So how's the new steering? I don’t want to oversell it, but it was worth the $500 for me. Low speed turning feels a little like power steering (at certain points, like when starting up and you need to get out of a parallel parked spot). You still have to horse it to turn at a standstill, but not nearly as much.
It doesn’t make steering like a car with power steering. But it does make steering at slow speeds 40% easier (which can make the difference between difficult/impossible and easy/possible). And in my opinion, it makes higher speed steering less heavy and more stable. I took some corners that in the past scared me “straight.” Someone called it “heavy” steering. I have a couple corners that if taken 5-10 mph faster than the speed limit, which is something I do safely in my car, used to feel like I was going to crash. The steering felt like it was fighting me when cornering. It now feels much more stable with a more direct sense of the tires at 50+ mph. Cornering doesn’t feel “heavy” or like it is fighting me. So I get low speed benefits, but definitely high speed stability.
Parking under our carport is now as easy as pie. Parallel parking is a breeze. Loading up on the trailer is much, much easier as you have to get the vehicle straight with the trailer before getting on the ramp. And getting it straight, with often very little room, took some effort.
In fact, I don’t remember what it’s like to struggle with the handlebars. If I drove one without the modification, I’d probably be really annoyed.
Without the upgrade, steering works properly. It is a preference issue. I just prefer to turn the handlebars further and have it be easier than to turn the handlebars at a smaller angle but have it be a bear at very low speeds. In other words, you turn the bars further in order to do sharp turns. To turn all the way, the handlebar ends up at the tube of the windshield in the very front. Because my hand is on top of the grips, it doesn’t get squished there.
This modification requires disassembly of the much of the front end of the vehicle to replace the pitman arm with one that is modified by shortening it about an inch. They also have to bend some other parts. As they remove your pitman arm, they replace it with another that was removed from another vehicle and was modified. They simply recirculate pitman arms after removing and modifying.
I don’t believe this modification was even thought up until somewhere around mid 2022. Arcimoto then had to test it and make sure there would be no legal issues with it.
Currently, they only perform the upgrade at their Eugene center.
Is it a lot of money? Yup. Might it be worth it for you? Absolutely. Some peeps feel steering is fine or don't want to spend the extra money. And that's OK, too.
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