Hitchcocks Forum

Hello All ...running a bullet EFI with Squire car on it ..when Im three up the rear knobbly rubs on the side of the fender in a left turn..the cleareance when behind the bike is so different ??

left side has approx inch but the right side is so close ..ive tried various ways to even up but its near on impossible ..

I dont want to have to strip and grind etc and the mandatory 3x3 plank "jemmy" has already been tried to lever out !!

Any tricks ??

Thanks in advance

Stuart

Hi Stuart. Assuming the rear mudguard is fitted and lined up correctly, your swingarm isn't bent or twisted and the rear wheel spacers and chain alignment are also correct, it may be your wheel has been built with the wrong amount of 'offset'. It is possible to move a rim over by up to around 10mm, just by adjusting the spokes, although removal of the wheel and tyre might be wise afterwards, to make sure no spoke ends are going to go through your inner tube. If you find the spoke adjustments are the culprits and want to try fixing the problem, keep the wheel in situ butlet the tyre down, then, starting at the valve, slacken all the spoke nipples on the side that is too close to the mudguard by half a turn, then tighten the ones on the other side by the same amount. Repeat these steps in turn a couple of times and you will soon see a difference, but if you have to do more than a couple of turns to put the rim where you want it, please take the tyre off, as you will probably have to grind some spoke ends down. Regards, Paul.

Excellent !..this will be happening ...thankyou

Did exactly this to reposition my EFI front wheel equidistant between the front forks - making a big assumption that that is where it ought to be located.
It started out 3mm off to one side. This and some spacer work at the rear end meant I eventually got both wheels in perfect alignment

What concerns me is the rear only rubs on a left-hander. I'm assuming the chair is on the left although your reference to the mudguard as a fender means it could be on the right ???.

The wheel and/or swinging arm should not be flexing that much; rule that out. With three-up and the chair on the left, a lot of weight is being thrown onto the bike making the rear bottom-out. The chair should also be wheel aligned with correct toe-in.



Normal weight-shift, I don't think it is wheel centre alignment although do check.



Rather than bending the wheel do check that the mudguard is central, quite likely not. Check wheel centre to swinging arm and frame. The wheel fixing allows left-right alignment on the adjusters but there is also some vertical adjustment, not a lot but you can tilt the wheel slightly in the vertical plane when doing the spindle and brake plate up. Get the wheel alignment right to the frame, then adjust the mudguard/sub-frame to fit.



Are the shocks on their highest settings, do you have heavy duty springs for sidecar use?

I can assure anyone who doubts it, that swingarms can and do flex, especially if you throw passengers and sidecars into the equation. In my post above, I mention making sure the mudguard is fitted centrally, among all the other things to check before going for the spokes' adjustment. Regarding the rear shocks, make sure they are adjusted equally and are, in fact, a matching pair! Regards, Paul.

I agree with Paul that the swinging arm, indeed frame and wheel can flex but unless something is actually broken, it should not be the cause of this problem.

But noting that the mudguard on this combo is closer to the wheel on the right than on the left - I too suggest starting there.

The mudguard is mounted on a subframe with a fair amount of room for 'adjustment', move that.



Suggest contacting Watsonian-Squire regarding wheel alignment on a Squire combo. It is not the same as on a solo, a combo crabs along the road.

Thankyou all for your input ..the wheel rubs on right in left hander , but the gap between the left and right underneath / side of the gaurd are so different ..shocks on upmost point .

I will check the subframe also for the alignment.

Again...thankyou for the ideas ..spanner weekend it is !!

a combo crabs along the road? Please explain

Beezabryan, a combo doesn't quite go in a straight line like a solo with the rear following the front wheel. Th sidecar has toe-in and leads the rear wheel, the bike leans away from the chair and the front wheel may have more toe-in than the rear wheel; front and read not set in a straight line. In other words the combo may proceed along a straight road with the front wheel slightly offset to the left of the rear, crabbing. This is done so the combo handles better and doesn't scrub the tyres so much. It's rather a long time since I've set up a chair.