[qgolden]

Whoo Hoo   

They just called, my sidecar is in from RE!  Gonna leave now and head for the dealer to pick it up! 

Will post more later,  wish me luck that it is all there, right mounts etc.....

-Q

[Meatballs]

I look forward to seeing the photos and hearing all about it

[Ducati Scotty]

Congrats!  Rocket or Euro model?

I know they no longer offer the Cozy color matched.  What colors do they offer?

Scott

[qgolden]

I think you can have any color you want as long as it is Black. 

Just got it home and pulling apart the crate now.

A few rub marks in the paint from poor packaging, nothing major, not on the shell anywhay, just the frame.     

No Assembly Instructions, no paperwork,  Just a packing silp that says, Sidecar, Bullet, Black, Euro.   

Looks like the G5 Mount although I ordered the C5.     

Gonna be a late night but I will update and post pictures as I can.

 

[gashousegorilla]

Cool Quin, post some pics when you have it sorted. Enjoy!!

[qgolden]

Taking pics as I go, will be able to post them tomorrow.  Gonna hang it up for the night.  Most every thing goes together pretty good.  Cyclesidecar.com has good instructions for assembly and fitting to the Bike.

I received mounts for a G5 not the C5 that I ordered. I suspect that the C5 mounts are not available yet.  I also suspect that the 2011 C5 will have the horn mounted to the motor mount plate like the G5, then the upper clamp will fit without interference.

The Sidecar comes with Luggage Rack, Lights, Tonneau Cover, Tinted Windscreen, Step Plate and Steering stabilizer.

So tonight I got the sidecar assembled.  And the upper mount milled to fit around the horn stud.  I have pictures of the mods required and will post them.

As for problems so far, (I can skip over not having directions) the holes drilled in the floor of the car that the bolts pass through to hold the seat down go through a support rail, this will prevent being able to put the wing nuts on the studs to hold the bottom seat pad in place.  I will have to move it forward an inch and drill new holes.

Including uncrating, taking inventory, assembling, machining the mounting clamp I have about 5 hours into the assembly.

There is some paint damage due to poor packaging, nothing I cannot touch up, and it is not very conspicuous but there is no need of it.

One interesting note, although the unit comes with two lights, a tail light and a fender light, they are markers only, the "taillight" is not a brake/tail, just a taillight. The are also not wired.  they have a pigtail about 6 inches long on each.  In the box with the accessories I found a roll of wire.  Do it yourself!   .

Quinn

[qgolden]

Heading out to the shop in a few minutes to work on the Sidecar.

Here are some pictures of the progress.

[qgolden]

Out of the crate and partially assembled,  less wheel  and fender. Will post photos of the mouting bracket mods tonight after I have them completed.

-Quinn

[The Garbone]

I am so jealous...  Very nice....

[gashousegorilla]

Ya know Quinn, looking at that last pic, i was thinking maybe you could add some Ski's ,  for those NE winters Looks awesome!!!, Does RE offer a reverse gear for side car set-ups?

[qgolden]

Funny you mention Skis!  My last side car was removed from my Triumph back in '87. The guy I sold it to mounted it to a bike he had for a while.  Then he took it off and sold the bike, the hack hung out in back of the barn for a while.  A few years later he pulled the tub off of the frame and mounted skis to it and used it for a Snowmobile tote!  You know us New Englanders, make do, do without or scavenge some parts and build it! 

[qgolden]

Got another 5 hours into the Sidecar assembly tonight.  Thanks to http://www.cyclesidecar.com for the assembly and attachment instructions.  I will be using a combination of their pics and my pics in my report on this project.

There are 4 basic mounting points.  I started with the front mount which is the main bracket and connection tube.  As I said before the front frame bracket that bolts to the down tube on the C5 frame needs to be modified to clear the horn mount stud.  Here is the brackets, you can see the notch I milled in one side. In the last pic you can see it setting on the frame.

[qgolden]

Here is is painted and installed...

[qgolden]

Next up is  to bolt the 4 bolt flange to the downtube that I just installed.  I put the sidecar frame on two milk crates and the bike on the center stand to hold it steady for the preliminary fitting.

Next is to move to the rear most mount.  This again was a bit of a project.  You need to remove the top shock mount bolt to mount the sidecar bracket.  Problem is that you cannot get the top shock bolt out without removing the rear fender.  The bolt is from the inside and has a chrome acorn nut on the outside.  

The second picture shows the sidecar mount and the shock bolt.
Dropped the fender so the bolt could be removed.
In finishing the assembly I discovered the sidecar mount bolt that goes through the shock mount is too long and would hit the rear fender strut.  To the lathe and made up a quick sacer of of bronze to match the gold irrodite finish on the mount.  Bolt now clears the strut by 1/8 inch/

[qgolden]

Next up is to remove the Drivers Right side foot peg.  The problem is that now the bike is attached to the sidecar, and you will pay hell to get in there and pull the peg.  A little perseverance got her out though.  Had to put a bar in between the engine case (using wood as a shield) and flex the exhaust pipe out a bit to get the foot peg out and the sidecar mount in.

Note to self next time remove the foot peg before moving the bike to the sidecar. , saves a lot of time.

The arm to mount to the foot peg location was too long and needed an inch cut off. 

Left everything loose for now, just getting them all attached.

The last mount is the mount that goes to the rear passenger peg.  No issues there at all.

Got it all mounted, then used an 8 foot straight edge against the side car wheel.  Put a chalk line on the floor along the straight edge. Then did the same with the motor cycle wheels.  Laid down chalk lines at 10 feet long, adjusted everything (took 4 tries) until the two lines were parallel to each other within a half inch. I used a framing square off of the chalk lines to minimize error.

Ended up having to cut off an inch of the rear mount that goes to the shock mount as well., was unable to get the bike to stand up straight, the rear mount which sticks up from the bottom of the sidecar frame to the shock mount was bottoming out and preventing the bike from standing up straight.

Then tightened it all up.

Tomorrow I will mount the fenders, do the wiring and hopefully wrap it up.

I will post some daylight pictures when I get it outside.

I have about 9 or 10 hours into this, no major setbacks or issues.  Having access to some machining equipment is a huge help. 

I don't think are are many if any C5's with a Sidecar in the States.