Steering problem

[Owenrn]

I had a motorcycle mechanic in stall a towpac instatrike on my 97 gl1500.I am 6 ft. tall and 270 lbs. with reasonal arm strength. I am having problems steering around curves. I cant take a 45 mph curve any faster than about 35, the steering is so stiff.
Do yall think adjustments would help or is this as good as it gets?
Thanks
Owen

 

[07BlueCSC]

It sounds like all three rear wheels are on the ground. You have to raise the "training wheels" up a little so you can lean a little for the curves.

 

[sirkitrider]

I cant take a 45 mph curve any faster than about 35, the steering is so stiff. Do yall think adjustments would help or is this as good as it gets?

Well Owen I'm no expert. Just got a little over 2K on my trike {84gl1200 with the Voyager Trike Kit} Similar body type as you. 53 yr. old. Not as strong as I once was but no wuss either.

The harder you ride it in the turns the harder it is to steer for sure. Slow in, downshift if needed and power out. How many miles have you rode on the trike? Gets a lot better with practice. Make sure you got a good fresh tire on front. It may be as good as it gets???? I been wondering the same. I think our experince is similar.

Rode mine harder than ever yesterday .... four lanes, side roads, backroads. I was whooped when I got home and my shoulders ache today. I think if you/we trike with these bolt on kits {cause I cannot afford a true trike}, we just have accept some of the limitations.

I love mine on the big roads and backroads, but it limits where I ride cause the twisties and curvies make for a lot of work!! - Sirkitrider

 

[John Luciano]

The steering is way harder than a trike. Normally I can do a 45 MPH corner at better than 50mph. Some will tell you even 55. I found it better when I did a heavy preload. I placed my motorcycle rear tire on a 1" piece of wood ( 2 pieces of 1/2" plywood on top of one another. ) ok 7/8 of an inch. I then loosened the rear camps. I do not know how the tow PAC is set up. On my Voyager you can loosen the clamps so the side wheels ( outriggers ) touch the ground . Tighten the clamps, then ride off the wood. I felt it was more stable than the jerky feeling I got when I was flying a 30lb rotating wheel 6" in the air.
I also agree, it takes 100s of mies to get a good feel of an outrigger or a trike.
Practice in a parking lot r on a back road.

 

[willom]

You guys are pretty much on target, I have a couple of voyager type trikes in my club, both riders complain of hard steering. The outrigger wheels should be just slightly off or barley touching the ground while parked. May be a difference in air pressure in tires and or shocks if you have an air ride. On the bright side both of these riders have gotten used to the harder steering.

 

[DanB]

The secret in steering is not using your arm muscles to pull the handlebars and trying to "muscle" the bike through the turn but to lock the elbow and push your lower and upper arm as a single lever by rotating from the trunk. By doing this I can now easily corner in the twisties at speeds comparable to 2 wheels on my Tow Pac.

 

[Seatec]

With my Danson I put the outrigger wheels down further than they recommended to stop the body roll which is not as bad as Voyager and Towpac and mine was not hard to steer in the turns, maybe a bit harder then the Trinity. With the new triple tree installed, it's like power steering, just a bit more effort to turn than a bike, but can take turns with one hand if I choose to do, which I would not recommend.


Wayne

 

[americanbadass]

The secret in steering is not using your arm muscles to pull the handlebars and trying to "muscle" the bike through the turn but to lock the elbow and push your lower and upper arm as a single lever by rotating from the trunk. By doing this I can now easily corner in the twisties at speeds comparable to 2 wheels on my Tow Pac.

Sounds like a good theory...but...what if you can't walk and chew gum at the same time:Shrug::xszpv:

 

[Owenrn]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm going to keep riding and get a rake kit as well
Owen

 

[John Luciano]

Danger. You should not Rake a 2 wheeler. If you ever remove the kit or sell the bike , someone will get hurt.

 

[DanB]

John is right, the rake kit means the bike must stay as a trike and never convert back to 2 wheels. If that's your intention just keep the bike and keep it as a trike.

 

[sirkitrider]

...The harder you ride it in the turns the harder it is to steer for sure. Slow in, downshift if needed and power out.

rode 237 miles today... 80 % two lane country rodes with a few stretches with pretty good twisties .... made up my mind to just go in slow & gear down when needed - not using the brakes very often - and powering out once I got pointed in the right direction. - Much better than trying to be so aggressive in the curves.

Some fatigue but not aching muscles today, well excluding the buttocks - Sirkitrider

 

[DanB]

After 1500 miles now on my Tow Pac, I can now take most corners at 15-20 mph faster than the posted speed just like I could as a 2 wheeler. No arm fatigue as I lock my elbow and don't use my arm muscles but rotate from the trunk pushing my arm as a rigid lever.

 

[Papa Zook]

Im gonna have to throw my 2 cents in here...Do not adjust your Voyager or Towpac kit to raise the outside wheels off the ground. I've been installing trike kits including Voyager kits for many years and I speak from experience. I finished a Voyager install this past Friday on a Yamaha V-Star 1100 Classic.

Use the factory recommended settings which is designed to have some pre-load. No one knows their kits better than the people that have engineered, built and tested them for all these years. They have thousands of customers out there who have provided feedback and you can trust the manufacturer's advice.

The outrigger trikes will always be a good bit harder to steer than a three wheel trike. Yes you can rake a bike with an outrigger kit. I have done so a dozen or so times over the last 9 years and have sold kits to quiet a few members here who have done so. Most never intend to remove the kit, but some occasionally do.

I have done so for testing. You wont crash and die if you take the outrigger kit off occasionally and ride it as a two wheeler. Its a myth.

I would recommend leaving the kit on, but as long as you dont go to an extreme rake or ride it in an unsafe manner you will be fine. I have never, ever, ever heard of anyone wrecking their bike due to adding a rake kit on a Voyager and taking the kit off and I personally know of many who have done so.

 

[jmk865]

I just acquired a 1994 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 with a Tow-Pac already on it. Went this route 'cause arthritis in knees and lower back caused me to give up two wheelin. So far pretty satisfied with the bike; especially after adding air to the outrigger wheels. Previous owner only had 24lbs in them. I raised that to 45; which eliminated most of the low speed head wobble.

I expect the remaining wobble will continue since our local roads are tar and chip crowned side streets, rural two lane highways which are, for the most part, in bad shape (patched, potholed etc) Since I was on two wheels for 56 years; this new set-up is really new to me and I have been staying our of high traffic situations until I feel I have re-learned proper riding techniques, and un-learned the old ways.

I really have gained a lot of tips and techniques from this forum and find it invaluable. I tried contacting Tow-Pac a few times but since I didn't buy the kit from them; they mostly confine their answers to one or two words that haven't been very helpful.

 

[dadztoy]

I'm with Dan B and Bazooka on their comments... Just got back form a short 350 mile day ride with my Tow Pak and I was taking corners about 5-10 MPH faster than post by using DanB's method... I was using a push-pull method when going around corners and that was working fine... Still, the effort needed is higher than a regular trike, and this is a limitation of this type of trike kit, but the Tow Pac is accomplishing what I wanted it to do...

I am going to do a little more investigation into Bazooka's comments about adding a rake kit and "not dying" when riding without the Tow Pac installed... I would love to talk to anyone who has done this and get their impressions of how performance of the regular bike is effected with the rake kit installed...

I would expect steering to be a bit less responsive, similar to a chopper with the raked front end but not to the extent where it will cause serious handling issues, but I have no first hand experience with this, so speaking to someone who has done it would be helpful...

Les

 

[Dennis Elliott]

i had a voyager kit on my gl1800 with a 3.5 degree rake it steered pretty easy but i think if i did it againg i would go to the 6 degree

 

[jmk865]

I got my '94 Vulcan with the kit already installed. The guy I got it from said the kit was on it when he bought it too and he didn't know if the original owner had done anything with rake.
Is there a way I can tell if the rake has been changed? ( maybe a dumb question, but I'd like to know)

 

[Dennis Elliott]

most of the rake kits are milled alum i would think maybe you could tell. as for the degree i have no clue

 

[jmk865]

I just checked and mine appears to be the original tree.