[Old Al]

This past weekend my dear wife purchased this rig. She has always wanted a sidecar and is partial to Royal Enfield. This one joins 2 Himalayans and a 2017 Classic 500 Squadron Blue. Knowing nothing about sidecars I've been going over this site in an effort to make the unit roadworthy. The gentleman she purchased it from could never get it to go down the road without it trying to shake itself apart. Even related stories of making left turns into the bushes. What she bought was a loose collection of parts resembling a motorcycle with a sidecar attached. Evidently she has more confidence in her retired auto mechanic husband than is reasonable.

The manufacturer was so proud of this unit they didn't put their name on it anywhere so I've no idea what brand it is.  Giving a tug on the front bumper of the sidecar would move the car a couple inches each direction before meeting resistance from the motorcycle. Through the knowledge on this site I was able to gain enough confidence to be dangerous and started to work through the process of making it roadworthy. Leveled the car, set the toe at 9/16", and changed the lean angle of the bike away from the car rather than towards it, set tire pressures, and tightened everything up.....I thought. First test drive I nearly lost the fillings out of my teeth. Back to the drawing board.

Rechecking all the measurements it seemed the toe had changed dramatically from toe in to toe out. Jacking the car up to check the wheel bearings the wheel would move a couple inches in and out. Not only the wheel but the whole swing arm moved. Pulled the thing apart to find someone had left the inside swing arm bearing race out. As in gone. Found a suitable replacement and put it back together, redid the setup and it was fairly manageable but with quite a bit of headshake from 10MPH to about 30MPH. Settled down a little above that speed. As mentioned on this site the steering head bearings were retorqued. This made quite a difference as there was no shake up to about 25MPH and manageable shake from 25 to 30 more noticeable on deceleration and braking.

Having bored you to tears with my explanation of events my question is would you recommend installing a steering damper? If so what one would you recommend? As my bride is determined to drive this I would like to make it as tame as possible. I've attached photos so you can see what I got myself into.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I welcome any and all advice, comments, or criticisms.

Old Al

[Morgan65]

My go to place was Jay at DMC sidecar company in Washington state but sadly I hear they sold out to Texas sidecar.  I have not talked or done any business with Texas Sidecar. You will need a steering damper at the very lest.


Here are some links. Give them a call.

https://www.cyclesidecar.com/store/sidecar-steering-damper-2-year-warranty


https://www.dmcsidecars.com/

https://www.texassidecars.com/about-texas-sidecars/

[Old Al]

Thank you Morgan65 for the advice and links. It's greatly appreciated.

[sjbiat]

It looks just like by Cozy sidecar.  But I think they are hard to distinguish from Indus (sp?) sidecars.  My experience is sidecar outfits always need steering dampers.  The cozy damper can probably be purchased from km@classicmotorworks.com

good luck, Stephan

[Old Al]

Thank you for your response Stephan. I'll be adding a damper to the rig.

Old Al

[AzCal Retred]

A search under "sidecar setup" in the sidecar thread produced lots of results, many from 2011 & earlier. There are also sidecar books with the basics covered. REOC would also be a good place to look. I don't have a sidehack myself, but that's where I would start. There is also the matter of testing what you think you know. I'd be careful and pick my time & place to do this. Other than being 4 feet wider, having the hack rotate around the motorcycle whilst braking and keeping your wits while turning right (US) they look like a lot of fun. Remember also that in the 1930's sidecar heyday the road speeds were 20-45, not 55-80...

[Old Al]

AzCal Retired, Thank you for your response. This site has been very helpful in getting the unit roadworthy. We live in a small town and this will be mainly used for just running around at 30 mph. I have had it up to 55 and it seems to handle fine but most of our use will be 45 and under.

 Appreciate your input and cautions. Will be ordering a steering damper before further operation.

Old Al