Topic: '76 Hondamatic 750 with sidecar

[jon]

Has anyone done it ? How did the bike handle? How was its reliability and endurance? What wobble effect does 750 have? Is it front heavy? Does ' 76 750 have dick brakes?
Will the electrical handle more acc.s on the sidecar? Help me out . How much $$ would one running with car, but rough, go for? Thanks. jon (newbie)

[TwoTired]

Does ' 76 750 have dick brakes?

People who ride modern bikes think so.

Or, are you talking about the fuel tank?

 

[eurban]

I've seen a few bikes at the salvage yard with suspicious looking divets at the back of the the tank.  Always cringed when I saw them.  Atleast now I know what to call a tank with such features!

[Dave Wyatt]

John, I replied to your PM.  Good luck with the 'matic!

[jon]

Thanks Dave , good info. all. Sorry about the typo but I guess non disk brakes could be construed as dick brakes, especially with a sidecar.  Does any one else have constructive additions to 750A with sidecar? jon

[Gordon]

Does any one else have constructive additions to 750A with sidecar? jon

Oh, You wanted constructive ideas?  Should have said that in the first place.

[hahnda]

Hey Jon,

Check out http://www.sidecar.com or http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/SCT/ and ask the same quetion there. I know at least a few people on those sites have a CB750 auto with a sidecar or know something about them. They were actually a popular sidecar bike for those that had a hard time shifting. Also used in a setup where the driver sat in the sidecar and controlled the bike from the sidecar.

[TwoTired]

Will the electrical handle more acc.s on the sidecar? Help me out .

The question is too open ended as there isn't unlimited power from the bike's charging system.  Give us some idea what extra loads you are expecting.  Watts matter.

Extra tail lights - ok.

Extra headlight, TV, air conditioning, kicker sound system, and search lights - no.

To help cope with extra loads, be prepared to go through each and every connector on the bike to clean and anti-oxidize each terminal.  This will reduce or eliminate any parasitic losses in the wiring due to corrosion buildup over it's 30 years of existance in earth's atmosphere.

Cheers,

[hahnda]

One thing that helps is that you can run a car battery in the sidecar. Yeah maybe the charging system won't be able to keep up with the draw but at least it will take a long time to happen. If the battery starts to get low just juice it up at night avery once in a while.

[Uncle Ernie]

... I think Jon is here because I sent him over FROM sidecar.com. 
Anyhoo- one of his questions over there was how long the timing chain lasts, and I told him they last a very long time, but it's the adjuster that goes south because no one takes care of them. Any opinions on my comment?
The other question he had was power and if the trans would hold up under a load like that.  Does anyone around here have an automatic who can advise on that?   Personally- I would be suspect about an automatic, but I have nothing solid to base that on.

[Dave Wyatt]

I have a friend who has drag raced a Hondamatic for years.  He leans on the motors pretty hard, but leaves the transmissions alone.  He and another acquaintance who is a former Honda mechanic both claim the transmissions are indestructible.  I guess you could tear one up, but due to the fact that they don't shift automatically, they hold up pretty good.   Shifting (slow or soft) is what hurts automatics in cars and trucks.  A good quick clean shift reduces wear on the clutches and bands.  The Hondamatics have a nice shift IMHO. 

I could see a side car adding some stress (heat in the converter) taking off, but once underway things should run as normal.

FWIW, my Hondamatic is the only automatic transmission in our daily fleet.  The truck, wife's car and my 4-4-2 are all manuals.  How ironic is that?

[sidematic]

I have a 76 Matic with sidecar.  The tranny is supposedly from the 75/76 honda civic and it is bulletproof. The electrical system will handle the addition of the sidecar rear lights and a running light.  With the two speed tranny a Hondamatic750 is not the most speedy outfit.  Since mine needed a rebuild, I upgraded to an 836 kit, ported and polished K head, rebuilt K carbs and a very torquey cam.  With these upgrades my bike and sidecar actually outperforms the braking system and I would recommend doing the dual front disc brakes. I also installed Terry's excellent oil filter adapter with spin on filter and added an oil cooler. If you have other questions feel free to contact me directly by email.
                                                      thanks,Barry

[POPS BK911]

I drag race a CM400A HONDAMATIC [ weekly ] and have made hundreds of passes with many wins.  I have 6 = CB750A    1= CM450A     2= CM400A and would race them all day long. Owned many KZ's drag bikes and many rounds wins over 19 years, but these MATIC'S are more fun and deadly on the 1320'.        POPS    BK3666 ST/ET NHRA