Flying the chair; steering
reversion; countersteering......my take on the
matter and sometimes controvery.
sidecar section
#6
sidecarcountersteering.htm
Every so often there is a lengthy thread on 'flying the chair';
'steering reversion'; and 'counter-steering'; on the SCT LIST.
Purists have a strong belief that folks should NOT be using the
word 'flying' for minor excursions of the sidecar wheel coming
off the ground. In a technical sense, that is quite correct.
BUT.....on a practical basis, Flying The Chair has become ingrained into sidecaring,
to mean any time the sidecar wheel lifts off the ground, no matter how much.
My own feeling is that common usage
will prevail.
I don't mind the common
usage....... BUT... I do have some reservations!
THE problem lies, primarily in two widespread publications......and
the perpetuation of false statements and false interpretations.
I specifically refer to the book
almost always referred to as "The Yellow Book", entitled "Driving
a Sidecar Outfit"....and...also is applicable to the book,
"Driving the Ural Sidecar Motorcycle". These are
both available to read on the internet, besides being in
print; and being handed out a fair amount at sidecar dealers,
repairers, designers, etc.
Both of these books, as great as they are, and they ARE good...really good
books.......,have SERIOUS errors....in
one very specific area. NOTE that these books are still available to purchase.
In one instance, a revised edition has cleaned up some of
this...but, perhaps not all.
IN MY OPINION.......BOTH BOOKS, in the sections on Steering Reversion and Flying the Car (same title/section, both books) (page 71, Yellow Book; page 64, Ural book...and if revised, pages may be wrongly numbered here), are DEAD ASS WRONG about steering reversion for normal....and even quite high....'flying' of the sidecar. It is entirely possible for someone to literally take the description and advice and get into a serious problem.
If someone has the sidecar wheel come up some....it need NOT come up way far, either!.....they may then strictly follow the advice in these books....and turn away from the chair when that chair wheel is UP. That can lead to a disaster, in my opinion.
When someone is first learning to drive a sidecar rig, they eventually get to
lifting the chair wheel some. In fact, practice should
intentionally include this. But....there may be apprehension,
even fear. That would be normal. Soon, with
practice, this lessens, and may (or may not) go the other way......with lifting
the sidecar wheel becoming a fun thing to do. One
learns to do what is necessary to control the rig...after all, one is starting
out in a huge parking lot or open area...at low speeds....with
no nearby obstacles........or
you certainly should be!
It is normal for humans to react in certain ways, often wrongly, when they
feel certain forces brought about by their use of machinery. Knowing
what to do, and having it ingrained into one's brain by actually practicing
and remembering, is how we become competent.
It is entirely one
thing to have your body telling you something, and a normal reflex of fixing the 'sudden problem'.....and
yet you must do the CORRECT
thing. They can be the same....or vastly different.
The Yellow Book, and the Ural version, are confusing to the amateur; who may
do the WRONG thing IN THIS ONE AREA.
The experienced sidecarist ignores those words in that
section of the books.
No one is, or should be advocating, for normal driving, of going into a turn (towards the chair) with excessive speed or sudden extreme angle, and thereby whipping the chair to extreme heights, to where reversion REALLY fully exists. In fact, MOST who are 'showing off flying the chair' do NOT lift the chair that far either. Once the chair is exceptionally high up, steering reversion CAN take place. That is where things get interesting, to say the least. Practice, Practice, Practice, is, of course, the bottom line here. Steering reversion takes place when the sidecar is on the verge of moving to either side, by gravity.
Rev:
06/25/2011: clean up and clarify into plainer language