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Third
wheel
- Driving Technique
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| Driving techniques for a motorcycle and sidecar at speed. |
| Outlined below is a basic guide on how to drive the beast, of course in real life things are not always as clear cut as my simple explanations and you also have to deal with adverse cambers, slippery surfaces, difficult terrain and obstacles etc. All of these and other combinations of factors such as tiredness, weather conditions etc. can make you very resourceful person................... |
| Hard Acceleration and Hill Starts |
| This is a balance between the front wheel finding
enough grip to keep the outfit heading straight forward and the rear wheel finding enough
grip to pull away or accelerate. Driver: Lean forward to put weight on the front wheel and turn to the right a bit to compensate for the steering effect caused by the inertial mass of the sidecar. Passenger: Move your body weight over the rear wheel of the motorcycle to help minimize the above steering effect and to help the rear wheel find grip. |
| Braking from speed (No sidecar wheel braking) |
| Driver: To hold the
outfit in a straight line turn to the left a bit to compensate for the steering effect
caused by the decelerating mass of the sidecar. Passenger: Move your body weight over the rear wheel of the motorcycle to help minimize the above steering effect and to help the rear wheel find grip. |
| Left Cornering |
| Driver: Brake
immediately before the approaching bend and move your body to the left and then
accelerate hard around the corner. This helps keep the sidecar wheel down and aids the
steering by driving the motorcycle around the mass of the sidecar. Always Remember
you
have to leave enough room for the passenger to hang out over the sidecar wheel, try not
to drag your team mate though any hedges, or smack him/her into any boulders etc! Passenger: Keep your body weight over the rear seat of the motorcycle while the outfit is braking on approach then move quickly, as far out over the sidecar wheel as possible as the outfit is accelerated around the bend. This helps keep the sidecar wheel down and the whole outfit from tipping over! |
| Right Cornering |
| Driver: Approach fast
then decelerate around the corner whilst moving your body to the right, this aids the
steering by throwing the sidecar around the mass of the motorcycle. Passenger: Keep your body weight over the rear seat of the motorcycle while the outfit is braking on the approach and stays there around the whole of the bend, this helps keep the rear wheel of the motorcycle on the ground which is very important. |
| Cornering problems? |
| On this type of general purpose sporting outfit it
is generally easier to corner fast around a right hand bend, but N.B. if you do loose it,
the consequences are usually much more severe. Whilst tipping over on a left hander you have the following options, you can save things
by leaning more and winding on the throttle, also you can straighten up by turning right a
bit and then take a wider line to get things back under control. On a right hander however, if the back has lifted into the air under braking you are balanced on a very precarious see-saw like action, pivoted from the front wheel of the motorcycle to the sidecar wheel. You must let go the brakes immediately because the whole outfit could potentially flip over the nose of the sidecar, this can happen real fast and at speed, trust me, it's VERY nasty. The only way out this difficult situation is to try and straighten the outfit up by turning to the left a bit and trying to take a wider line, this generally gets the back wheel down again with some help from the passenger, then you can carefully brake again and have another go at getting around rest the bend.....good luck! Basically if you are in trouble: On a left hander OPEN THE THROTTLE! On a right hander STOP BRAKING! |
The Third Wheel motorcycle and sidecar simulation is
copyright © 2005 - 2008 by A.D.Smart, All rights reserved.
