Look what's arrived in my shed!

[themoudie]

Aye Ian,

That'll get the rivet counters guessing and wind sucking through their dentures! I hope it performs as well as it looks.

Good health, Bill

[iansoady]

Me too! The chrome strips should be alloy and I have them but (a) they wouldn't be as shiny and (b) they're fitted with tiny bolts from the inside. There's no way I can get to them. What I've used is stick on stuff from ebay which seems to work very well. And the Steib emblem on the front has a fixing stud at the rear which gives the same problem so have stuck it on with double sided tape. Both invisible in use.

No rivets were intentionally harmed during this build.

[Moto63]

No rivets were intentionally harmed during this build.

😁😁😜

[iansoady]

Finally I took the B'Zuki outfit out intending a short run round local roads. Fortunately I started by going to the end of our road then down a local cul de sac with a turning circle at the end. It was awful! As soon as I set off there was a terrible flutter from the bars, getting much worse if either the sidecar or one of the bike wheels hit a bump. I never got out of second gear and was thankful I didn't venture onto the main road. Scared me quite a bit I can tell you. Of course my outfit piloting skills are very rusty!

I've checked tyre pressures at 34 bike front, 38 bike rear and 26 sidecar but not looked at anything else yet. My initial thought is that maybe it's due to the Roadrider front tyre which has quite a round profile. This can easily be changed. Second thought is that aligment is not right although I have checked it carefully. Toe in at 3/4", sidecar wheel lead 10", lean out when I'm on the bike about 1/4" at the tyre. I'll check again. Worst case is just that the bike geometry - trail especially - is just not suitable.

[themoudie]

Aye Ian,

Those tyre pressures on the bike seem very high to my uneducated/no chair experience mind.

The Bros and Revere run 33psi front and rear solo and only increase the rear to 42psi when carrying a passenger.

The SRX monoshock with radials runs 30psi front and 34psi rear and can get twitchy (tank slappers when crossing longitudinal ridges, formed by "super single" lorry tyres, in soft tarmac. so, I am now running cross-ply pressures and it sticks like ..... to the proverbial horse blanket. Whilst with cross-plys runs 28psi front and 32psi rear, only increasing the rear to 34psi when two up.

I post a link from the "Bribike Forum" to a thread where the B44 owner asks about tyre pressures and whilst correspondents acknowledge that modern tyres are more flexible than the old varieties, 28-30psi and 32-34psi rear seems to be a concensus.

Link: BritBike_Forum_B44_tyre_pressures_query?

Also, on the Farcebook, Watsonian Squire Sidecar Owners Group, a query regarding tyre pressures for a Harley FLXH with a chair similar to yours attached, runs these pressures, in what appear to be modern round profile, white wall tyres.

"Try 35~38 on the rear as a starter.
30~33 front and 25~28 psi chair."

Bearing in mind the weight of a Harley FXLH, compared with the B'Zuki, I'd drop your front pressure by 4 psi and rear pressure by 2 psi to start off with. And see how it feels!

Also, a phone call or email to Watsonian Sidecars, might not go amiss and see what they recommend for something like an Enfield 500 outfit. Here's a link to their website, including contact details:

Watsonian-Squire_sidecars_website

I hope this helps. Good health, Bill

[iansoady]

Many thanks Bill, much food for thought. Interestingly, David Angel of F2 motorcycles (the Ural bloke) recommends I drop the front to 26. However another experienced charioteer suggests raising it! Confused? Yes I am...

However, another chap has suggested the rear suspension units are too soft and I think that may be the root of my problem as I did change them and the ones I've fitted are definitely bouncier than the ones I took off. So plan A is to replace them; Plan B (if that fails) will be to drop the front to say 30 psi and the back to 32; Plan c: who knows?

I did check the wights on the wheels (with the sidecar body fitted but unloaded) but can't now find them!

Oh, here they are: sidecar wheel 64kg; bike front wheel 86kg; bike back wheel 89kg. All unladen. So in runn9ing order would estimate sidecar wheel 84kg; back wheel 180kg; bike front wheel 110kg.

[iansoady]

Now the good(ish) news. I filled in a query form on the Avon (now Goodyear) website and was very surprised to get a phone call in return from a very helpful chap. He stressed that he was calling rather than emailing as nothing he would say could be construed as "advice" for obvious legal reasons. Anyway, he was very helpful regarding tyre pressure / load combinations and it's clear that I've had the front tyre overinflated - and it still is, probably, at 28 psi. The unladen weight on the front wheel is 86kg - let's say that increases to 120 fully laden. According to my chap, this would correspond to a pressure of 21 psi (the lower limit to stop the tyre coming off the rim). I'd be very uncomfortable at that so will try the effect of 25.

I have been trying to work out the effect of front tyre pressures and it has struck me that lower pressure equates to a bigger footprint which would act to increase effort required to rotate around the steering axis - exactly the same as the effect of a steering damper. Like trying to steer a car with flat front tyres and no power steering. So I think I'm eventually on the right tack(!). Hopefully I'll have another short test today at 25.

I must say I've never bothered much about tyre pressures on solos, taking a starting point for most as 28 front, 32 back although these are for bikes weighing 180 kg or so. I seem to remember the Tiger liked 42 at the back but it was a big heavy beast.

[themoudie]

Aye Ian,

Ducati singles 2.75 x 18 Michelin City front tyre 26 - 28 psi and rear tyre 3.00, or 90/90 x 18 30 - 32 psi. Same as SRX600 twin shock, with 100/80 x 18 front and 120/80 18 on the rear. Having again taken the SRX600 monoshock, with the radials on, out for a canter, dropping the front tyre pressure to 28 psi makes it feel really planted, whilst keeping the rear at 32 psi. Seems to be about the sweet spot for most singles, as a starting point.

I agree that your 25 psi would feel better than where you were at over 30 psi. The 21 psi that's starting to get into tyre lock territory, but I wouldn't be afraid to take it down to 24 psi.

Hope the experimentation is succesful, although the soueaster we had up here today made my 80 mile canter on the 450 a wee bit nipped.

Good health, Bill

[iansoady]

25 psi was much better. I still did get a shake when hitting a bump but it quickly subsided. I'm amazed how much difference a couple of psi makes. I'll probably try 24 but am reluctant to go lower.

I've also decided to go for a flatter type tyre - a Mitas H-03 in 3.50x18 size. I've used Mitas on various classic bikes and they work well. The ideal would be the Avon sidecar tyre but apart from being unavailable they only do a 19" version. The old Safety Mileage would be another option but again unavailable. I suspect the Mitas may wear more quickly but given my limited usage not a problem.

Out of interest, the manual suggests 16 psi for the front tyre - but this was back in the 1960s when tyres were stiff and fitters were tough.

[themoudie]

Aye Ian, reads as though you are winning and can see why you would want to use a Mitas front tyre, more contact area, with the flatter profile.

There is this Heidenau sidecar tyre, but the 4.00 x 18 dimension maybe too great and availability could be a problem.

Link: Heidenau_Classic_K28_sidecar tyre

Good health, Bill

[iansoady]

I've ordered the Mitas from Demon Tweeks in 3.50x18 size. Meanwhile have taken the old Roadrider off the front wheel. What a struggle! I had to use my home made bead breaker for the first time since making my Tiger wheels tubeless (below). The tyre was like iron, which is not surprising - when I looked at the date code it's 16 years old. I think it would have held the bike up with no air at all it was so stiff, and this probably contributed a lot to the shimmy problems. The task wasn't helped by the Akront flanged alloy rim, which seems to be deeper than the chrome rims I'm used to. Fortunately managed without nipping the tube or damaging the rim so am just waiting for the postie with my new tyre. I think there's room under the mudguard for it.....

I suppose I should now check the date code on the back tyre although it (and the front) wer performing fine when the bike was a solo. Although only in the dry of course. And I don't want to repeat that fight any time soon.