Sidecar question

[montmil]

Señor Maxwell, Did you ever make contact with Scotty?

[marcmax]

Monte I did speak to Scotty and that is one of the reasons I am going forward with this conversion. He successfully drove his R65/sidecar rig with the setup help of Perry. He provided a lot of information and some excellent pictures of attachment areas and methods that will come in handy.

It will be different but I am ready for a change. Laying over the tank hanging onto a stub clamped to the forks is a young mans game. I want to load my cooler full of long necks into the hack, drive to the beach and watch the sun go down.

[nhmaf]

What about your LS front wheel's ball bearings?  Will they be able to take the lateral loads like the tapered roller bearings found on all the other airheads?

I cannot say for sure, though I've seen plenty of sidecars on bikes that used ball bearings in the front wheel hub.  I am not a bearing expert, but I think that the area of greatest concern is the rear wheel where more of the lateral forces are present.   This is due in part to the location of the sidecar's axle and mass in proximity to the axis of the rear axle, the rear wheel's greater contact patch and the fact that their is a big hinge (steering head) between the motorcycle's frame and the front wheel.   While I am sure that there is some additional side-loading on the front wheel, some amount of that can be translated into a deflection of the wheel about the steering head, and/or flex in the forks.  The rear wheel is rigidly mounted (side to side) and any side loading of the frame will translate into force on the rear wheel bearings and swingarm bearings.

[montmil]

Just back from attending the 30th anniversary of the North Texas Norton Owners Association Lake o' The Pines Rally. Such beautiful East Texas weather we really didn't want to leave. That and excellent barbecue from a small shack run single-handed by an old fella that's been cookin' cue for 61 years. He's got it figured out.

Posting here as this thread is all about sidecars on Airheads. There were a half-dozen that I actually got close to. Couple others up in the woods in the camping area. Also a much used, veteran Guzzi hack that the owner proudly states he has never washed. One look at it and you believe him. Runs and drives just fine but is kinda nasty.

The sidecar beauty in the judging line for sidcars was a BSA Super Rocket with an amazing car. Y'all know what Airhead rigs look like but you've probably not seen a Beezer like this one.





Common to every single sidecar rig at the rally was their front forks being OEM conventional. Not an Earles link in sight. Last year's sidecar class winner was my Denton neighbor and friend Paul Lehrer driving his conventional fork R100 Airhead on the 390 mile round-trip.

[marcmax]

Well the chair is in the garage and now the fun starts. Taking it apart to clean the bits of surface rust on the frame and paint it with a satin black epoxy paint. Inspect/repack or replace wheel bearings. Body is getting painted satin black below the belt line and pearl white above to match the bike. Tall windscreen being replaced with a medium smoke 8" tall replacement. All the fasteners are showing surface rust and will be replaced with stainless. Local hardware store has a great selection of metric stainless fasteners available per piece.

Bike is getting the handlebars adjusted. They are 4 way adjustable and I think rotated up and out will work. If not I have several suitable replacements on the shelf. NHK steering damper in factory position already in place. Re-installing full front fender and rear fender after a repaint. Fiberglass Piranha "S" fairing w/smoked windscreen getting the paint treatment and being re-installed.

Raask rearsets and 2-1 Luftmeister exhaust coming off and standard controls and stainless twin exhausts going back on. Have to wrap the old headers because they are fugly.

I am planning of attaching and adjusting just the frame while I redo the body. Guess my next few months are spoken for. Want it ready for the local BMW club New Years Day ride.

[Snakeoil]

...I took Monte's advice and emailed Scotty in Tex to get his opinion on it as he drove a sidecar on his R65 for years...

Monte I did speak to Scotty and that is one of the reasons I am going forward with this conversion

Marc, I tried to PM Scotty about his R65 rig with no response. Can you share his contact info with me. I'm pretty sure his old rig is for sale up by me. It is identical to his and was purchased from Perry. I'm hoping he can ID it from the CL pictures and then tell me more about it.

Thanks and regards,
Rob

[marcmax]

Well I finally got everything adjusted right and am getting comfortable with driving the sidecar rig. I was questioning my sanity when I first installed it but every ride gets a little easier. I am even to the point that I don't have to think of every move I make when riding it. Some things have already become second nature.

Plus it is a great grocery getter.