lakelandramblers

I've got what I believe to be a Rushton chair bolted to an old Suzuki SP400, which I have used for green laning and one long distance classic trial. These chairs are built without any adjustment at the mountings and may be difficult to swap from one model of bike to another. On saying that mine was designed for a monoshock Fantic and it's now bolted on the side of the Suzuki. I must admit that driving the thing came as a bit of a shock and I am still at the bottom of a steep learning curve, as is my passenger! If I'd tried one before I bought mine I may not have bothered, but they are great fun once you get the hang of things. http://hoits.smugmug.com/Classic-Trials/Northern-Trial-2012/Northern-2012-Darling-Combos/21587396_pxLqcs#!i=1721537045&k=3hV7zsh&lb=1&s=A

Thanks for the info, fingers crossed for a dry day.

From memory the sidecar wheel lead is about 9.5inches. This was dictated to a great degree by the existing mounting points on the sidecar, particularly the rear mount which doubles up as the left hand foot rest. This did seem to be the general figure quoted on what few sites I could find with information. The lead can be altered by quite an amount by just adjusting the toe-in. On the subject of toe-in I worked to 1.5inches over the wheelbase of the bike, but again was influenced by the existing rear mount as this had a large steel plate on the end of it, which indicated the toe-in that had been used on the original bike. The outfit MUST have toe-in as this counteracts the drag of the sidecar and any toe-out should result in an MOT fail. As for the angle of lean I plumbed for the bike being vertical to the sidecar, but the accepted practice for road bikes is a slight lean out. I think this is to counter the camber of the road and keep the bike vertical in use. In practice it doesn't make much difference on unsurfaced roads as the outfit is never vertical for more than a couple of seconds anyway, and the position of the passenger makes a huge difference to the angle of lean. I have fine tuned mine by adjusting the rear shocks on the bike and also the sidecar shock-absorber as ultimately the relevant angle of lean is the one the bike assumes once the pilot and monkey are on board. Have fun!

I have submitted an entry to the Northern Trial on an old Suzuki SP400 with trials sidecar. If I was just on the bike I would be reasonably confident, but I am very much a novice with the sidecar, as is my passenger, having never ridden/driven one up to a few months ago. We have had a few outings on predominantly rocky green lanes in the south lakes with mixed results, side slopes in particular having some spectacular results. I did last years Ilkley Classic Trial on a solo 350 Bullet, so have an idea of the general format of these events, but..... I am interested to know; If on the Northern Trial bikes use the same route as the cars, and if the sidecars use the same route as the bikes? How does the event compare with the Ilkley Trial in difficulty? I have seen that most of the photos of the Northern Trial on the web show very muddy and rutted sections, are these representative of most sections? Are there loads of re-starts? Finally is it as cold as it looks! Any information you have on your experience of the event would be gratefully received.

Still going at it with the sidecar, getting better each time we go out. We are getting really good at rolling the thing over to the left, sort of tripping over the nose of the sidecar and try to do this at least once on each outing. We've even managed to set fire to it once (Long story, leaking petrol tap, big fire, still ran once we put it out though.) Got tennis elbow from fighting with the steering, bruised knees from bailing out on a rocky Lakedistrict track, still having fun though. We're entered in a long distance classic trial in February (Northern Trial), not sure if we've bitten off more than we can chew, only time will tell.

Has anyone on here previously entered the Northern Classic Trial run in February by the Fellside Auto Club?

Have a look at http://www.actc.org.uk/how/Sidecars.pdf the ACTC regs are similar to ACU regs. The track width is 800mm to 1100mm. In practice I think the trials outfits are as narrow as the regs allow.

We're getting better, spent a day greenlanig in the Lakes today and we are in control 50% of the time now. Bloody hard work though.

How the hell do you ride these things!!!!! This morning I set off to the MOT station on my Suzuki SP400 and trials chair, along with two bags of sand as ballast. I now know that you can't brake and turn left at the same time. Anyway now road legal so off this afternoon with my newly press-ganged monkey in the chair and we soon come to terms with left and right turns on tarmac. I presume that the set up is something like as it goes in a straight line, but on right hand turns it under-steers and the front wheel hops sideways. On really tight right turns it feels as if the back end slides sideways under power. When we got the thing off road the fun really started! I don't know how you lot manage to ride these things, going down hill I couldn't stop the thing going to the right, especially when the outfit leant to the right, I presume that I was putting my weight in the wrong place and haven't yet come to terms with the sidecar brake. Climbing back up the track I had even more fun as the front end goes light and steering has little effect on the direction the outfit takes. Other than that riding it is a piece of pi**. Any help, advice, or tips would be gratefully received, we're off to the Lakes tomorrow for another go.

As I mentioned in my previous post I am in the process of attaching an old trials sidecar to my even older Suzuki SP400 with a view to Green Lanes and possibly a long distance trial or two such as the Ilkley Classic Trial Before I start getting carried away with the MIG welder I need to know how the side car should be set up. As it is the sidecar lines up with the sidecar axle about 9 1/2 inches ahead of the bike's rear axle when there is a slight toe in. I understand this is about right, please let me know if I’m wrong. My biggest concern is lean out or not. I understand that most road outfits have a couple of degrees lean out. I am not sure if this is to overcome road camber or the effects of the sidecar suspension being compressed once the passenger is on it. I have also read that off road outfits should be vertical when un-laden, hence my confusion. Can anyone help, lean in, lean out or vertical, measured with the suspension compressed or un-laden? Confused…..help! Come one people 258 views and no advice! I think it needs some incorrect advice to get things started and then every one will chip in!! Or is all this side car set up that big a secret??

Thanks for the info, I have been back in the garage, clouted things a little harder and got them apart. I found two needle roller bearings and a stepped pivot shaft, which is well worn. The bearings are no problem, but the shaft is a job for someone with a little more precision than a MIG welder and angle grinder.

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