Well, it's done. I took the Cozy off of the Beemer for the first time in a year and a half. I also changed out the Heidenau sidecar tire on the rear for an old Shinko rear tire that I had installed in Corvallis, OR, during my 2012 road trip. It still has some mileage left on it as I had removed it when I installed the Cozy. I am going to try leaving the subframe installed though I'll need to be conscious of it when leaning to the right as it hangs a bit lower than anything else.
After swapping out the rear tire, I took the Beemer out for a test ride. This is the first time I've been on two wheels in almost a year. The last time was the demo rides at the Salem MOA rally last July. It really felt weird, for lack of a better description. It took a few miles before I felt comfortable with the leaning and countersteering. To add one more thing, the bike seemed to stumble a couple of times before I looked at the trip odometer and realized that I was running out of gas. Once I switched to reserve, no stumbling. As you might have guessed, the bike accelerates much faster without the sidecar and the steering seemed odd until I turned off the steering damper. After getting back home, I felt much more comfortable on the Ural.
Posted with Blogsy
I had same thoughts when thinking about splitting the V-Strom rig apart.....careful of those subframe extensions....you, who has been known to scrape valve covers....what's next, remove the RT fairing? You mentioned someone coveting the Cozy sidecar before?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about what would happen if the subframe scraped and decided that I really should take off at least the rear half. It would be difficult to repair and easily damaged.
DeleteAnd, yes, at least four have asked about the buying the Cozy.
Did the separation give you anxiety?
ReplyDeleteAre you going to leave the sidecar off? Would be nice for you to have a choice of two wheels or three.
Yes, lots of anxiety. Especially when having to balance the bike in the driveway again. And when coming to stops and reminding myself that I need to put my foot down.
DeleteRichard:
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't park and just leave your bike standing in "mid air" whilst you walk away. You're probably conditioned to just stop and walk
Your RT must feel like a sports car now
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
I gotta admit that the biggest hassle with the Beemer on two wheels is the ridiculous side stand design. I had sold the Brown Sidestand that I had been using for years which worked great. I'm now back to the factory one that you can't see while seated and is really hard to put down. Oh yeah, it also tends to fold up on you if your aren't in first gear and rolled as far forward as you can before putting it down. Then again, the sidecar is a bit much as a side stand replacement.
DeleteAnd, yes, the RT feels like a sports car now. I had to really watch my speed and the steering is so light....