| Author | Message | ||
     Swordsman |
There are so many badass captions for this, I dunno where to start.   (ha, I spelled "maneuvers" wrong. Thanks a lot, FF and BW spellcheck!) ~SM (Message edited by Swordsman on August 15, 2011) | ||
| 86129squids |
Wow- next thing I wanna see is a "monkey" changing the sidehack's tire... there's a vid of some nutjobs doing a similar maneuver on a compact car of some sort... | ||
| Sifo |
That stunt really need video. I'm not really convinced of what direction he's actually turning! | ||
| Bartimus |
I don't think he is moving... | ||
| Sifo |
That thought crossed my mind too! If he were turning anything like is indicated by where he's looking, the cameraman is about to get run over (among other physics issues). It's a great looking photo though! | ||
| Birdy |
OK then!   | ||
| Cityxslicker |
The Soviet Steeds call it 'flying' and it is soo much damn fun. Normally alcohol is involved ! all the better if in a big field and MUD, yes it can be done in mud, just not to that extreme; snow is great too ! I cant wait to 'pilot' one. | ||
| Sifo |
I must confess that it's fun as a passenger.  | ||
| Swordsman |
Haha, yeah, I suspect he's actually sitting still. Once you get the chair up that high, it's supposed to be pretty easy to hold. Doesn't look like his spokes are moving, does it?  It actually requires a hard right to pop the chair up. ~SM | ||
| Buellish |
I passed a Dnepr side hack on the interstate north of Columbus,Georgia yesterday. The battery in my camera decided to go south about the same time so I couldn't get a picture. | ||
| Trojan |
It actually requires a hard right to pop the chair up. Only if you are in England and the 'chair' is on the other side, otherwise it is definitely left | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
With the chair on the right, as pictured above, you turn the bar to the right to hoist the chair. FB | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
"With the chair on the right, as pictured above, you turn the bar to the right to hoist the chair." +1. Once lifted, to keep it in the air without much effort, you need to find the balance point. Then it's just a matter of looking where you want the rig to go, pressing on the handgrips in the direction you want to rig to go (due to steering reversion), relaxing your upper body, and enjoying the ride! (Message edited by fltwistygirl on August 17, 2011) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
...pressing on the handgrips in the direction you want to rig to go (due to steering reversion)... I've got (several decades ago) about 10,000 miles of sidehack experience. As I recall, once the third wheel leaves the ground, you've got, in essence, a motorcycle again in terms of steering dynamics (turn right to go left). Then, once the third wheel is back on the ground, you've got a very lopsided tricycle again (turn left to go left). Right? FB | ||
| Swordsman |
As I recall, once the third wheel leaves the ground, you've got, in essence, a motorcycle again in terms of steering dynamics (turn right to go left). I'll bet that's how sidecar wrecks tend to happen. Turning to the , let's say right, the car hoists. Suddenly the bike is countersteering to the left and into traffic. Then if you countersteer to the right, and the 3rd wheel comes down again, suddenly your driving it to the left again. Physics seems determined to throw you into the grill of a truck if it catches you napping. ~SM | ||
| Prior |
I think I'd be confused as hell... | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
~SM, you described the dynamics perfectly. Same thing happened to me just after I installed the chair, during my initial learning curve. It happened on a four-lane highway, on a 50-mph right-hand curve, with no weight (passenger or ballast) in the sidecar. I started the corner up next to the inside (right) fog line, and finished the corner well to the left of the outside (left) fog line, i.e. it took both lanes (and then some) to navigate the corner, as I oscillated back and forth between motorcycle and trike. Serious puckerment. I quickly learned to toss in my heaviest toolbox if I wasn't carrying a passenger. The ballast helps keep the third wheel planted during right-hand cornering. Alex, it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. FB | ||
| Glitch |
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| Fltwistygirl |
"As I recall, once the third wheel leaves the ground, you've got, in essence, a motorcycle again in terms of steering dynamics (turn right to go left)." Yep, that is what steering reversion is. When the sidecar starts to fly, it reverts to two wheel steering. I don't use the "turn right to go left" or "push/pull" description because it tends to confuse some people, especially newbies...whether 2 or 3 wheels. Prefer "press on the handgrip in the direction you want to go". So Jerry, I think we agree on what's happening but just use different wording. "Then, once the third wheel is back on the ground, you've got a very lopsided tricycle again (turn left to go left)". Yes, except again, just different wording. We term it "steer the rig in the direction you want it to go". "It happened on a four-lane highway, on a 50-mph right-hand curve, with no weight (passenger or ballast) in the sidecar. I started the corner up next to the inside (right) fog line, and finished the corner well to the left of the outside (left) fog line, i.e. it took both lanes (and then some) to navigate the corner, as I oscillated back and forth between motorcycle and trike. Serious puckerment." Yikes! Some people, if they held it together thru that experience may have handed over the keys as soon as they got home. Cool that you figured out the solution (ballast). That is one reason we demonstrate the flying the sidecar technique in our 3 wheel class, so people understand what is happening and what may be done to control it. We've had couples take the class where upon seeing the instructor fly the car for that demo, and one of them, usually the potential "monkey" says to the pilot "no bleeping way! If I knew that is what that thing did, I would have never agreed to buying it!!" Of course, there have been other monkeys whose reaction was "woo hoo, that looks like fun!" And under the right circumstances, it is a blast! | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
So Jerry, I think we agree on what's happening but just use different wording. I agree.  Yikes! Some people, if they held it together thru that experience may have handed over the keys as soon as they got home. BeLinda, had it been a two-lane road with oncoming traffic I'd have been toast, pure and simple. Got really lucky on that one. Once I figured out how to ride the thing, it was a hoot (and it provided a neat way to haul around my 2-1/2-year-old son; we'd strap his car seat into the hack, then strap him into his car seat. He thought he was a rock star. ) Glitch, great photo! FB | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
In this photo of Dale Walksler taking Sifo for a flight... ...you can sure see the "pulling with the right arm and pushing with the left" steering input that Dale is applying (and is it just me, or can you actually see the fork tubes bending slightly just below the lower triple-tree?) | ||
| Cityxslicker |
that tricycle photo is priceless - a new pilot is born ! | ||
| Moxnix |
Hey, that is Dale. I think he has my KHR engine. Is that in Maggie Valley, and are those wheels traveling through time . . . | ||
| Sifo |
Yep, that's how Dale treats a museum piece! Turns out he grew up just a few miles from me. | ||
| Rfischer |
Did it occur to either of you that those sidecar antics sans any vestige of safety gear was a touch stupid...??? That those smiles could have been quickly ground off your faces in the gravel..? Just askin'...... | ||
| Sifo |
What dale did was actually pretty tame. He never left his own property. I felt far safer than on my normal commute to work. Yours is a reasonable question about safety though. I just felt that any risk was minimal. Nothing wrong with doing a risk assessment of any activity that you engage in though. I know people who would think doing that is insane. Their risk assessment is just different than mine. | ||
| Fahren |
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/217726/tt_side_car_r acing/ | ||
| Rfischer |
"Their risk assessment is just different than mine." As is mine. Years ago, back in the day, I was attending a race weekend at Mosport and saw a sidecar race team die when they flipped their rig coming out of turn 8. I have little doubt that they too assessed the risk [associated with the guardrails that were there at the time], but died nonetheless. I also didn't doubt at the time, and don't now, that their assessment was reasonable. Not sure I can say the same for yours, but hey, that is certainly yours to make. Keep the shiney side up, eh??? |
