Looks good, Steve. I'll be following things closely as you try it out. The bike looks spectacular, by the way... and the sidecar. Geez, Louise! This all takes a lot of thought, doesn't it? While there's nothing new about sidecars... we've looked at pictures of very early ones from England which had two pivoting mounts allowing the sidecar and bicycle to flex independently. In theory that's great for cornering and being able to lean the bike into curves as you would without a sidecar. But once things get bigger and heavier and faster it all changes. Motorcycles typically had fixed mounts which did not allow for independent flexing, very much altering the dynamics of cornering. With our motorized bicycles we're somewhere in between the old pedal bike Watsonian sidecars going a few miles per hour to a speeding motorcycle on a public highway. So we're in a kind of no man's land, "the twilight zone" of in between. Your sidecar is on the heavier side with electric push motor and batteries, along with a substantial sidecar body. Mine is toward the other end of the scale with a framework from a bicycle trailer minus the inboard wheel and a relatively light sidecar body made from a cut down aluminum canoe. Mine has two mounting points which each allow flexing so the bike can lean into curves. I don't know yet how it will work out as I'm still working through some bugs on the "Indian" pulling it along and have not tried it yet beyond rolling along with it at very low speed. I hope to do some road testing before the season for riding shuts down here in northern Minnesota. I know I don't want to get hurt and falling into that sidecar could be bad news... so I want to feel my way along with this and get an idea of the dynamics involved. I may also need to go to a third support arm and am wondering if it is possible with a lighter weight sidecar such as mine to still have limited flex. So I'm picturing a third arm which dampens the lean and finally limits it... such as an arm made from the support lift rod for an automotive hatchback... something like that. There must be a way.
So, we learn as we go, Steve, and I may well need to go further in your direction with rigid mounts. Testing will tell. Stay safe, go easy. You've got a great setup there, bud!
SB