Flying the Chair

Training day today, learning to "fly the chair" or cause the sidecar portion of my Suzuki V-Strom Sidecar Rig to lift off the ground during a tight right hand turn.

A little background is perhaps in order.  I've mentioned before and other sidecarists will tell you, riding a sidecar rig is very different from riding a regular two-wheeled motorcycle.  There's no counter-steering, no leaning into curves, no putting your foot down at stops and making turns require special care.

Right hand turns are especially "interesting" if you don't take care to slow into the turn and control your speed as you power out of the turn.  They get "interesting" because centrifugal forces involved, coupled with the fact you can't lean a sidecar rig, can cause the sidecar to lift or "fly up".

This behavior, if unexpected or surprising, has caused newbie sidecar riders to get into trouble, sometimes really bad trouble.  Their sidecar is now up in the air, and reactions to try and correct things usually cause the rig to cross over the road's centerline and sometimes into oncoming traffic.

The United Sidecar Association has links to operator manuals and books on safe and proper sidecar operation and I highly encourage reading their stuff and attending a Basic Sidecar Riding Course if at all possible.  Training pays off folks, the street is not the place to learn safe operation of a sidecar rig.

So, as a graduate of the local Basic Sidecar Rider Course, it was time today to try and get a feel for what Vikki does when the sidecar wheel comes up during a right hand turn.  The setting was the local high school parking lot where there were little in the way of obstacles.

I first tried it with the deep cycle battery that I'd been carrying in the sidecar's trunk, acting as ballast as I got a feel for how Vikki rode.  This ballast, I found, made it very difficult to purposely fly the chair and I really tried!  I only got the wheel to come up for less than a second at most.

I went home, had lunch, and removed the deep cycle battery.  Now all I had in the sidecar were the tools I normally carry on any of my motorcycles.

The afternoon practice, sans ballast, went much better.  There was someone training their daughter I think in basic operation of a small sportsbike.  She and I kept out of each other's way as we each practiced our new skills.

Soon I had the "hang" of it pretty much.  I was able to steer the rig in a straight line and make right turns both wide and somewhat tight.  The turns were mostly at low speeds, granted, but I was quite happy with what I accomplished in terms of control  I'll let you be the judge.

Here's video I shot from the afternoon practice session.  It gives you an idea of what a passenger in the sidecar would see as the chair is flown by me.

Some final notes, with a passenger or appropriate ballast, a newbie sidecar rider is pretty safe.  I just don't want anyone to get the impression that training and practice is not required for a sidecar.  Flying the sidecar, in a safe environment,  is fun and cool to look at, just be sure you know what you're doing.