I am just about finished restoring a Sidekick Sidecar that I attached to my '75 Wing.

Items remaining:
- Tonneau cover from a local auto upholstry shop (any day now).
- EdgeLok trim
- Wire up the sidecar's tail light.

I spent most of this year working on the sidecar intermittently. First the frame had to be cleaned up and reinforced. The wire wheel was rebuilt by Buchannan. Then I had to come to terms with how to attach and align the sidecar chassis. The struts and clevises are from Motorvation. A local shop fabricated two clevis adapters. Along the way I also came to terms with how to work with fiberglass for some sidecar body repairs. The paint is a rattle can job that turned out much better than I expected. The seat came from BassPro on sale. I restored the bike last winter. It rides and handles very well.

_________________
1975 GL1000 Sidecar Outfit
2001 GL1800 MotorTrike
1956 Francis-Barnett Falcon 74
2006 Vespa LX150

St. Louis, MO

The dude abides.

Ride Free on Three
Brothers of the Third Wheel - Gateway Chapter http://www.btw-trikers.org
Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club http://www.vjmc.org
Francis-Barnett Owners Club http://www.francis-barnett.co.uk/
Antique Motorcycle Club of America http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/
Vintage Motor Cycle Club http://www.vmcc.net

Nice! Practice a lot before you go into busy places...it is waaaaaay different driving a rig...

_________________
Brian Crow
1977 gl1000, with California sidecar
"KBO"!! Keep bungling on! Winston Churchill
"Bound is boatless man"

Very cool.. You guys with side cars best stop showing them , I just might catch the bug.

Greg.

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75 GL1000

i think i'm catching it as well

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It certainly is. I had a serious pucker moment the first time I made a right hand turn. Then I saw the light. I read the "Driving a Sidecar Outfit" book several times and have practiced with just the sidecar chassis attached and a sandbag for ballast for the past couple of months. I have developed a pretty good feel for the rig and turns and maneuvers have become very natural. I managed to get the alignment right and the rig tracks straight. The sidecar wheel is a bit farther forward than I would have liked so I get some tire scuffing on turns. I also added a VW steering stabilizer between the fork and a strut to tame some shaking on irregular road surfaces.

I do all I can to keep the shiny side up

_________________
1975 GL1000 Sidecar Outfit
2001 GL1800 MotorTrike
1956 Francis-Barnett Falcon 74
2006 Vespa LX150

St. Louis, MO

The dude abides.

Ride Free on Three
Brothers of the Third Wheel - Gateway Chapter http://www.btw-trikers.org
Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club http://www.vjmc.org
Francis-Barnett Owners Club http://www.francis-barnett.co.uk/
Antique Motorcycle Club of America http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/
Vintage Motor Cycle Club http://www.vmcc.net

I ended up taking some lead out of my old sailboat and casting a plate that fits under the seat for additional ballast. It has done wonders for my confidence level riding...

_________________
Brian Crow
1977 gl1000, with California sidecar
"KBO"!! Keep bungling on! Winston Churchill
"Bound is boatless man"

I had a 3/8 steel plate welded to the tubular chassis to add ballast and reinforcement. It added about 80 lbs of weight. The sandbag I mentioned previously was to simulate the weight of the sidecar body - which is actually only about 10 - 15 lbs including the seat.

_________________
1975 GL1000 Sidecar Outfit
2001 GL1800 MotorTrike
1956 Francis-Barnett Falcon 74
2006 Vespa LX150

St. Louis, MO

The dude abides.

Ride Free on Three
Brothers of the Third Wheel - Gateway Chapter http://www.btw-trikers.org
Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club http://www.vjmc.org
Francis-Barnett Owners Club http://www.francis-barnett.co.uk/
Antique Motorcycle Club of America http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/
Vintage Motor Cycle Club http://www.vmcc.net

Nice outfit.

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Sandy
1976 (Original) Sulpher Yellow GL1000
1977 (Painted) Sulpher Yellow GL1000
1978 Watsonian Monaco
1960 IH B414
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76_gl1000_project

Nice! Do you know what the whole sidecar, chassis, body and link arms weighs?

I think mine is between 70 and 100 kg, but I'm intending to put a car battery in the boot to help keep it on the ground.

_________________
"The Moving Finger writes, and having writ, moves on,
nor all your Piety nor Wit
can lure it back to cancel half a line...
so....probably best use Tipp-Ex in future?"

1976 GL1000 "Mitzi"
1976 GL1000 and Héchard sidecar "Mitzi 2"
1977 GL1000 'The Parts Bike' now in bits
1976 XT500 'C'
1976 TT500 'C'
1980 Paris-Dakar XT500 (replica)
1992 Grinnall Scorpion SC3 prototype
1993 'Big Valve' BMW R1100RS "Red Sonja"


Hal's Nalbum

wow, that sidecar wheel is a long way forward, sort of like a calif car. Stable in the staright, but sire makes turing harder. although it is fairly close to the bike which will make turning easier.... and easier to fly the chair.

sidecars are always so many comprimizes

_________________
-Rodger-
The question is not how much time do you have, it is what you do with the time that you have Gandalf
"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation." Fred Rodgers
78 wing we have had since.... well.... 78, been in nearly every state, 76 Ltd "cookies bike" up and running, still needs some work, 79 project, back in pieces while I move, '86 1200 (Beth's) with motrvation sidecar, 05 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's). I guess you can say we have MBS
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=27685
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=35846

From what I've read, Harley rigs have the sidecar wheel level with the rear bike wheel, but they are in a club of one.

Normally the chair wheel is 8 to 12" ahead of the bike rear, am I right?

_________________
"The Moving Finger writes, and having writ, moves on,
nor all your Piety nor Wit
can lure it back to cancel half a line...
so....probably best use Tipp-Ex in future?"

1976 GL1000 "Mitzi"
1976 GL1000 and Héchard sidecar "Mitzi 2"
1977 GL1000 'The Parts Bike' now in bits
1976 XT500 'C'
1976 TT500 'C'
1980 Paris-Dakar XT500 (replica)
1992 Grinnall Scorpion SC3 prototype
1993 'Big Valve' BMW R1100RS "Red Sonja"


Hal's Nalbum

you are right that the HD (and the chang and urals) are equal. Usually the wheel is somewhere around 8 to 15 or so. The California car I had was more like 20" (or more-it was a lot of years ago). I actually had Calif car make me a couple of "offsets" for the lower mounts and moved it back 4". the further forward, the more you fight that wheel in a turn (especially right hand turns). the further back, the more likely the car "tips" toward the non existant front right wheel.

Also, the closeness of the sidecar wheel to the bike makes it easier to turn in general, but sure makes it easier to "fly" the chair.

_________________
-Rodger-
The question is not how much time do you have, it is what you do with the time that you have Gandalf
"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation." Fred Rodgers
78 wing we have had since.... well.... 78, been in nearly every state, 76 Ltd "cookies bike" up and running, still needs some work, 79 project, back in pieces while I move, '86 1200 (Beth's) with motrvation sidecar, 05 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's). I guess you can say we have MBS
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=27685
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=35846

Hah! Yeah....I hadn't thought of the 'tipping' aspect!

_________________
"The Moving Finger writes, and having writ, moves on,
nor all your Piety nor Wit
can lure it back to cancel half a line...
so....probably best use Tipp-Ex in future?"

1976 GL1000 "Mitzi"
1976 GL1000 and Héchard sidecar "Mitzi 2"
1977 GL1000 'The Parts Bike' now in bits
1976 XT500 'C'
1976 TT500 'C'
1980 Paris-Dakar XT500 (replica)
1992 Grinnall Scorpion SC3 prototype
1993 'Big Valve' BMW R1100RS "Red Sonja"


Hal's Nalbum

The sidecar wheel is a lot forward of the bikes rear wheel. I don't recall the exact measurement at the moment. It results in a lot of tire scuffing in turns. I wish it was farther back but the mounting points on the sidecar chassis do not allow that. I will probably be looking for a different sidecar sometime next year, something that allows mounting farther back.

The overall weight of the sidecar, including chassis, body, struts, etc, is probably in the 65 - 70 KG range. I have honed my riding skills and rarely lift the wheel on right turns.

_________________
1975 GL1000 Sidecar Outfit
2001 GL1800 MotorTrike
1956 Francis-Barnett Falcon 74
2006 Vespa LX150

St. Louis, MO

The dude abides.

Ride Free on Three
Brothers of the Third Wheel - Gateway Chapter http://www.btw-trikers.org
Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club http://www.vjmc.org
Francis-Barnett Owners Club http://www.francis-barnett.co.uk/
Antique Motorcycle Club of America http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/
Vintage Motor Cycle Club http://www.vmcc.net