Topic: Sidecar

[70CB750]

Hope thats NOT what you have in mind to do!

Well, we got a piano 

Interesting picture, the bike is MZ250 from late GDR - 2 stroke of course - and sidecar on the left places it in UK.  If you know Waking Ned Devine,  Michael rides MZ, too.

[mcpuffett]

Hi here is a home made sidecar , made in the 1980's and fastened to the side of a 250 cc Honda, cheers Mick 

[70CB750]

I became a Sunday rider  - when the roads are empty, I go and try to ride this thing. 

Yesterday I learned to move my ass for right turn, it helps. 

Of course, I can't expect help from the passenger - he is dumb as a brick. 

I moved the hack forward, got a lead about 12" now and decent toe in.  Going straight, she keeps her line with little effort, turns I have to practice I guess.

[70CB750]

G'day Prokop,

I hope you won't mind me sticking my bib in now you've reached your setup stage.
K model Hondas have a relatively short wheelbase used as a sidecar platform.
Your chair looks fairly wide so I'm assuming your track is wide relative to your wheelbase.

If your interested in a discussion on setup and maybe a couple of initial riding tips let me know.
If not I'm happy to keep my nose out. 

Cheers,
Brian

Hello Brian:

Now I am ready for your tips on setup and riding.

[754]

Tie the same brick down.
 Nothin worse than crashing the outfit and having the brick hit you in the back of yer neck  !

[Stev-o]

Tie the same brick down.
 Nothin worse than crashing the outfit and having the brick hit you in the back of yer neck  !

Then the wood box might be needed?!

[bear]

G'day Prokop,

I hope you won't mind me sticking my bib in now you've reached your setup stage.
K model Hondas have a relatively short wheelbase used as a sidecar platform.
Your chair looks fairly wide so I'm assuming your track is wide relative to your wheelbase.

If your interested in a discussion on setup and maybe a couple of initial riding tips let me know.
If not I'm happy to keep my nose out. 

Cheers,
Brian

Hello Brian:

Now I am ready for your tips on setup and riding.

No worries Prokop,
We are on the road at the moment heading to my daughters to pick up a load of cat's.
God help me , I hate cat's but she is involved with an animal rescue group trying to look after people's animals that are being affected by our fires.
All her enclosures are now full and she has been forced to house all the cat's in her care in the spare room.

Regarding your setup.
Thanks to my meticulous record keeping. (I wrote the notes we used as a starting point for our bikes many years ago on the back of a beer box. )
 I retrieved it from inside the lid of my old toolbox when we first discussed your setup.
We both understand that these setups are different but as I mentioned this was the starting point for all our road going sidecars.

I will get my crayons out and give you an idea how we went about it when we get home and get these mogies settled. A lot of the stuff I will put forward you will have all ready done, but in the interest of continuity I will try to give the lot, then you can pick and chose what is relevant to you.

I do remember that we made some initial mods to the bike before we started on the chair itself.
We would adjust the spring preload on the rear stock's to their stiffest settings.
With the front forks we would add a  1" spacer to the top of the springs and then slide the forks up through the triple trees about 1".
The stiffer suspension helps counteract the wallowing affect that can happen at higher speeds.
Moving the forks up through the triple trees reduces the bikes front-end trail. This will help lighten the steering.
If the sidecar shakes its head when slowing down you will need to readjust the forks  to their original position. 

Cheers,
Brian

[70CB750]

Thanks, Brian.

I figured out a way to measure toe in using magnetic laser level on brake disc. After mocking things up i have good idea what will  the caliper bracket look like, now i is have to make it.

Ithink i totaled 300 miles with the sidecar and my trusty concrete block.  Getting used to it.

[70CB750]

Looks like repurposed propane tank   

[70CB750]

Testing the old family dog, my son held him and we went up and down our road in second gear.

[grcamna2]

Prokop excellent.  That's the fun of having a sidecar,more choices on what can be carried and how many individuals can enjoy the ride.

[754]

Its great having your dog along..

[CBJoe]

thats a happy lookin pup 

[Stev-o]

Good deal!  So what is needed?

[grcamna2]

Good deal!  So what is needed?

Stev-o, I had a sidecar customer,he had a 74' BMW R90/6 and we put on a stiffer front-end(stronger fork springs will be sufficient)with a stronger front brake.The other stuff(attachments) should come with a side car along with recommendations on where to mount it onto your frame.When it's all installed and set-up nice it's a decent vehicle.The thing I didn't like about it was it didn't corner/lean like a motorcycle anymore.The torque-reaction when giving it the throttle is something needed to correct with the handlebars just as putting on the brakes and you know cornering is much different especially turning a corner toward the side car.. it needs to be done with care.I think it makes it handle like a truck myself  but I could get used to it:it gives your upper body a work-out.

[70CB750]

Good deal!  So what is needed?

Well, you get a sidecar and install it    .  Or you could find the russian BMW clone - Ural with sidecar already installed.  Friend of mine had one in Prague and it's decent rig ready to ride, except the Ural reliability and quality is not on the level of Japanese motorcycles.

If you find a used sidecar, there are universal mounts and with bit of an effort they can beadopted to fit your bike. 

Sidecar rig is interesting to ride, it gets quite the attention and thumps up on the road and extends the use of the bike - at least for me 

[Stev-o]

Good deal!  So what is needed?

Well, you get a sidecar and install it    . 

Ha.   I meant what else is needed to finish the project?

I once bought a CB550 and the seller insisted I take the sidecar as part of the deal. I did not want it as I didnt have room to store it. I put it for sale and it sold the first day!

[70CB750]

LOL! I thought you want to explore new venues 

Sidecars are hard to find and expensive, too. 

I have to install brake caliper, already made the bracket for it.  Than fender, brake light, turn signal and eventually the "boat", as we call, it for passengers - humans or canines.   

[70CB750]

Brake bracket, still need some sanding and polishing.

[grcamna2]

Brake bracket, still need some sanding and polishing.

Which model bike did you get that brake caliper from Prokop ?

[BenelliSEI]

Great project! With your skills you should make your own tub too. Here are some photos of one I added to a Black Douglas Sterling replica bike a few years ago. The bike is a copy of a 1918 Douglas, so we copied their side car body too. It’s pretty simple, steel sheet tacked to a tube frame. The “ah ha moment” came when the counter guy at our local Metal Mart suggested we use “hydraulic tubing”. This pipe is what heavy equipment mechanics (and Farmers around here) use for hydraulics on big machines. It looks like normal pipe, but bends with an electrician’s bending bar. We used regular tubing for the straight bits. By the time it was all welded up, made for an incredibly strong monocoque chassis. Pretty light too!

[BenelliSEI]

P.S. the fender is a repurposed spare tire cover from a ‘32 Ford!

[70CB750]

Brake bracket, still need some sanding and polishing.

Which model bike did you get that brake caliper from Prokop ?

1976 CB750SS.  It works with the Comstar wheel.  I am afraid that particular year the brake was too powerful and I might need to install limiter on the brake line.

[70CB750]

P.S. the fender is a repurposed spare tire cover from a ‘32 Ford!

Thank you for great ideas!  There are fenders on ebay and Amazon I could probably use, I just want the brake installed first.   As far as the tub - thanks for the word, we call it the boat in my language - I was going to get a spot welder and try to replicate this sidecar.  I will definitely look up hydraulic tubing.  What gauge sheet metal did you use?

[BenelliSEI]

I can’t recall what gauge, fairly light and easy to bend to the curves. Used an automotive adhesive between the tubes and the shell to stop any popping in and out.

For the side panels, we drew the basic outline on a sheet of 3/4” plywood. Then a second piece 3/4” smaller all the way around and cut it out. Screwed it’s to the main board and tacked clamping blocks around the edge. Bent the tube to the template, clamped them down and welded the vertical tubes (regular dom tubing) to secure it all. In this way, all 4 sides (we built two cars) were identical.