Sorry you went through that but that right there is funny.....

 

Damn! Ouch!

Years ago, a friend of mine out in Utah (sci fi fans will recognize the name...he's the younger brother of Orson Scott Card). He was out on a ride with some friends when the Yamaha he was on went into a tank slapper and he went down. Spent the next six months passing stones that had been knocked loose from his kidneys during the impact. Poor guy was in hell.

 

 

Feeling quite accomplished this morning.

the nature of the Paughco frame with its single downtube made it all but impossible to jack the front wheel off the ground. So I hacked this thing together. Works a charm.

 

Sunday it was 81 and sunny....yesterday it was raining and never got over 42.
Today it's still raining and not supposed to get over 49....

I guess winter (Jacket season) is finally here!!!!! DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Put a new Avon on the E. Glide's sidecar wheel (a front Cobra), went on easy... I thought. Even though I'm going to put some beads in the wheel, put it on the static balancer to find the least out of balance position for the tire on the rim. Didn't seem to make any difference, heavy spot just followed the tire the same all around. Put air in it to get the beads seated, damned thing needed 3.5 ounces to get real close, lot more than I've needed with an Avon before. Don't usually put weights on wheels, but on a sidecar they barely show if you put them on the inside, so I did that. Will still put a couple ounces of beads in the tire to get it just right and self adjust for wear.

Wanted to see how smooth it felt with the 3.5 ounces so spun it (just by hand) on the balancer, real smooth, but... wth, it was out of round 1/4"! Looked closer, and a few inches on one side wasn't quite seated, distorted the tire slightly. 50 psi wouldn't pop it out, so I broke the bead on that side, lubed that area some more (No-Mar lube, dries to a hard film so it doesn't make beads stick if you use them) and at about 40 psi it made a satisfying pop, and now it's round, less than 1/16" off, seen a lot of tires worse than that. Job was more than expected, but my fault for not seeing the bead wasn't fully seated the first time. At least the tire changer made it easy physically. Now to get that drum brake back together and working. Still have some parts to find. I fully expected to have this on the road a week after I got it, but you always find more when you pull parts, and I still haven't got some tools and parts; one got lost in the mail, got a refund but now its out of stock. Argh...

 

It's some years ago now, but I had problems with an Avon front tyre many years ago, a Venom IIRC, - darned thing just wouldn't seat. Got a replacement in the end, which just popped on and gave no more problems, the previous one had become distorted in some way. Glad you managed to sort yours out! Avon does make a dedicated sidecar tyre, but only in one size, 19", for traditional British outfits.

 

I had a rear Avon already that fits the rear of the sidecar rig, so just bought a matching front for the car; plan to replace those next time with car tires. Put an Avon trike tire on the front, figure a no lean sidecar driver will put similar loads on the front tire. I expect that to work well, and if it does, would continue with that. The tire I pulled off the sidecar was a rear. I sure hope it Harley stops good with the new EBC pads, the ones on it are terrible, even worse than the drums on my '98 Ural. My other Harleys were like that, and EBC and Lyndall pads did real good on those. Running out of weather, if I don't get it on the road next week, I'll probably have to wait till next year. First snow will be first salt, and that's the end of riding season for me.

 

I no longer ride when the snow is down either. You should have seen the state of my Glide back in 2001-ish when I had the original engine rebuilt - had the bike stripped and frame refinished at the same time I was so disgusted and ashamed of it! I had used it year-round, like all my bikes, during it's early life. We're enjoying a late-summery spell at present, or as we colonials call it, an Indian summer!