Its mick29 here just wondering you guys with vintage styled motorized bikes does anyone have a sidecar atatched I myself have a vintage styled bike and think it would look great with a sidecar I myself havent seen one PS someone with some photos would be great thanks mick29
Sidecars?
- Thread starter mick29
- Start date
Ya got my curiosity kickin and ya know - there's not a lot on the subject I could find easily, but here's this sweet lookin setup and a thread here on the forum for ya, good luck!
1934 Hercules Popular Lady’s 22″ Bicycle with Watsonian Sidecar www.Oldbike.eu
There's more links in this thread;
http://motorbicycling.com/f28/bike-side-car-2495.html
1934 Hercules Popular Lady’s 22″ Bicycle with Watsonian Sidecar www.Oldbike.eu
There's more links in this thread;
http://motorbicycling.com/f28/bike-side-car-2495.html
I built this sidehack about 3 years ago when my son was born so I could still go for bike rides with the crew! I have been throwing around the idea of putting a motor on it!
Like you guys, I've been thinking about a sidecar for years. In doing some research on the old timers, including the Watsonian, it seems they were set up so that the connection could flex or turn (not sure how to put it), so that the bike could still lean into turns. Wouldn't it handle kind of weirdly if it can't lean? Anyway, that's what I'm trying to figure out. I keep picturing the front end of an aluminum canoe with it chopped off a few feet back and a wooden squared off end in place as a very cool sidecar. Much of the structural support could be from the canoe itself... strong and lightweight. I've been on the lookout for one wrecked in a rapids. Maybe next summer. Still can't figure out the connection to the bike, though. I also want to be able to detach it easily. Any ideas? Some enterprising machinist could come up with an attachment kit and make some money. I think a lot of motorbikers would be interested in a sidecar if they thought they could put one together themselves and if it could detach.
SB
SB
silverbear - mebbe this pic would help a bit, it appears to be a pretty simple pipe & clamp arrangement allowing the bike to lean while the sidecar stays upright... I really like the simple suspension for the sidecar as well. Kevlarr's right tho - as there's no compound curves I suspect it may be far easier to just build one than to try to convert a canoe bow... and canoes aren't particularly light or cheap (unless they're totaled, which could be even more work). Ofc havin' a few curves like a canoe would look pretty sharp too...
I'd like to see that attachment setup in closeups and from above. I can see the pipe attachment in your photo would be strong and would allow the bike to lean into curves. How are they set up on motorcycles I wonder?
As for the canoe, it was Fasteddy who suggested I make one out of birch bark and cedar after we got to talking about a different kind of "Indian" inspired bike. I've done other kinds of bark work, making food storage containers (mukuks) which would make neat bike baskets or saddlebag type containers. I was thinking about the canoe front end since I live most of the year next to the million acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness and many tourists come to Ely as a launching point for canoe trips. Lots of canoes around here and some get mangled each year in rapids by inept paddlers. So, it would be an eye catcher for a little business I want to hatch selling motorbicycles... build a few in the winter and sell them to rich tourists in the summer. My big plan. Between an old cruiser with a motor and a canoe front end sidecar with Aaniimoosh the wonder dog riding in the seat... well, if that wouldn't get attention, what would? I plan to set up a small utility trailer so that I can drive it to town and on busy weekends ride around and get seen, have some business cards with a web address to a site showing what I have available at special tourist inflated prices and what is in the works. Show an old wreck of a Schwinn and let a customer decide what it should get, what color paint, fenders and handlebars, which motor... standard, pull start or automatic... and with half down non refundable the bike is theirs before I've even started. Or buy one that's already done or save a bundle and get a new Jaguar with standard motor. That's the plan, Stan. It's what I wanta do, Stew. I need some money, honey. The sidecar isn't really necessary, but would make for a cool ride, Clyde.
I've also accumulated four kiddie trailers that pull behind a bike and have been staring at one of them in particular that I think could be modified a bit and become a sidecar minus the inboard wheel and with a clever flexible attachment setup. If so, it would be pretty easy to remove the fabric and recover it in birch bark stitched together with split spruce root. It would be way lighter than a canoe bow for sure. I'll come up with something or other.
SB
As for the canoe, it was Fasteddy who suggested I make one out of birch bark and cedar after we got to talking about a different kind of "Indian" inspired bike. I've done other kinds of bark work, making food storage containers (mukuks) which would make neat bike baskets or saddlebag type containers. I was thinking about the canoe front end since I live most of the year next to the million acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness and many tourists come to Ely as a launching point for canoe trips. Lots of canoes around here and some get mangled each year in rapids by inept paddlers. So, it would be an eye catcher for a little business I want to hatch selling motorbicycles... build a few in the winter and sell them to rich tourists in the summer. My big plan. Between an old cruiser with a motor and a canoe front end sidecar with Aaniimoosh the wonder dog riding in the seat... well, if that wouldn't get attention, what would? I plan to set up a small utility trailer so that I can drive it to town and on busy weekends ride around and get seen, have some business cards with a web address to a site showing what I have available at special tourist inflated prices and what is in the works. Show an old wreck of a Schwinn and let a customer decide what it should get, what color paint, fenders and handlebars, which motor... standard, pull start or automatic... and with half down non refundable the bike is theirs before I've even started. Or buy one that's already done or save a bundle and get a new Jaguar with standard motor. That's the plan, Stan. It's what I wanta do, Stew. I need some money, honey. The sidecar isn't really necessary, but would make for a cool ride, Clyde.
I've also accumulated four kiddie trailers that pull behind a bike and have been staring at one of them in particular that I think could be modified a bit and become a sidecar minus the inboard wheel and with a clever flexible attachment setup. If so, it would be pretty easy to remove the fabric and recover it in birch bark stitched together with split spruce root. It would be way lighter than a canoe bow for sure. I'll come up with something or other.
SB
1934 Hercules Popular Lady’s 22″ Bicycle with Watsonian Sidecar www.Oldbike.eu
I get it now with the canoe thing - in that light it's an awesome idea silverbear! BTW I used to work makin' cedarstrip guideboats;
I loved the craft... hated the job lol
There's a buncha neat sidecars here (motorcycles tho);
Cycle Sidecar - Photo Gallery: Images from the 2006 Griffith Park Sidecar Rally
and even a "boat" sidecar
http://www.cyclesidecar.com/images/...motor_on_boat_sidecar_with_BSA_motorcycle.jpg
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Thanks for posting the photos and links. Some very cool sidecars there. A special challenge for us is keeping things light enough. I got that cano bow on my bb brain now... nice little bow light and a stern light sticking up... maybe an American flag back there. Rig up a wheel generator to run the sidecar lights. Hmmm... I was in a guy's welding shop once where he had an old Grumman hanging on the wall to show off his welding skills. It was two ends joined together to make a little duck hunting boat, just a few feet long. Of course I liked it lots and wanted one, even though I had no use for it. I like your guide boat. Very nice. With your skills I'm sure you could make something really awesome.
SB
SB
That guideboat isn't mine BTW, I mighta been involved in makin' it - but I've no idea, the pic is from their site. I did want one, but at $16.000 starting price (oars are $300 a pop) I'd hafta make one... and that would involve the shop of my own I never had. The skills in that place were a priceless experience tho, that's the only reason I worked there
Making a pivoting sidecare is not as easy as it would seem. Not many motorcycle sidecars are. The one in the pic above is not so far as I can tell. If it is what's keeping the bike and car from leaning up against each other?
For example, on the one above, if it is leanable. If you take a left turn at speed and your going too fast, you (the rider) will be violently flopped over to the right. Because you can only lean so far (not very) over to the left and because the ballast of the sidecar no longer keeps you upright. If it is rigid then increasing the ballast allows for a faster speed (i.e. passanger leans, you lean). Again w/ the pic above if you lean that bike over to the left the car leans right and vice-versa. And when you lean, the bikes rear wheel and the sidecars wheel are trying to move closer and spread apart while running parallel. Meaning at least one of them has to slide closer and further away.
The ones I've seen work have the car lean too through some type of scissor linkage w/ shocks and hard stops. It can be done but I think most found the setups to be less predictable than a rigid set up.
For example, on the one above, if it is leanable. If you take a left turn at speed and your going too fast, you (the rider) will be violently flopped over to the right. Because you can only lean so far (not very) over to the left and because the ballast of the sidecar no longer keeps you upright. If it is rigid then increasing the ballast allows for a faster speed (i.e. passanger leans, you lean). Again w/ the pic above if you lean that bike over to the left the car leans right and vice-versa. And when you lean, the bikes rear wheel and the sidecars wheel are trying to move closer and spread apart while running parallel. Meaning at least one of them has to slide closer and further away.
The ones I've seen work have the car lean too through some type of scissor linkage w/ shocks and hard stops. It can be done but I think most found the setups to be less predictable than a rigid set up.
Yeah, yer right - I didn't pay much attention to the leaning aspect in my search for simple methods of mounting, sorry 'bout that lol There appears to be a small amount of pivot but ofc you and the passenger would get closer on left turns and further apart on right... I don't think it would be violent - but I don't think it'd be helpful either. I think the play is mostly for shock absorption if it's supposed to be there at all. Thanks for pickin' up on that BTW
A slightly more complex fixed system;
SIDECAR
A different take on the lean - not the car but the wheel;
Flexible Tilting Sidecars
A wicked simple bicycle version O.O
leaning sidecar
But something like the Flexit is prolly gonna be a lil more complicated;
http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/8FlexitViews.jpg
lol - alla this stuff is sooooo tempting!
A slightly more complex fixed system;
SIDECAR
A different take on the lean - not the car but the wheel;
Flexible Tilting Sidecars
A wicked simple bicycle version O.O
leaning sidecar
But something like the Flexit is prolly gonna be a lil more complicated;
http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/8FlexitViews.jpg
lol - alla this stuff is sooooo tempting!
Yeah, I guess I hadn't really thought that through very well. Everything has to flex together or not all all. Not at all sure would be simpler, but being able to lean into turns would sure be nice. Somebody lots smarter than me could probably figure something simple.
The mtb pic uses essentially the same parallelagram design as the Goldwing one. On the mtb the whole thing is a parallelagram but on the mc the parallelagram is between the mc and the car so that, like the wheel on the bicycle sidecar, the car stays parallel to the motorcycle. It's not all that complicated especially w/ trig calcs online. You wouldn't need a shock absorber if you had a good hd spring that would limit travel and give a similar rate on stretch and compress.
New to the forum, and to building sidecars, but I just hacked up an old Burley style trailer, and used the spring loaded swingarm to get some flex in the rear, then made the front mount pivot in the vertical plane to gain some maneuverability...all of it is held on by quick release pins for taking on and off quickly. I wouldn't put anyone I love in the thing, but great for taking beer to the park!
(Old pic...I'm having to use image grabs from my flip since my camera broke)
(Old pic...I'm having to use image grabs from my flip since my camera broke)
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Excellent! That swingarm is what I pictured doing with the old kiddie trailer I had been eyeballing. It is spring loaded where it attaches to the rear axle and on this one I can move that swing arm further back and reverse it, like you have done. Do you have a photo of how it attaches up front? By the way, a hearty welcome to the forum!
SB
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Hey thanks silver bear,
Well, I took it all down this morning to paint it, so no I don't have any pics of the attachments, but as soon as I do, I will post them to this thread.
As far as the attachments go:
Rear: The trailer nubbin is the male, and an old bmx peg is the female. A hole was drilled in the peg and the pin passes through to hold it.
Front: Two triangle tabs welded to the down tube and a piece of steel 1"x1" welded to the front left corner of what is left of the original trailer.
I also cut down the width of the trailer to accommodate the keg, then had it all welded back together, and used the original screws/nuts for added secure awesomness!
Well, I took it all down this morning to paint it, so no I don't have any pics of the attachments, but as soon as I do, I will post them to this thread.
As far as the attachments go:
Rear: The trailer nubbin is the male, and an old bmx peg is the female. A hole was drilled in the peg and the pin passes through to hold it.
Front: Two triangle tabs welded to the down tube and a piece of steel 1"x1" welded to the front left corner of what is left of the original trailer.
I also cut down the width of the trailer to accommodate the keg, then had it all welded back together, and used the original screws/nuts for added secure awesomness!