69-78 honda cb750

I am working on a CB750 DOHC 1980 Custom but am far from taking pictures. Right now it is in pieces al;lo over the floor

scrinch, it is good to see someone else into 'vintage jap iron' there is a website called deuceswilddohc.com that has lots of good info and good people. 99% of them are chopper guys but know the bikes inside and out.

Attached are the photos of my very first rig. (CB750K5 + Velorex 562C)
Mounts are generic ones from Velorex.
I basically mounted the sidecar to a cafe bike. Thus it was very difficult to steer (short clubman bar=less leverage.)
It was like running weight lifting machine.
Per advices from this forum, I slided the front forks up in the triple tree and attached rear shocks for DOHC 750 (longer) to reduce trail.
I now realize that the PO put front forks from CB550 which is a few inches shorter. I don't know how it affected the trail though.

I could live with heavy steering but I couldn't live with slow right hand cornering speed. (I put 40 lbs of ballast but that was not heavy enough.)

I ended up building my own leaner rig with XS750E which is my current.
I use it every day to take my son to school.

skiri, thanks for the pic's big help. I'm running some triple-a floor boards that may needs some mods. you mention you slid the tube higher in the triple trees, to shorten the front end?. what are the advantages to that?. also you mention 40lbs of ballast being too light, all new to me. I have a friendship 1 that looks about the same size as your velorex but with a 13' car tire instead of the bike wheel. thanks again as things progress I'm sure I'll have many more questions

Thanks for the link ratcollector. I need all the help I can get.

skiri. I was wondering if you tied both sides of the frame together or connected to the right frame only?

Thanks for the link ratcollector. I need all the help I can get.

skiri. I was wondering if you tied both sides of the frame together or connected to the right frame only?

Weight comparisons are:
CSC FS I- 205#+-
Velorex 562 Standard- 154#

Sliding the tubes up into the treiple trees will reduce trail somewhat and help ease steering.
If doing so make sure there is no interference with fenders, radiators or any other appertenance that could interfere in steering when front end is fully compressed when braking.

Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars

ratcollector - 11/16/2009 12:04 PM

skiri, thanks for the pic's big help. I'm running some triple-a floor boards that may needs some mods. you mention you slid the tube higher in the triple trees, to shorten the front end?. what are the advantages to that?. also you mention 40lbs of ballast being too light, all new to me. I have a friendship 1 that looks about the same size as your velorex but with a 13' car tire instead of the bike wheel. thanks again as things progress I'm sure I'll have many more questions

The below are all I learned from this forum when I was setting up my very first rig.

1) shorten the front end reduces the trail and makes the steering lighter (otherwise steering is very heavy with sidecar) But be careful interference between lower triple tree and the fender when the forks are compressed. (As Lonnie says.) I got a quarter size dent on the fender due to this. You can search the forum for the explanations of the trail.

2) if the sidecar is too light, it lifts up pretty easily in right hand turns. Then you need to slow down up to the point for the cars following you to be annoyed. Again according to Lonnie, your sidecar is heavier so that is a plus.

3) the wider track width (the distance between sidecar tire and bike tire) helps prevent the above sidecar lift in right hand turns.
I could not put wide enough track width due to generic Velorex mounting system (if I built my own sub-frame, then I could have gained more.)

scrinch - 11/16/2009 2:40 PM

skiri. I was wondering if you tied both sides of the frame together or connected to the right frame only?

I used generic Velorex mounting system which uses the right side motorcycle frame only.