side car info

[Macodad]

Anyone have experience with sidecars? The wife is interested in going the side car route so the kids can come along too. I'm not sold on it and the only ones that I would be able to afford are Russian Urals or Swedish models. They have them for the big touring bikes (WIngs, Ventures, et al) but these cost about half of the bike!!
Just curious if there is advice on them.
Thnaks

[Black_peter]

To really run a side hack right you need to buy a bike built for it (some Harleys or the Ural) or add a earls type front end. Thats about the extent of my knowledge.

[The CyberPoet]

Here's what I know:

(A) Typical side-cars handle way-different. Think no leaning, and very slow around the tight corners. Totally different feel and not much like anything I'd consider a "motorcycle" (more like a military jeep with the windshield folded down). Motorcycle needs to have it's frame modified to take the mounting points unless it was built with a sidecar in mind.

(B) Ural's are WW2 BMW's -- the soviets swiped the entire plant at the end of WW2 and moved it east to their own country lock-stock-n-barrel -- where the design has remained practically unchanged ever since (in large part because it simply "works", something not always true of soviet built stuff). In terms of technology, it's dumb as dumb gets (has advantages and disadvantages -- easy to fix, but may need fixing regularly; brakes are like soggy wood). Build quality varies from year to year, and common knowledge is to always ask for a couple dozen extra wheel spokes at time of purchase to hold you over for a few months. Wheels are multi-piece design, so tire mounting can be done at home or just about anywhere (deflate, unbolt the wheel halves, remove tire, insert new tire, rebolt together and remount).

(C) The coolest side-car outfit I've ever piloted was a FlexIt out of the Neatherlands. The sidecar attached to the bike via parallel-links with pivots and both the bike and side car would lean/tilt independently, allowing you to keep sport-bike type speeds and handling. Not cheap, but mondo cool... There's a variation of the same concept available out of Canada, here: http://www.side-car.net/PagesAng/index.htm
There are also trailer-mount sidecars (not really a "side" car -- a towed solution instead) that preserve some of the handling available out there on the market.

(D) There are forums for sidecars and I'd highly recommend you go talk to them about it. Picking KR's brains for sidecars is like going to see your plumbers' employees for advice about your eyes -- you might get lucky, but odds are you're talking to the wrong persons...

Finally, a list of sidecar manufacturers:

http://www.bmwmtco.com/sidecar/intro_sidecar.html

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[StevieB]

Cyber, in most states, it is illegal to carry passengers in a trailer towed behind a car or truck, I would suspect it is for motorcycle-towed trailers, too?

[NiteMare]

i've had a few outfits in the past and recently hooked a chair up to a FJ1200 for a friend..

all outfits i've put together have gone on double cradle frames and bar the fj1200 they were all round tube frames (fj being square tube), they're not hard to assemble basically they just take quite a bit of time to set up correctly, i spent 35-40 hours putting the fj outfit together and getting it set up so that it was comfortably rideable, Watsonian widebodied child/adult chair...

the chair size needs to match the bikes size, leading link forks are recommended if you can afford them and i'd recommend a sidecar brake although it's not essential ....

here's a really good read with lots of information and links regarding outfits, read the Hal Kendal stuff...

http://www.cyclesidecar.com/Guides/document_downloads.html

[crazypj]

I love them when I can borrow one. Haven't actually owned one for over 20yrs. Probably the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Pic is Yoshimura Kawasaki, only did about 9mpg flat out (130mph)
PJ

[The CyberPoet]

Cyber, in most states, it is illegal to carry passengers in a trailer towed behind a car or truck, I would suspect it is for motorcycle-towed trailers, too?

I have no clue on what the legality is, but I'm sure the manufacturers do. Maybe it falls into a legal loophole as a "side-car"? I've just seen them out there...

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet