changing shock length

[paul whittaker]

while messing over the weekend with a roller, I made up several pieces of wood of different lengths and allowing 1/2" for sag. switching these around on the chassis gives you an idea of just now much this changes the geometry: 1" extra on the rear shocks leans the rear wheel into the chair 1/2" and moves the neutral point back 3/8". If you only have 3/8" negative trail to start with you are now skating with zero feel for the road. Also unless you have solo tires fitted you now have a fraction of the traction you should have, due to running on the edge of the tire. The lean out on the chair wheel while not as important is still going in the wrong direction. So please check your geometry before and after changing front or rear shocks. Paul.

[Paul&Sharon Bowyer]

When we first put our rig on the track at Shuby our rear shocks were too short. The resulting wild gyrations on the race track had me seriously rethinking what the hell we were doing. Luckily other experienced sidecar racers were able to help us figure out the problem and the machine became manageable, scary as hell but manageable. Missed you and Marie at NB Paul. Hows the new rig coming along?
Later Paul

[paul whittaker]

The new old rig (restored) is nearly there but the rightful owner e-mailed me out of the blue after several months of silence. So it may be another team on it. Another racer is pushing me to put a GT750 motor in a P3 he has offered up, lots of tube, wheels etc floating around this place and a couple of XS650 motors, so next year is up for grabs right now. Paul.