Folks - I'm new to sidecars but I have a question. I have an 84 BMW R100RT with a Ural sidecar attached. I understand that it will pull to one side or the other when accelerating or decelerating. Should it track straight when under steady throttle? Mine pulls right constantly under steady throttle. Thanks
It should only pull right at a steady speed if the road has a lot of camber. Like some roads I've been on in Nevada--steer left for 50 miles just to go straight. You have a setup issue.
Like Drone says, the crown of a road will make a properly set up sidecar pull away from the crown. A properly set up sidecar on flat ground will pull towards the sidecar on acceleration and away from the sidecar on deceleration. Steady throttle on flat ground should not pull either way and if it does, you need to fine tune your setup.
Here is some alignment information from a Harley sidecar service manual which may be helpful. Sorry its a little blurry.
This is when the electric adjuster on the sidecar comes in handy. Although there is no substitute for having the car set up correctly, the raising or lowering of the car on crowned roads can help the rig track with less steering effort. I use mine often.
I don't have an electric tilt adjuster on my rig and there have only been a few times I wish I had one. A couple of times on long stretches of back roads with high crowns, and just once in a 40mph crosswind from Ely Nevada to Carson City Nevada for about 51/2 hours (320 miles). I kept hoping the wind was going to lay down but it didn't. I was pushing with my left arm and pulling with my right to keep the rig on my side of the road. I was whooped at the end of the day, that's for sure!!
This is what comes to mind when looking back on that day: I guess maybe I should have eaten my spinach, but I sure wished I had one of them fancy electronic gizmos.
On a flat road, at 60mph (I have the throttle hold screw, and use it), I can take my hands off the bars and the rig (R90/6 w/ Ural sidecar frame and Chang tub) shows no bad habits.
