My Rig

[rover]

Hi, especially fredintoon, I am trying again to post pics of the sidecar rig I put together 3 years ago. I made the frame and suspension, and used an old snomo sled for a body.










Now, if this worked, here they are.

[natemoen]

Even a 2 seater! Very nice!

[fredintoon]

Hi, especially fredintoon, I am trying again to post pics of the sidecar rig I put together 3 years ago. I made the frame and suspension, and used an old snomo sled for a body.
Now, if this worked, here they are.

Hi Rover,
you done it! better than me, howdya get the pics in 2 x 2 instead of below each other?
You still have the Special forks off your donor bike?
Try sliding them into your Standard 'trees and see how it lightens the steering.
You could also sign up here:-
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/SCT/
Anyone who builds his own would get lotsa respect there.
Especially the snomo sled tub; brilliant!

[Toolmaker Tim]

Side Car

Very nice job! I like how you drilled your brake disc's.

[rover]

my rig

I had a lot of fun building this rig, but I only ran it that same summer. It literally shredded my nice almost new rear Dunlop, and the wind from the car windshield almost blew me off the bike. I hear that rear tires are a real problem with sidecars. I think I can redesign the windshield to solve that problem, or remove it and make the passengers wear helmets, which is the safest way. All three brake discs were drilled with a regular HHS 1/4" drill bit. I sharpened it after the first disc, but it really was not needed. I did the other two right after that. Just need heavy feed, slow speed, and lots of cutting oil. I will be setting the rig up again, with a redesigned windshield, and hope someone can chime in with a solution to the tire problem.

[jwhughes3]

pics side by side

I too am interested in how you got the pics to show up side by side. I looked at the message formatting and didn't see anything special.

Thanks
John

[rover]

my rig

I don't know that I did anything different, maybe it is the size of the pics I uploaded to photobucket, then to this site. When I put my desktop zoom level (lower right corner of the screen) at 100%, the pics are side by side. At 125%, they are on top of each other.

[fredintoon]

Check the toe-in

- - - - hope someone can chime in with a solution to the tire problem.

Hi Rover,
the "usual suspect" with rapid rear tire wear is too much toe-in.
From my own experience, if the desired ½" toe-in has been erroneously set to 2½", that will grind a new tire bald in ~200 miles.
Oddly, excessive toe-in does not affect the handling at all.

[rover]

my rig

I drew a chalkline from my rear/front cycle tire, then another from the car tire, and at 20' (6.5 meters) I started with 1/2"tow. When I went to 1"tow, the whole rig got a bit squirrelly, so went back to 1/2". When I started, the tire was less than 1/4 worn. About 1200 miles later, it had hair on it. I usually get 7-8K miles from a rear tire. My wife will not ride on the back of the bike, and my son is too small. I think I will make quick disconnects for the car and wiring, and use it as needed. I already know how to set it up. I have air shocks on the bike, front and rear, and a BIG range of adjustment on the car, so it should not be too hard to go from solo to hack. Unless I find a tire that will last all summer.

[Dragon Tamer]

Rover,

Darn nice work there, of course that is about what I would expect out of you. I guess I just got to run down there one of these days and take a closer look at that setup. Been too long since I have seen you anyway.

[fredintoon]

I drew a chalkline from my rear/front cycle tire, then another from the car tire, and at 20' (6.5 meters) I started with 1/2"tow. When I went to 1"tow, the whole rig got a bit squirrelly, so went back to 1/2". When I started, the tire was less than 1/4 worn. About 1200 miles later, it had hair on it. I usually get 7-8K miles from a rear tire. My wife will not ride on the back of the bike, and my son is too small. I think I will make quick disconnects for the car and wiring, and use it as needed. I already know how to set it up. I have air shocks on the bike, front and rear, and a BIG range of adjustment on the car, so it should not be too hard to go from solo to hack. Unless I find a tire that will last all summer.

Hi Rover,
if you get 8,000 miles out of a rear tire solo you should get ~5,000 miles with a rig.
As you got less than half of that, I suspect that your toe-in measurement technique is not giving you accurate numbers.
Here's what I do:-
Use two straight edges about 10 feet long.
Use whatever works for you.
I used to use lengths of square tube but they kept getting cut up and used to build stuff.
Now it's the two halves of an aluminum extension ladder.
Set up one straight edge at axle height parallel to the rear wheel rim.
A steel measuring tape will be accurate enough set up the parallelism and to measure the toe-in. I bunjie my ladder halves to jackstands to keep them steady.
Never mind where the front wheel is, it don't matter in setting up the toe-in.
Set up the other straight edge at axle height parallel to the sidecar wheel rim.
Measure between the straight edges behind the rear wheel and in front of the front wheel.
The front measurement should be the lesser by ~ half an inch.
Yes, the lady is correct, wife & child should ride in the sidecar.
My thought about on again/off again sidecars is, too much hassle.
Besides re-setting the alignment each time, a hacked bike will have enough differences with square section tires and lessened steering trail that it won't ride nice solo anyway.

[jwhughes3]

permanent rig then

So Fred what I hear you saying is all this setup is too complicated to replicate in a removable fixture and if one sets up a sidecar rig to plan on leaving it setup in that fashion and ride a different bike solo?

John

[fredintoon]

So Fred what I hear you saying is all this setup is too complicated to replicate in a removable fixture and if one sets up a sidecar rig to plan on leaving it setup in that fashion and ride a different bike solo?
John

Hi John,
there are some sidecar set-ups that use quick release pins, wiring plugs and hydraulic couplers (along with a custom dolly to support the chair once it's off) that will let you pull the chair off in 5 minutes or so and get it back on again with an extra 5 minutes to check the alignment.
But I betcha that ain't Rover's rig and I know it ain't mine.
Takes me maybe an hour to get my sidecar off but I have two other bikes to ride solo so yes, it's far easier to gas up one of them than to remove the XS11's sidecar.

[Rasputin]

I think I know how to make the pics do that. Lets see if it works!

[Rasputin]

Yup just put no space between the pics to get what I did. A quick space will get you a slight area between pics and hitting the enter key will spot the second pic below the first.