Do sidecars shred tires...?

It depends. A sidecar bike uses normal motorcycle tires faster than a 2 wheeled bike, but if it seems to go through them rapidly then something is out of alignment. For example, I had a minivan turn into my sidecar at one time. Even though the suspension and mounting looked fine and the bike went down the road straight, I started eating sidecar tires about every thousand miles. I discovered the front lower sidecar mount had been pushed into the frame and I had about an inch of toe-in instead of the quarter inch or so it had before. The bike is heavy enough that I didn't feel a pull to the right or left and the tire was wearing evenly, but when I corrected it the next tire went nearly 8,000 miles before it started to show any wear at all.
Now I've recently replaced the sidecar and have a pronounced pull to the right at Interstate speeds. At 50 mph it feels fine. Again, my tire is showing wear after only a 550 mile trip last weekend. Time to get out the alignment bars!

Menomonie...? I knew a family named Heightcamp (sp..? ) from there.... So is alignment of the chair a real task...? If a car pulls in either direction does that mean there is an alignment issue,...??? Can't imagine a pull either way would be a fun thing to put up with.Thansk Mike,Rob

Alignment is kind of as big a pain as you allow it to be. Some people obsess over it and others seem to have no problem.
I clamp an 8 foot long bar to the rear brake rotor on the bike and one to the sidecar rim, using carpenter's pipe clamps. Both bars extend forward, but should be parallel. Measure the distance between the pipes at the rear and again at the very front edge. Pull in the mounting clamp at the front of the sidecar so the front measurement is about 1/4 inch less than the rear. Now adjust both upper clamps BY THE SAME AMOUNT to get the bike to stand as straigh as possible. Most folks like it set 1 or 2 degrees away from the sidecar. Now put away the measuring stuff and take it for a ride. Under normal driving, if it pulls too hard to the right, adjust the front upper rod in one turn, if it pulls left adjust it out one turn. But do this with the amount of weight you will usually carry. Repeat until it feels good. Other people do it differently, but this has always worked for me.
Don't know the family you mentioned, but we've only been here about 5 years.

sidecar mike speaketh the truth. My sidecar tires last well over 10,000 miles, rear tires about 9000 and fronts . . .well, only 8000, but I've been runnign Chen Shin tires on front. If I put on a 491 I'm sure I could get 11,000 out of a front tire. I switched the sidecar wheel on my sidecar to the same rear wheel as the bike uses. That way I can rotate between the two to maximize tire life.I'd love to run the same rim on all three wheels, but haven't figured out a way to do that yet.

To expand on the part about carrying your normal load, I normally run with an empty car. I use a sidecar because I like it, not because I haul a dog or spouse or kids, even though I sometimes do.On my trip I carried a sleeping bag, small suitcase, coffee maker, laptop computer, box of goodies for the daughter and grandkids,and a bicycle. All told, maybe 75 to 100 pounds of cargo. As I said earlier I had a very pronounced pull to the right at Interstate speeds (75 to 85mph). This afternoon I cleaned everything out of the bike and took it for a ten mile ride down that same highway carrying only the rain suit and toolkit that normally ride with me. Dead straight! No pull left or right. That little bit of weight can affect your handling, even on an 800 lb. bike with 100+ horsepower.

Interesting... I learn more. So I need to pack light... 🙂 KiddingThanks,Rob

Nope, just set it up with the weight in it. :0)

This is th every reason that lean or tilt adjustors are such a good thing to have. You can adjust for varying weight and conditions at will and take away any pull.
Read Hal Kendall's books which are a free download here. The link to them is in my signature below. They will help answer many of your questions and more.

Hi Rob--I have a Texas Standard sidecar. I has a car wheel/tire for the hack and I'd think you'd get good mileage out of this set up (I put this outfit together just last year, so I don't know this for a fact).

You do need to add lights to this particular rig, but it's not a big deal what with all the options and aftermarket lights out there now.

You'd earlier asked somewhere about steering. It's a little heavy on the Jackal, but not bad really, and this is with no mods. Several 400 mile days so far; these were a little more tiring that on the Bassa, but certainly do-able.

Rich

Hey Rich,I thought you would pop up... I guess I may have to use the EV and build a rig as much as I do not want to, the EV is the main, two-up ride.. Sue hates the Quota, too tall to swing up onto and the others are just not even in the running for a car...!!! I did see a Sporti in Europe with a car though... Google Images, "Moto Guzzi Sidecar"I got to gawkin' at the EZS cars but discovered that each Guzzi set up is a special so I do not need to add to that 10K figure...!! The chassis mods are really interesting though.It looks like the Velorex and Texas rigs are in the running, possibly the Friendship models... This is getting to be fun... :)Send me a shot of the Jack-Hack would you.. I had seen the mounts but not the entire finished rig. Did you end up with a leading link front...?Thanks,Rob

Lunatic- pre '68 BMW/Steib combos share the same wheel and all 3 are interchangeable. With the Steib TR500, you could carry a spare tire, too. I was glad to have it once in the middle of nowhere.

sweet. Now I need to figure out how to do the same on a '81 Honda. Thinking I need to build either a leading link or trailing link and use a rear wheel on the front to complete the whole works.