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Grant
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???
Re: What did you do to or for or with your Laverda today?
- Thread starter Paul LeClair
- Start date
Dellortoman
Hero member
- Location
- Tasmania, Australia
Yogi said:
Nope. Sidecar is on the left. To get it up in a right-hand corner, you first need to give the steering a quick flick to the left to pick the chair up, get it onto the balance point (where you can ride straight ahead while holding the chair up) then lean into a right-hander as you would on a solo bike. You end up with an insane angle of lean because you're already over at about 25 deg or so before you start leaning further, which is why I mentioned that cornering clearance can be a problem.
No practical reason to do it unless you're trying to get home with a flat tyre on the sidecar. Just another fun thing you can do with sidecars.
Dellortoman
Hero member
- Location
- Tasmania, Australia
After my win with the RGS brake bleeding this morning, I thought I'd paint the battery box this afternoon, but it needed sand-blasting first. So I went to the beach and snaffled a bucket of sand for my little hobby-type sand blaster. Started blasting away and it was doing a great job, ripping off the old paint and rust. I was outside the workshop so as not to make a mess with the sand. The compressor happily going "chug chug chug" in the workshop, feeding air to my blaster. But then it went "chug chug clunk ckunk rattle bang!" and stopped. All I could hear then was the hum of a stalled electric motor.
Fuck it. It's beer O'clock. I'll investigate the compressor failure tomorrow.
Seems whenever I try to do one job, another one creates itself.
Fuck it. It's beer O'clock. I'll investigate the compressor failure tomorrow.
Seems whenever I try to do one job, another one creates itself.
Dellortoman said:No practical reason to do it unless you're trying to get home with a flat tyre on the sidecar. Just another fun thing you can do with sidecars.
A good dose of insanity also helps.
Had quite a bit of fun with oufits myself, ended up in a ditch more often than I would have preferred though!
I find 2 wheels safer and more predictable.
piet
D
Davo
Guest
Dellortoman said:
You have very sexual hands this week.
Simonr501
Hero member
- Location
- Lympne, Kent. UK
Davo said:You have very sexual hands this week.
I thought that condition was called sexy fingers!
Tippie
Hero member
- Location
- Dr?bak, Norway
Sidecars: a shitload of fun, and highly addictive, as evidenced by all the diehard sidecar mobs that are always lurking in the wings.
Another dimension to motorcycling.
Another dimension to motorcycling.
The reason I was so pleased to fly the sidecar wheel was it was my first time piloting the outfit after 30 minutes instruction from my passenger((an ex sidecar racer).And as it came up he just said lean left and keep the throttle on,the longer it stayed up the more I concentrated and the wider his grin was.I think I will enjoy this lark.
Neale
Neale
Dellortoman
Hero member
- Location
- Tasmania, Australia
Maybe we should start a sidecar thread
Ah, so you're a sidecar newbie Neale. Keep it up - the sidecar I mean. It's a good thing to practice whenever you get the chance. That way if it happens unexpectedly (eg. go a little too fast into an off-camber corner with an empty sidecar) it won't be a drama.
Find an open space like an empty car park and go around in circles with the sidecar in the air. Once you get it up on the balance point, try straightening it out and continuing in a straight line with the chair up. It's quite controllable and not difficult to do. A bit like riding a solo bike with a passenger climbing out to one side.
A friend of mine had a sidecar outfit for a few years and never had the wheel off the ground, or got it sliding sideways. He was afraid the whole plot would go arse up. He never explored the potential of the thing, which I believe made him less safe than he would have been if he knew what its limitations were and how to handle them. As a consequence, he rode it very sedately in what seemed to me a constant state of paranoia. I don't think he got the enjoyment out of it that he could have, so I wasn't surprised when he sold it.
Speaking of getting it sideways, that's another good thing to get the feel of. If you don't learn how to handle it, one day you might find yourself suddenly going backwards on a wet road! They can spin out very quickly. With a left mounted chair, sliding to the left is pretty stable, but going sideways to the right can be a bit more tricky. You need to keep the back wheel spinning. If you suddenly get rear wheel traction in a right-hand slide, the chair can end up over your head, kind of like high-siding a solo bike.
Practice it on grass or gravel before you do it on bitumen. It's the same dynamics as on the road, but takes a lot more throttle on bitumen to break rear wheel traction. Having a rubbish rear tyre with lousy grip helps. Don't go spending money on good sticky tyres for the rear wheel.
If you don't have a brake on the sidecar wheel, one of the quickest ways to effect an emergency stop is to chuck it sideways while applying the anchors. You need to throw it in the right direction though, with the sidecar swinging around in front of the bike, otherwise you could flip it over. Just give the handlebars a flick to the right (assuming left mounted chair) a fraction of a second before locking the back brake. The inertia of the sidecar will want to go in that direction anyway.
I'd recommend you don't do this stuff with the wife or kids in the sidecar, unless you you enjoy being punched in the kidney
What sort of outfit is it? Post a photo. Here's my Kwak Z1300 outfit below.
Cam
Ah, so you're a sidecar newbie Neale. Keep it up - the sidecar I mean. It's a good thing to practice whenever you get the chance. That way if it happens unexpectedly (eg. go a little too fast into an off-camber corner with an empty sidecar) it won't be a drama.
Find an open space like an empty car park and go around in circles with the sidecar in the air. Once you get it up on the balance point, try straightening it out and continuing in a straight line with the chair up. It's quite controllable and not difficult to do. A bit like riding a solo bike with a passenger climbing out to one side.
A friend of mine had a sidecar outfit for a few years and never had the wheel off the ground, or got it sliding sideways. He was afraid the whole plot would go arse up. He never explored the potential of the thing, which I believe made him less safe than he would have been if he knew what its limitations were and how to handle them. As a consequence, he rode it very sedately in what seemed to me a constant state of paranoia. I don't think he got the enjoyment out of it that he could have, so I wasn't surprised when he sold it.
Speaking of getting it sideways, that's another good thing to get the feel of. If you don't learn how to handle it, one day you might find yourself suddenly going backwards on a wet road! They can spin out very quickly. With a left mounted chair, sliding to the left is pretty stable, but going sideways to the right can be a bit more tricky. You need to keep the back wheel spinning. If you suddenly get rear wheel traction in a right-hand slide, the chair can end up over your head, kind of like high-siding a solo bike.
Practice it on grass or gravel before you do it on bitumen. It's the same dynamics as on the road, but takes a lot more throttle on bitumen to break rear wheel traction. Having a rubbish rear tyre with lousy grip helps. Don't go spending money on good sticky tyres for the rear wheel.
If you don't have a brake on the sidecar wheel, one of the quickest ways to effect an emergency stop is to chuck it sideways while applying the anchors. You need to throw it in the right direction though, with the sidecar swinging around in front of the bike, otherwise you could flip it over. Just give the handlebars a flick to the right (assuming left mounted chair) a fraction of a second before locking the back brake. The inertia of the sidecar will want to go in that direction anyway.
I'd recommend you don't do this stuff with the wife or kids in the sidecar, unless you you enjoy being punched in the kidney
What sort of outfit is it? Post a photo. Here's my Kwak Z1300 outfit below.
Cam
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chrisk
Hero member
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
Dellortoman said:I'd recommend you don't do this stuff with the wife or kids in the sidecar
Cam
I'd be so tempted to do it!
Dellortoman
Hero member
- Location
- Tasmania, Australia
chrisk said:
So was I. That's how I know that the passenger is well positioned for a kidney punch
Back to Laverdas: I fixed my compressor today (see below) so was able to finish the sand-blasting and painting of the battery box, allowing the assembly of the RGS track bike to proceed. Everything behind the engine is pretty much done. I'll do the front end next - need to strip and inspect the forks, bleed the brakes, fit a mudguard ...
Speaking of which, I wonder how far away the front carbon fibre mudguard from Padders is.
The little toy sand blaster (from Supercheap Autos) works a treat and used about half a bucket of sand. I wouldn't want to do a big job with it though. It would take all day to blast a bike frame with it. Duno whether the compressor would last that long.
I now have sand in my clothes, boots, hair, ears, nose, and probably up my arse. Good thing I was wearing goggles or I'd have it in my eyes too.
The bloody compressor had busted the pissy little M5 bolts (3 of them) that attach the V-twin compressor crankcase to the electric motor (it's direct coupled). So the crankcase bit dropped down, jamming the armature of the electric motor against the stator. I replaced the rubbish mild steel bolts with high tensile. If they break again, I'll drill and tap it for bigger bolts.
kate n guy
Senior member
- Location
- Staffordshire
Many moons ago I had an MZ ETZ250 with a single seater sidecar...brite orange it was......took me brother out in it once....he threw up shortly afterwards...... (pale)
tyelav13
Hero member
- Location
- Wales (gods own country)
MZ's used to have that effect on me when I was younger tookate n guy said:
When I was young and foolish I did some dirt track racing. here I am lifting the inside wheel at Nepean circuit in NSW. Passenger is Geoff Ballard multi gold medal winner in ISDTs. He went onto bigger and smarter things in motorcycling. Bike is Suzuki GT 750 I was experimenting with.
JW
JW
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2volts
Senior member
- Location
- Perth, Western Australia
seems to me Ballard has a bit of a wtf is going to happen next expression on his face?
pete
pete
Dellortoman
Hero member
- Location
- Tasmania, Australia
Excellent photo Jeremy.
And I thought I was getting on,that must have been a while ago.There was a bloke I went to High School at Springwood called Geoff Ballard,used to be called Sally for some unknown reason,always wounded if it was the same bloke.Bought some bits from this off road website over the years.Used to read about him when he was a factory rider for Bombardier and doing big things in the USA.