Seeking ballast advice

[dholaday]

sidecar jockey:

Thanks for the links. good info.

[zenben]

Originally Posted by bully1

when I first built my rig I installed a 3 gallon Rotopax water container on the out side



now I find that there is no water in it, a wise sidecarist ( Hello 3legs ) once told me to roll the throttle on more at the apex and you'll really pull through the corners ( left hand in our case ) , the left hand wheel now tends to be skipping along the ground as I turn left, once I load the car up then it's no problem.

Adjustment by water is so easy, 70 pounds seems overly excessive, you need to get used to the feeling of "Flying " and ride with it.

THIS.

I ran a 3 gallon jug of water in the Ural trunk until accustomed to the rig.
The greatest benefit therof is that you can just pour it out when you don't want the ballast.

I run no ballast now. Weighted chairs are more stable or balanced only up to a certain point. Anything more, and you risk imbalance favoring the s/c.
It is uncomfortable to fly the chair in right-handers, but more-so to ground the s/c and flip the rig.

That said: Some lighter cars probably need to be weighted, but I'd prefer to carry tools, spares, extra fuel, or luggage over lead ingots any day.