Right hand turns

Do right hand turns ever get any easier to master? Right now, my heart is in my throat every time I come upon one.

Anything I can do to lessen the fear?

Thanks!

[QUOTE=John Holbrook;839256]Do right hand turns ever get any easier to master? Right now, my heart is in my throat every time I come upon one.

Anything I can do to lessen the fear?

Thanks![/QUOTE]

John exactly what is the problem with right hand turns the most dangerous turns you can make on any vehicle are left-hand turns as a matter of fact if I’m not mistaken FedEx sets up the delivery routes so there’s no left-hand turns if it all possible ?..

sorry john nature of the side car. no matter how many you do they are different than the left because of the pivot point

John, It will get better with more practice. Just try to relax and not have a death grip on the bars. Play around some with the throttle to help the turns. Go slower into the right ones and slightly give it more throttle. The bike tries to outrun the sidecar and that helps with the turn. On left turns the opposite works. Back off the throttle and the bike slows but the sidecar doesn't, helping you turn left. The more you ride the easier it gets. Until you get the hang of it some kind of weight in the sidecar ( sand bag, dog food, kitty litter, etc.) for ballast helps ease the stress on your nerves.

All these things are true. But a sidecar that is poorly matched for the motocycle, or badly aligned won't do much for your confidence either.

[QUOTE=John Holbrook;839256]Do right hand turns ever get any easier to master? Right now, my heart is in my throat every time I come upon one.

Anything I can do to lessen the fear?

Thanks![/QUOTE]

do you have a set of raked trees or leading link?

I have a spirit eagle sidecar mounted to a 2005 Burgman 400.a light sidecar with a small bike.

Toe in is 3/4 inch. Wheel lead is 10 inches.

Sidecar sits level.

No lean out on the bike.

I dont have a modified triple tree or leading link. None are available for that bike.

Trail is 102 mm.

I am getting better with turns, but they are no fun!

Thanks to all.

Something that light I'd always ride with ballast. A 80lb bag of sand on the sidecar seat would work wonders. Don't put any ballast in the nose of the sidecar. The motorcycle can actually go over the sidecar in a left hand turn. Especially if you load the nose.

[QUOTE=John Holbrook;839425]I have a spirit eagle sidecar mounted to a 2005 Burgman 400.a light sidecar with a small bike.

Toe in is 3/4 inch. Wheel lead is 10 inches.

Sidecar sits level.

No lean out on the bike.

I dont have a modified triple tree or leading link. None are available for that bike.

Trail is 62 mm.

I am getting better with turns, but they are no fun!

numbers look pretty good trail isnt bad as i expected

what is the worst?

are you fighting the bars or the car is coming up?

Right turns go better with power on. When you roll on throttle sidecars pull right. They pull left when breaking. Now that all sounds easy but every rig does it more or less than others.

going into Right curves at 70 MPH holding power or a slight increase help you holed your line.

Making right turns from a stop may require a little riding of the clutch. Slow speed right turns in town you just need to work on when to put the power on.

Keep in mind a hard right followed by a quick correction left will fly the car.

Thanks for your help. Nothing wrong with the rig. The problem was me. I panicked in right turns because of centrifugal force leaning me outward instead of inward like I was accustomed to on a two wheeler. The answer is apparently practice, practice, practice.

I am doing much better.

[QUOTE=John Holbrook;839842]Thanks for your help. Nothing wrong with the rig. The problem was me. I panicked in right turns because of centrifugal force leaning me outward instead of inward like I was accustomed to on a two wheeler. The answer is apparently practice, practice, practice.

I am doing much better.[/QUOTE]

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GREAT to read

Always remember it is the correction back left that will get you.

Picture this Highway speeds 65 Plus. You are in right lane of two lanes your direction. Cursing comfortably. Road makes a nice long curve to the right banked a bit low to your right.

traffic moving slower in your lane ahead you start to move to left lane. What you normally expect to be effortless slight turn to left to change lanes requires a stronger push pull on bars.

When you try to correct back right to roll out in the left lane it does not want to turn. Now you are headed for the left ditch mid curve. You need throttle to help turn.

When things got a bit stiff moving left we tend to roll off or hold. Now all the force wants to keep you going in the direction you are pointing.

Sometimes a little throttle will dig you out of an oh crap moment.

I decided to ride on familiar (albeit curvy) roads for at least a thousand miles before heading out onto unknown roads that may hold surprises.

Thanks for that advice, I had not considered that scenario at all.

I have about 30 thousand miles on sidecars, but had not ridden a rig since 1998.

Was surprised how much I had to relearn.