side car instalation

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Classic Goldwings

Help Support Classic Goldwings:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
L

Little Chick

Active member
Joined
Apr 5, 2011
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Location
Lake of the Ozaks Stover MO
have a side car. would like to hook it up to my aspencade. do i need that big braket underneath or just the ones that came on the car? if so does anyone know where to get one that doesnt cost a fortune? :thanks: :help:
 
Skiri251 has a sidecar and he is on here all the time. The Gold Wings are very popular tugs, Motorvation makes the hardware to install a sidecar on your Wing. There are more than a few companies out there, Motorvation, Hannigan, Texas sidecars, Velorex, California sidecars, although California sidecars is rumored to be dropping their sidecars in favor of trike conversions. There's a memeber on here that has one of the old Vetter side cars. There are also a couple of sidecar sights that have good, general information about setting up a sidecar. Again, the Gold Wing is a very popular tug and there is a lot of stuff out there for them. What kind of car do you have and can you post pictures? The sidecar thing is what made me get a Gold Wing, so, I'm interested in your project. Cool! Oh, and like Slabghost said, there will be infor coming from this site in reguard to your project.
 
Hi,
Depending on where you are located...the best sidecar guys I know of are Claude Stanley Motorsports in PA.

https://www.freedomsidecars.com/

or if on the west coast:

https://www.dmcsidecars.com/

or in western Canada:

https://www.sidecars.ca/

Those are the folks that most of us deal with for hardware and conversion parts...

Here is the site for our only national club and the nerve center of all US sidecaring:

https://www.sidecar.com/

Beyond that it would be silly for me to advise....these folks know everything you can possibly want to know about sidecars and their rigging....

Wings are popular tugs for sidecars. I have had a Ural tub on my GL1100 standard for about 10 years although my rig is pretty "agricultural" and borders on "rough country if not off road". In 10 years I have been all over the US and a few trips into Canada and Mexico.

If at all possible before you rig yours, I would strongly advise a visit to one of the sidecar rallies around the country to meet people and see some of the many varieties of rigs and rigging. Most of us are wannabe engineers and there is a broader variety of amazing engineering than any moto rallies I have ever been to.

The USCA site is a place to find out about the rallies and if you join the club you will get the club magazine "the Sidecarist" that list them all as well.....

Good luck and if you have any specific questions I may be able to help with feel free to email me direct as I spend very little time on here.

Brian
 
54Greybeard":3hikh1cn said:
Skiri251 has a sidecar and he is on here all the time. The Gold Wings are very popular tugs, Motorvation makes the hardware to install a sidecar on your Wing. There are more than a few companies out there, Motorvation, Hannigan, Texas sidecars, Velorex, California sidecars, although California sidecars is rumored to be dropping their sidecars in favor of trike conversions. There's a memeber on here that has one of the old Vetter side cars. There are also a couple of sidecar sights that have good, general information about setting up a sidecar. Again, the Gold Wing is a very popular tug and there is a lot of stuff out there for them. What kind of car do you have and can you post pictures? The sidecar thing is what made me get a Gold Wing, so, I'm interested in your project. Cool! Oh, and like Slabghost said, there will be infor coming from this site in reguard to your project.
Click to expand...

My rig is a free leaner (sidecar leans with the motorcycle). So no significant stress is put to both sidecar and motorcycle frames during cornering. I believe this is going to be a rigidly mounted sidecar. Then the cornering stress needs to be considered carefully. GL has conventional double cradle frame so you may not need a subframe. Is this your first sidecar? What kind? If the sidecar is light (say Velorex, like I have) and you don't have experience, you need wide track length (the distance between m/c rear wheel and sidecar wheel) and/or ballast (the dead weight you need to put on the sidecar) so that the sidecar won't lift up easily in sharp right hand turns. And lots of parking lot practice.

I recommend https://www.sidecar.com forums. Claude Stanley is also a frequent poster there. He answered my questions a while back (I had rigid rigs before). As other post says, GL is very popular sidecar tug so you shouldn't have a problem getting right answers.
 
Yes,Pictures of what you have as far as mounts and brackets and the sidecar itself well be helpfull so that we can advise you better.
 

Attachments

  • bike 021.JPG
    bike 021.JPG
    144.6 KB · Views: 472
I'm wondering, is the learning curve less steep with the leaner? I've told anyone that will listen about your leaner rig and that awesome video of it in action. I'd like to ride in that side car. From the video it looks as close to flying as you could possibly get! I bought my Wing with the intention of putting a side car on it, but since getting it I enjoy that wonderful low center of gravity and hate to give it up. Also, after reading this thread, had not considered the stress on the frame and such with a side car. Is the leaner the way to go? What's the disaadvantages of the leaner rig?
 
54Greybeard":20slraxh said:
I'm wondering, is the learning curve less steep with the leaner? I've told anyone that will listen about your leaner rig and that awesome video of it in action. I'd like to ride in that side car. From the video it looks as close to flying as you could possibly get! I bought my Wing with the intention of putting a side car on it, but since getting it I enjoy that wonderful low center of gravity and hate to give it up. Also, after reading this thread, had not considered the stress on the frame and such with a side car. Is the leaner the way to go? What's the disaadvantages of the leaner rig?
Click to expand...

Leaner rigs handle just like solo motorcycles. The only thing you need to learn is to remember the sidecar is there so that you don't hit curbs, parked cars etc. Of course, the rigs are not as nimble as solo motorcycles but that's more like the difference between sports bike and cruiser. Also due to asymetrical weight of the sidecar, the rig wants to go right on launch and go left during braking. But this inertia effect is much smaller than wide tracked, heavily ballasted rigid rigs. In any case, you will soon get used to it and compensate for it subconciously.

The disadvantages of leaner rigs are:

* You need to get your foot down on the ground when you stop.
* You need to support combined weight of motorcycle/sidecar. (For my rig, this is similar to regular two up riding on solo bike.)
(Mine is a unison leaner, meaning motorcycle and the sidecar lean in unison. But there are leaners where only motorcycle leans. They are called semi-leaner or hybrid leaner. Then weight-wise it's completely the same as solo motorcycle. My previous XS750 rig was this type.)

I should say that you don't need to worry too much about stress on motorcycle frames for rigid rigs. Done properly, you shouldn't have any problems especially with double cradle framed GLs. There are far more rigid hackers than leaners out there.
 
thanx! for all the great info but we decided to sell it. i was going to buy one that came off of a bike just like mine but it sold about an hour before i got my money. so that sucked. dont know what i am gonna do now.
:crying: :Awe: :rant: :beer: :mrgreen:
 
Sorry to hear that Little Chick but if you are really wanting a hack, one will show up. I would still do the things suggested and learn as much as you can and start hanging with those who have them and keep looking.

My first sidecar came with a 1966 BMW R50 I bought years ago. I knew nothing about them so I didn't even have it mounted right. I disliked how it felt (since it was just stuck on and was not set up right) so I took it off and rode the bike solo for several years...when I sold it I sold the hack (Spirit Eagle) with it.

Later I became interested and it was several years before I found my second chair....I bought a Velorex 562 and a Yammie XS650 to mount it on. I rode it for a year around Boise, ID to learn how to ride a sidecar rig and to learn the mechanics of mounting.

The story goes on until I ended up buying the '83 GL1100 Standard to mount a Ural on and have been a hack driver since...sold all my solo bikes except my tiddlers.....

Hope you jump in with both feet....and join the true 1%! :ahem:

Brian in NM
 
hey guys think we are getting another sidecar. this one comes with a 1978 gl 1000 attached to it. my husband is thinkin of tradin his 79 iron head for it. i will post pics if and when we get it. does anyone know if the tire on the sidecar and front of the bike have to be the same size? if not will the front rim off of a 83 fit on a 78? cause 78 is a 19 and a 83 is a 18. lookin forward to your in put. later guys! rachel :wave: :yahoo:
 
it not easy but the whheel will fit if rotors ae on the 3 wheel and the shims re taken off wheel and the calipers are shimed to match ....not terribly hard but a job for sure ....not sure everything i said applys its been a long time since i did it to my 79 :mrgreen:
 

Latest posts

Top