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I’ve been staring at this screen with a look in
my face best described as “not promising”, ever since the day that I was invited
by the club to write a “simple page on how would you go about buying a sidecar”.
I have not doubts it would be easier to describe how to remove your toenails
without anesthetics and pains; I have been left with only one question, why me?
But then again if I’m going to be honest about this job, let me tell you that
I’m enjoying the challenge.
This challenge is fraud with danger, as you’ll see it’s very easy to put my
personal opinion and preferences above the needs and requirements of other
people.
If the end result is not to your total satisfaction please feel free to comment
on this report, add to it, or criticize it. Your comments will only make it
better and a more comprehensive tool for those facing the dark waters of the
sidecar hunting.
My first thought was to collect some sidecar information and that is a challenge
on its own, since not much has been written, but the truth is I don’t want this
to become an engineering report, any sidecar manufacturer could and will be a
better helper in this aspect.
My report will start with some pictures, here you have them and old bike and an
old biker, and together they have done the miles. Lots of happy ones and a few
of the other ones too, but the memory is a funny thing, somehow through the
years everything turns pink and warm.
The outfit that you are looking at started life somewhere between ’41 and ’42,
it was painted kaky brown and to the war it went, returning in ’46 with another
hundreds of them to be part of the Argentinian Police, until ’55. The gentleman
in the picture, back then a fit and very enthusiastic young man, thought this
was the perfect machine to transport his young family.
It was a powerful U1200 model and with a sidecar capable of carrying his wife
and two children, Ed was 2years old and Ruben 6 month old, the bike seemed in
good condition and time would prove that day was the young man’s lucky day.
In it we covered hundreds of miles visiting relatives in the country, the dairy
farm in which my dad was born, in those days that was a 300km round trip, with
most of it on dirt roads. The oil bath air filter designed for the desert came
very handy to keep at bay the dust or the mud that we encountered in those trips.
These trips took between 2 ½ and 5 hours, always depending on the weather, and
sometimes we disembarked in the same driveway that we left hours earlier, either
the mud or the water over the bridge proved too much for the outfit in those
occasions.
Today if you look at this sidecar, for me its loaded with good memories, but for
others its only a sidecar, but please let me show you a few points of interest.
Even today that outfit has all the features that make a good sidecar, and I’m
not looking at it as a vintage bike.
The very first thing that I want to make clear is the fact that anyone with a
decent limit on his or her credit card can buy a sidecar. There are lots of
people that can help you here, I mean spending you credit card money, and a few
will help you to set up a sidecar, and beware they are also after your money.
But if you want to buy a second hand sidecar or set-up you own outfit you must
follow certain rules.
Probably the most important is the relationship between the bike and the
sidecar, before buying a sidecar you should take into consideration one of the
variables in the sidecar equation. How does the size of the sidecar relate to
the size of the bike?
Weight is important when you start taking left-hand turns; a heavier sidecar
will stay on the ground for longer. If you fit a small Velorex or a Tilbrook to
a V max the chair is not going to spend a lot of time on terra firma, unless you
carry plenty of ballast all the time, a lardy partner may came handy here.
On the other hand if you fit a double DJP to a 500 single, the sidecar wheel
will be nailed to the ground, you won’t go fast enough to make anything exciting
anyway.
Here your needs must be taken into consideration also, if the sidecar looks
beautiful but can only fit one of your three children, it’s not good. So the
first thing is to find the right sidecar for your needs, then you’ll have to
decide if the bike sitting in the garage is up-to the job of pulling that
sidecar.
Now that you have already bought a sidecar I want to be very clear making this
point, if you are buying a sidecar separately from the bike, please leave the
fitting to somebody that knows what to do. In my case a welder is a deadly tool
in my hands, and I wouldn’t trust myself into making this fitting.
The money spend in getting it right from the beginning is nothing compared to
the medical and insurance bills you maybe facing if the worst happens.
If you, like me, prefer to see the finish product before parting with any money
then a complete outfit is the way to go, in this case somebody else has gone
through the pain of setting it up for you. I’ll admit it is not every day that
you came across one for sale, but when it does you can see the end result and
most important you can take it for a test ride.
I know that we all have different preferences and we all dream about making “the
perfect outfit”, I’m already in my 5th try, all the previous ones were
unsuccessful.
Now that I came to think of it, this probably is the reason why I got this job.
It doesn’t matter how good a sidecar looks we always want to put our personal
touch, or we may not be happy with the way it handles, or the tyres, the canopy
you name it, there is always room to improve a sidecar. If tinkering is your
hobby you will have a ball with one of these.
If on the other hand all you want is something to ride around, the already made
version definitely is your best option.
When looking at a sidecar a few things should be taken into consideration, the
way it is connected to the motorcycle, it should have at least 4 brackets
holding it together.
My preference it that these brackets should be bolted to the frame, not welded,
earlier bikes had very heavy steel frames, but more modern designs lack this
luxurious waste of steel, so bolts are the way to go here.
The second equation on sidecar design is the distance between the bike and
sidecar, especially if you are looking at a double sidecar. A Yamaha XS1100 and
chair is 1.5mts wide, as wide as a Falcon, if on top of this the sidecar is far
from the bike you will have problems parking the rig in the ever shrinking
parking spots.
Other thing to look-at is how far in front is the sidecar wheel compared with
the bike rear wheel, it shouldn’t be more than 25cm in front and no less than
10cm.
This depends on the type of bike it is fitted to, and especially on the
suspension travel of the bike. Keep in mind that if the wheel is too far in
front it will be very hard to turn left, on the other hand if it’s too far back
you may dig the sidecar nose in the ground on a right turn.
Other point of interest are the wheels, if it’s a chain drive ask is the gearing
had been changed, and observe if car wheels have been fitted, a really good move
and an expensive one.
Now look at the front end, if it’s a single sidecar you can live with telescopic
suspension, but if leading links are fitted remember to ask for the engineers
certificate, you will need it, it’s a must for registration in NSW. I’m no sure
about other states, for your own peace of mind make sure that they look safe and
strong.
As you can see I haven’t mention the bike yet, you see if the outfit in general
is OK you can live with some mechanical repairs, after all you are buying a
second hand bike and once the repairs are done you shouldn’t have more problems
with them.
Remember that a bike can become very second hand in no time if not looked after
properly so be aware of this fact. It may be possible to negotiate and buy only
the sidecar, later you can look for similar bike elsewhere, and then reattach
the sidecar to this bike.
Please don’t make your decision based on how pretty the sidecar and bike look
painted in matching colors.
Now I must remind you that sidecars are strange machines and cannot be subjected
to the usual comparisons because they don’t work to the usual rules of
motorcycling. This is because they don’t lean, you must learn to steer them, to
point the front wheel where you want it to go, if you try to countersteer you
will be surprised because the devilish device ignores everything you know about
steering a motorcycle.
Once you mastered this fascinating behavior there is nothing like coming up to a
junction with wet roads, maybe a worry in a solo, but in my sidecar it’s pure
joy, it means three wheels drift, if you attack them full of the joie de vivre.
In my bike the throttle does very little, at the best of times, you simply hold
it there, and the bars have absolutely no bearings on your direction you simply
touch very lightly the rear brake to control your drift. Meantime you may ask
the passenger to pass you a kebab. To control this visual mayhem, you back the
throttle a bit and the outfit snaps back into line as you exit the corner. As
you feed in the gas again, you accelerate with the sidecar gently bobbing in the
breeze, haaa…you have done it again.
I can only imagine Newton, Lens and some God, all of them sitting at the corner,
by the roadside, smiling, and discussing their little contribution to the small
miracle that you performed.
You just revindicated all of them, Newton and his law of gravity, Lens with his
forces and counter-forces and God, well, he was the one who said “go forth and
multiply”, and there is no better reason to buy a sidecar than a growing family.
And here we came to the end of this report, it wasn’t so hard to write after all,
and I will thank you for your time reading it, I did try to make it a bit
irreverent, funny but responsible, just like sidecars are, they are serious
business, but full of fun.
From now on you will measure you trips in smiles per hours because wherever you
go people will smile
Now if we return to that sidecar in the pictures, you will see that most of the
fixtures that I described above apply to it. It’s simple, sturdy, and the
relationship between bike and sidecar “looks right” it has the right proportions,
it even has reverse gear. Luxurious really.
But most important is that in it we had fun, lots of it, going to fishing trips,
camping, visiting and shopping. I know in those days there were many sidecars in
the roads, and many more small happy faces than the ones you see today staring
at you through the car rear window.
Now you may ask yourself why the man in the pictures looks angry? Well, you see
after a hip replacement operation he can’t ride it any more, no wonder he looks
half-angry half-sad.
But I don’t think he is sad, only deeply lost in the memories of those trips.
Thank you for your time.
Ruben
Enviado en noviembre 2007
Para comunicarte con Rutas en dos Ruedas:
Hecho el depósito que prevé la ley 11723.
www.rutasendosruedas.com.ar
2001
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