XS with sidecar

[excess.11]

A tale of woe about those dastardly throttle palm rests......................
works for me......try again..........

http://xs1100.com.au/forum/index.php?topic=902.msg5133#msg5133

[tykwy]

excess.11 can't click that link.

I don't trust the throttle rest, but it gives me some flexibility in how I put my hand for a 6 hour ride.

Steptoe, thanks for the info, I'm not overly mechanically minded (I blame it on my total absence of a garage or shed), and will have a look at adjusting. It is pulling left, so my arm is pushing hard the other way. Once I realise, I rebalance my arms and it's OK. It's only when I'm not thinking about it that I push.

[steptoe]

ay tykwy, sidecars are funny things{not ha ha}, i can have mine set up for me to run down the road straight no sore arms, you jump on and ride, it can handle completely different and you end up with soreness,

having a sore left arm, are you constantly pushing the left handle bar, or pulling the left ?

either way it's not set up right, going on the wear pattern of your front tyre you've got a major issue, I'll go out on a limb here and say it's pulling pretty hard to the left, {which means your pushing} 2 very small adjustments can be made to minimise this, 1  your chair frame only adjusts under your left foot so turn it 1/2 turn, {looks like your frame uses flat bar} if not go a full turn, that will point the chair wheel up hill that bit extra, {if I'm wrong and you pull left wind the adjust in 1/2 or 1}
2 if the outfit wheel is showing no signs of "feathering", the other adjust is the lean of the bike itself, which way does it lean when your on it? if it leans in, wind your arms out 1, if in wind out 1, or if it's very close wind 1/2 turns, you'll be surprised by the difference,
 the lean of the bike will put your hips out which in turn loads your arms , and can give you killer kidney pains

hope this helps, or if you know what your doing, tell me to pipe it 

[tykwy]

Most of what Steptoe said I haven't tried yet, well ok, maybe a little.

Handling is quite the opposite to a bike. Because I have the leading link and have to steer the corners, it has the effect of throwing the bike weight the wrong way. Not a problem going right around a corner when you just push into the sidecar shock, but going left without the Missus (otherwise known as ballast), the sidecar which weighs practically nothing compared to the 300+ kilograms of bike and rider will start to lift up off the ground if I don't put my weight over and take it slow.

Through a woman (or two) into the sidecar and it handles really well, you can power out of corners in a way that would cause my GPX to head across the centre line, and as Steptoe mentioned, it pulls a bit when riding, it's easy to over compensate and end up with a very sore left arm after a while.

One of the best 'mods' I've done so far was to add a throttle rocker so that for the 450km ride home from Wagga I could rest my right hand.

[steptoe]

what's it like riding a bike with a chair,??

bloody untold fun, exhilerating, you hit a set of corners fast enough, you have them all to yourself in no time flat ,

the kids love them, wet or dry, they look at you and shake their heads every time they feel the tyre touch down, with one of those daaaaaad looks

in the wet by yourself, man you can have some fun,, compression slide into a corner, then give it some out, you have a fish tail that's got nothing to do with fish

cruising along and suddenly let the power off, they dive a bit to the right,, and under power in a straight line they'll try to pull left a bit, once you get used to it you don't even notice,, all to do with the sidecar wheel  being set in front of the rear forming an odd shaped triangle,,

that's just for starters 

[petejw1966]

im in blacktown not to far away,

so whats it like riding the bike with the chair,
ive never ridden one before.

[tykwy]

Thanks Peter, I'm in Ashfield in Sydney.

I'm pretty happy with the chair, it's a good size.

I went into Newtown last week with the Missus and her cousin in the chair, a few days later I'm speaking with my mechanic and he says he saw me with 2 woman, and where did I say I got the sidecar?

[petejw1966]

hi patrick,

welcome,
nice to see another syndey sider on board,
where bouts in sydney are u?

nice rig setup,
if u need a hand with anything let us know. 

[tykwy]

Thanks for the welcome, this is my first XS, though I can understand why many people own more than one. It's a darn nice bike.

I'll be happy if it doesn't need a rebuild, I've just got my hands on a KBS MotorCycle Tank Sealer Kit so next week I'll take the tank off and give it the treatment then get the carbies cleaned up and hopefully be back to four cylinders.

I'm from Sydney, just passed through Kelso and remembered SRK had a bike and chair on ebay, so I dropped in, took it for a spin and fell in love. Also there is a nice story about buying the bike in Kelso, because my last name is Kelso.

My 8 year old son thinks getting dropped off at school in the sidecar is just the bee's knees.

[Eveready1100]

Hi Patrick and welcome to the fold. As Fred said, looks like you got a pretty well sorted outfit. Judging by the photos, the guy you got it off knows a thing or two about chairs, or is that at your place?
Have a read through the threads. There is an encyclopedia of knowledge already online here, and a great bunch of guys who be there to answer any questions you may have about your bike.

P.S. 80,000k's isn't all that much for these old girls. Mind you. It depends how its been treated in its previous life. Sounds like it's in good hands now, though.

[Fred]

Welcome to the Brotherhood Patrick.

A good looking outfit that looks fairly well sorted there mate. You'll find a few more chairs ridden on this forum and a lot of experience amongst the guys who are all very willing to help with any questions you might have. A good search through the forum will also bring up most of what you want but don't be afraid to ask. There is no such thing as a dumb question.

Is this your first XS? You'll find that 80k is quite small miles on these old girls and I would be very surprised if a top end rebuild is due any time soon. A good clean out of the tank and carbies and a proper tune up will certainly liven things up a bit.

Keep in touch and remember "We love pictures"

[tykwy]

Greetings all, I'm Patrick. I recently purchased a 1980 XS11 with a sidecar from Sean at SRK Engineering in Bathurst. The bike needs a lot of TLC, but the sidecar is in top condition.




I've ridden the bike from Bathurst to Sydney and Sydney to Wagga, and asides from some trouble with the carby due to a rusty fuel tank, it's doing ok. (Of course getting get home from Wagga is the next challenge).

With close to 80,000 kms on the clock I'm expecting to do a top end rebuild soon, but won't bother until I sort the rust in the tank out.