Mr.H's new look for 2011

[doubletrouble]

Never been a big sidecar fan but I must say I'm liking this! I like the bike before the car also, guess I need to start looking for a deal on one! LOL

[lcallison]

Thanks for the info on the tires. I have a 78 with a motorvation formula II sidecar that I'm working to get into service. It runs and drives, but needs some work. I just bought Elite II tires for the bike, but think I'll go with the tires you have the next time. They look really good.

[pago cruiser]

From one multi-hacker to another...

Looks good!

How's the windage at speed on the interstate? I'm designing a top for my Ural hack, and have been trying to keep it low profile. On my 1200/Motorvation windage is a bugger; worst I've seen is 22 mpg...

[Sidecar Bob]

BTW: Contrary to the sidecar makers who put car tires on sidecars, my experience indicates that you want the narrowest tire that will carry the load with the lousiest tread pattern on the sidecar. Too wide &/or grippy a tire. On most outfits (not counting leaners and rigs with steered sidecar wheels) there is one optimum turning radius in each direction where the sidecar tire rolls along the ground in what you might call a normal manner. When you turn with any other radius the sidecar tire actually skips sideways and can stop turning or, on really tight turns towards the sidecar can even rotate backwards slightly. You can see how a tire with too much grip will make it hard to turn under some circumstances.
I learned this the hard way.

Interstate? We don't have those here We have 400 class highways and I do not drive on them. Between debris falling off of big trucks and car drivers who shouldn't even be allowed to walk unless accompanied by someone who knows how, let alone take the wheel of a ton of dangerous weapon at 100+ Km/h, it just isn't worth it for any perceived saving in travel time. I find that I can usually get where I am going just as fast by taking a more direct route on secondary (usually 2 lane, 80 Km/h) roads. And I can see more scenery that way too. A wise man once wrote "If riding a motorcycle is so much fun why do we always ride like we're in a hurry to get it over with?"

That said, the first trip I made on Mr.H with the sidecar, with no windshield and no top but with my (brave) wife in the sidecar, I averaged about 11 Km/L (a bit over 31 MPG)(NOTE: I calculate mileage using real 160 oz Imperial gallons, not 120 oz miniature US gallons. This would be about 23.5 MPUSG), but that was flogging it a bit to keep ahead of the incredible number of city folks who come up here and drive like idiots on the way to & from their cottages every weekend (see my comments about licensing above ). After that I tried really babying it and actually managed to get about 14 KM/L (40MPG), but I really didn't like driving it that way.

I drove it with no windshield for a couple of weeks and then added the windshield and drove it for a few more weeks until the guy had time to build the top. With just the windshield the mileage decreased slightly and it pulled a lot more.

There was snow on the ground and my winter outfit was already on the road when I drove it home with the top on. I expected such a big top pull quite a bit and maybe require some changes in setup to compensate, but it didn't seem to pull as much as it had. But that was only my impression from a 25 minute drive on slippery roads on a machine I really didn't want to get much road salt on. I didn't drive it again until spring and when I did my first impressions were borne out. It seems that the aerodynamics of the curved top surface must be fairly slippery because the mileage came back to about what it was without the windshield and, if anything, it may even pull less at speed.

Most of my driving is my 20-25 minute commute on secondary roads at speeds between 80 & 100 Km/h, but I often take the un-paved concession roads home at 60-80. I usually average about 12.5 Km/L (about 35.6 MPG or 26.7 MPUSG). This is a lot less than the 17 Km/L (48.5 MPG) that this bike averaged when running solo (GL1000 engine & transmission + GL1100 final drive = about 1.5 gears higher than stock = very good mileage), but it is better than the 32 MPG that my old GL1000/Dnepr outfit averaged (with the same engine!!!, about 60% as big a windshield and a flat tonneau cover) so I guess I can't complain too much.

BTW: Here's a pic of my winter machine (The Famous Eccles) as it looked in 2015. Its based on a CX650E but it keeps looking closer to a GL650I and the sidecar started out as a Velorex 700. I figure Mr.H weighs about 850 Lb and Honda says a GL1000 engine makes 80 HP. Eccles weighs about 650 Lb and makes 65 HP with a narrower track width so the smaller outfit actually accelerates better and can cruise at higher speeds. The mileage averages about 15.5 Km/L (44 MPG). But that will probably change this year because I am replacing the frame with a Ural frame that weighs a bit more and is a bit wider.
NOTE: Pic hosted on Photobucket replaced. The original pic was from 2007 but I replaced it with one from 2015 with the Ural sidecar frame.

[pago cruiser]

"Salt on the road"? Why would you want to do that? Around these parts we only put salt on popcorn... The few times we get that cold white stuff on the ground, we just wait a day or so and its all gone...

I believe I have come to the same conclusion on the hack tire. The Uniroyal appx 6" wide tire that fits the Motorvation steel rim was toast after 10,000 miles. It has maybe 100lbs of load (don't have a scale, but I can lift it without too much effort) and is really not worked very hard. The wear pattern was dead uniform and straight across, so scrubbing is the only cause. We have a great road around here (the 666 hiway, renamed to 191 because the signs kept getting stolen ). It's like a "Tail of the Dragon" on steroids. 100 miles and about 857 corners. Even on a hack its fun, but I believe it contributes significantly to the hack tire wear.

Also around here, if there were no interstates nobody could get anywhere. The only road between our house and town, and (about half of) our house to work is the interstate. A necessary evil I guess.

"Between debris falling off of big trucks and car drivers who shouldn't even be allowed to walk unless accompanied by someone who knows how, let alone take the wheel of a ton of dangerous weapon at 100+ Km/h, it just isn't worth it for any perceived saving in travel time".

+100 on that! I10 near us is the only road for a lot of Mexicans headed in or out. I have avoided hay bales, couches, mattresses, tables, chairs, bicycles, kids toys, tires, wheels WITH tires, and uncounted bits of cr@p dropped of pick-up trucks loaded 10 feet high and secured with manilla twine. Add in the 'gators (big rig tire carcasses that they just abandon and leave in the road like a fricken land mine), and every commute is not just a ride, its an adventure!

The 'gators cause me the most heartburn. On the solo bike I can usually dodge em without too much trouble. But on the hack its a bit harder to move sideways fast... I like to leave at least 150 feet (at 80 mph about 1.5 seconds reaction time) between the car in front and our rig; but the gomers around here figure thats room for three cars to wedge in... So I keep dropping back and trying to maintain a marginally safe distance. In reality, I try really hard to NOT ride at peak freeway hours.

[Sidecar Bob]

I hear you. We live about an hour north of the eastern end of the "Greater Toronto Area" (nothing great about it!) and a couple of the more popular routes to "cottage country" are nearby. Hwy 12 is normally a pretty decent road but I will NOT drive on it on Friday OR Sunday unless I have no other choice.

One day I was on the 401 on my solo GS400 when a piece of something about 5" square slid off of the deck of the empty auto transporter ahead of me and 2 lanes to my right and somehow it bounced across the road and into my lane, striking me on the left shin. Fortunately it was threatening rain so I had worn rubber boots, that pair of which were heavier than the leather boots I normally wear, so I was only bruised.

I once read about a couple on a touring bike who were going down the road minding their own business when they found themselves behind a horse trailer with the little door at the top open. The horse's tail appeared in the opening and it dropped some road apples right in front of them. The bike went down and the man's full helmet scooped up what was on the road as he slid.

I only wear a full helmet when it is too cold out for a half helmet and I never follow a horse trailer except at about 3-4 times my normal distance

BTW re mileage: On the occasions when I have been able to compare fuel consumption with and without a sidecar, the mileage with has always been at least 25% lower than without.

[rogue1000]

Great Thread! I can't believe that I didn't see it before... I keep going to skinnier tires also; I'm on my second set in 7k miles and the front is now stock size with the rear being one size over stock. My next rear will be stock size, more or less...My milege has been about 25 around town and about 30 on the highway at 65-70mph. I think if I slowed down just a bit to 60 with the low-profile hardtop I'm building, that may improve, but if I slow down too much I increase time in the stock saddle, which may not be a good thing...

[Hal]

i didn't see this one before either!

Very interesting stuff. I look forward to discovering how bad my fuel consumption is but I think 25% worse is about right?

I love the look of the winter chair on Mr H! Somewhat Adams Family. Does it carry a spare wheel on that rmount on the back?