Sidecar wheel weight

We finished putting Sheri's bike back together and we were looking at the rulebook changes for 2009. They added a new paragraph under 7.I.11.A - which part of it read "A minimum of 10% of the rig weight has to be on the sidecar"(wheel). My friend has a set of scales for scaling out cars or bikes but I know a lot of people don't have access to an expensive set of scales. So we decided to do it with a digital bathroom scale. The cost, about $15.00. In order to scale out a vehicle, it has to be on a level surface when it is on the scale. What we did is, our scale is 1 1/2 inches thick. So we took a couple of short 2x4's and cut an angle on the end. Two long pieces and one short piece. The short piece always stays with the scale when you move the scale to the other wheels. It's important that when the vehicle is on the scale that all wheels are the same height. For example: If we weigh Sheri's sidecar wheel with the other two wheels on the shop floor, her sidecar wheel weighs 46 pounds. But if we raise the other two wheels up 1 1/2 inches to match the thickness of the scale, her sidecar wheel actually weighs 54 pounds. So level is very important.
Sheri's bike weighs 216 lbs. on the rear wheel - 147 lbs. on the front wheel - and 54 lbs. on the sidecar wheel. Thats ready to race with gas and oil. So we have a total of 417 pounds, 10% of that would be 41.7 pounds. So we are about 12.3 pounds above the minimum, so we are good to go.
There is another way to do all this..Dig a hole in the ground as deep as the bathroom scale and then roll each wheel over the scale. But I think the wood is a little easier. And you won't need a shovel. And your wife won't get mad at you for digging up the lawn.
I hope this helps someone.

Thanks Willie Buchta

	Author	Topic: Sidecar wheel weight (Read 1814 times)
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