The temperature was a bit "brisk", hovering in the mid to low 20s farenheit but after breakfast, it was time to go out with my youngest son Miles riding Monkey and see how the rig behaved.
I used thick rubber pads to provide friction points to try and stop the chain link straps
from moving laterally.
The chains were positioned so that only the strap passed by the drive chain.
Miles and I pushed Yoshie into position as we had to back her
out of the garage. I sure miss the reverse gear on the Ural!
After we returned home, I examined the tire chains and found that the ones not next to one of the wheel spokes had shifted under pressure to be next to the ones at the spokes. The rope didn't break as you can see but it failed to keep three of the straps from shifting forward.
While warming up, I made some modifications to the rigging used to apply tension to the straps holding the chain links. I introduced a knot and secured the end link of each chain set so it would not slide forwards or backwards:
proof of concept, I was going for function, not form for now.
I ranged farther afield on the second ride, achieving speeds almost up to 30mph and the chains seemed to be doing fine. Lots of noise but I believe now that's expected noises, as I could see the chains were not moving laterally and hitting the drive chain every time I stopped.
The one photo I took during all the riding today.
I got her home safely as you can see in the video above and examined the tire chains again:
One of the middle links had shifted forward a bit but nothing broke. Key improvement in performance was that the chain links did not shift laterally! They were all "clearing" the drive chain which is highly important.
So, I think I am 95% close to an approved solution for tire chains. I get the snow tire mounted tomorrow hopefully at a fellow Uralista's house and we'll see how THAT tire does on snow. Hope you liked the videos.
4 comments:
There doesn't seem to be much tread on that tire for a M/S tire but I'm guessing that's why you have another tire waiting in the wings. It sounds like there is still tire spin when accelerating even with the chains. Pretty amazing.
Dang, That looks fun!!
It must be really peaceful out riding in the white stuff when no traffic is around. Well, until Yoshi started to go off the road. That would make me a little tense. I still find it interesting the technique for handling a sidecar set up. Beautiful ride out in the snow, great vids, and I like the "one" shot you took on the ride.
Glad you sorting it out, can't wait to see the Strom buried in snow :-)
What do your neighbors think when they see you going out?
RichardM, the pictures are deceiving, there's still plenty of thread on the M/S tire. I hope to get at least 15K out of it actually.
Bluekat, it is truly a lot of fun...but yeah, I prefer no cars anywhere around me when on snow.
George F, she's sorted out now, see latest posting re the new snow tire. As to my neighbors, I think they're used to the sight of me now. I've been type classified as the nut who rides on snowy days.
:)
Post a Comment