correctly and not burn through tires. If you could post some photo's of your mount set up we can make some suggestions as to how to fix the mount problem.
Also keep in mind that with out a way to change things on the fly it is only going to track straight at a given speed, load and road condition.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
Hours Monday - Thursday 6-4:30
866-638-1793
