Ping the sidecaristi

A friend of mine has an ancient combo. A Honda Silverwing/CX500 of about
1980 vintage together with some horrible old sidecar that he's had for ages.
A bit like the one halfway down this page
http://www.barrelbikers.co.uk/home.html that someone has stolen. This was
fine until recently he updated the motorbike for a 1982 vintage one. Now
obviously he's got the alignment wrong as he's going through sidecar tyres
at about 1 every 200 miles. I have noticed that, when viewed from behind,
the bike seems to have a distinct lean to the left. Whether it's more of a
lean than is normal though I'd be hard pressed to say.

I don't know anything at all about sidecars and I don't think he's got much
of a clue either. So is there some magic way of setting up the alignment? I
was wondering about those Gunson Trakrite thingummyjigs.

 

Looks like a Squire sidecar of some kind. The bike should lean *out*
slightly from the sidecar (when the usual rider is sitting on it to be
picky).
I set up an AJS 31 CSR and Monza just using planks, string and a tape
measure. Also a G80 and genuine Watsonian trials chair. The Guzzi Mille
GT and Squire RS3 were set up by Squire themselves - you could tell.

Not rocket science, but needs all suspension springing and damping,
sidecar, bike rear and front to be right if it is to handle well. Then
it's just a case of how much toe in, lean out and chair wheel lead. Best
ask Squire for basic settings to start from.
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+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

There's info here - scroll down past the formula pages to the pictures
and fault-finding chart.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=468196

The bike should lean a little away from the chair. The chair should
toe-in a little toward the bike - too much toe-in can cause tyre
wear. Bike rear shocks should be on their hardest, and the tyre
pressures will be different from a solo - try 36 in the rear, 28 in
chair and front and experiment from there. You don't say if there's
any adverse handling characteristics: does it wobble or pull heavily
to one side?

 

In communiqué

Coo, that's a useful bit of info. It was all a bit inches and guesswork
in the pre-internet (well pre personal computer in fact) days.

On the Mille I found I had to run a lowish front tyre pressure (<25 psi)
to stop it weaving at about 25 mph.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Thanks, I'll pass that on. I don't know about adverse handling
characteristics, he's not mentioned them.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Malc

It's fucking sidecar. They're SOP.

 

Shite old planks, silly old people?

 

Yeah I'd have thought tyre wear like that would come from a woefully
incorrect pressure or excessive toe in/out