The center drop stand which I've used on the last seven builds is an extremely robust and relatively inexpensive item from Crow manufacturing located in New Mexico. These have been difficult for me to locate in the past. Does anyone have current contact information for them or a distributor/vendor? My previous vendors are no longer in business & I'm down to my last one with two more bikes planned.
Mods to the Simplex continue & parts scrounged or ordered. The most interesting of these modifications is the rear brake activation lever. I want to try a foot operated lever located on the motor drive side of the bike. The opposite side of the frame (which will eventually, I hope) will hold the sidecar in place. The side car (for braking the outside wheel) will also be equipped with a foot operated brake pedal attached to it's own frame and activated by the bike driver's right foot.
So control layout planned is right hand throttle and front brake lever, left hand clutch lever, right hand shift lever(located left side of fuel tank & motor drive side foot lever, operated by the riders left foot, activating the rear disc brake.That's a lot of controls for this old monkey to play with!
Another change is to install 125 mm, straight pedal levers (children's bike length), replacing the dog leg wide pedal levers, since there will no longer be a need for the levers to clear the motors side cases after the elimination of the coaster bake and it's pedal chain activation link. The short length of the child levers will prevent ground strikes on even aggressive covering as well. The pedals are limited to about 20 degrees of rotation to the rear only (6 to 8 o'clock +-) and with the folding pedals installed the kick lever operation will completely clear for proper operation. Previously kick starts had to be made standing by the bikes side. Straddle starts from the saddle will not be problem after the change and the bikes appearance is narrowed & enhanced as well.
All well enough, for the bike itself & operation solo, but with the proposed addition of a side car these issues had to be addressed. Standing next to the bike for start kicks, with car attached would be quite impractical, so being able to straddle start is mandatory (no electrics on this one) & long/wide dog leg levers would interfere with the car frame attachment as well. Mounting the bikes rear brake lever pedal on the car side of the bike would have eliminated available frame space and the ability to separately modulate rear brake & car brake independently...so yes the changes are absolutely necessary.
My decision to replace the lightweight Monarch springer fork with the leaf style fork was not just cosmetic, nor was the decision to go to disc brake on the rear. Strength and safety, with the additional weight of the sidecar rig were my major concerns. I build so that I can ride a lot, therefore what I ride has to work both dependably & safely; all else, including esthetics, is down the scale value wise. It's then up to me to keep my operation of the bikes well within their individual designs & components limitations. All this and having fun along the way!
Rick C.