Honda GW 1800.Which sidecar?

Hannigan. Wish I had one. That would be my choice.
Welcome to the sidecar world.
gp

i have a hannigan on a 1500, i will never own another one, parts availability sucks, good machine, probably the 2nd best made but customer service is not geared for owners who can't go to the factory for parts or service, if you live near kentucky you are ok, if not find another one, best wishes and good luck

We love the Champion Escort on our 1500 and Champion has been very good on service. Some others on here may not agree with this.
Ralph

hi, it's me again, ralph is correct, you are going to get more opinions than you bargained for, all slanted to whatever they own,i don't know where you are located and that could be a major consideration. if i had it to do all over again and i knew what i know now(lol), the best advice you are going to get is to call doug bingham at side strider, he is the guru of sidecars in the u.s., tell him what you want to do and what you want then sit back and listen,he manufacture's and sells hacks and he will steer you in the right direction, whether it's one of his or not, i know this to be fact as i have been talking to him very recently,if you talk to manufactures make sure you ask about service and parts availability including the windshield(wanna buy a hannigan with no windshield)(lol), and choose your installer carefully, depending where you live there are some good ones out there, whatever you decide i wish you well and ride safe mike

Got a Hannigan GTL on my 1800. No complaints here.

First off I wouldn't recomend putting any sidecar on a pre '06 GL1800. There have been a number of frames that cracked in the rear behind the passenger footrest. In the '06 models they changed the Lug design on bot sides due to this problem and provided a stronger joint by spreading out the load. Plus it took the Honda Welders several years and three major recalls to learn how to properly weld the frame. Yes it is all hand welded by humans who were used to Steel and needed a lot of OJT to learn new techniques needed for the tricky 7003 alloy used.

The frames that have broken in this non-recall area have been replaced by Honda except for a few on Trikes due to _____.
Most of those that have broken have not been with Sidecars or Trikes and a few have had Trailer Hitches while others were used strictly 2-up with no attachments of any kind. This makes putting a Sidecar on a Pre '06 kinda a Crap Shoot and an expensive one if the warranty has expired.

One of the key factors with both the Recall Weld Failures and the Non-Recall Rear Triangle failures is the reluctance to use TIG in place of MIG due to the "Need for Speed" on the assembly line.
Enough of that.

As to which Sidecar is best I don't think any of them get the full attention they need by the makers who have the majority of their sales and thus service aimed at the Trike market. Here it is going to be more a matter of the Dealer who is Willing and Able to stand behind the one you choose and will give you support with the maker if there is an issue.

My current Sidecar is an '02 Champion Escort and overall I would rate it as simply OK, not good or great but about 4 or 5 on a scale of 10. Champion did replace the first front subframe that broke but not the second that broke in the same weld joint that the first one did. Of course it was out of warranty but I have to question why their design that hasn't changed has repeated failures at the same point.

BTW when the Champion Subframe broke the top rear strut stub also broke which was my first clue that there was yet another problem, likely from the stress it had to absorb in the short time the front mount was flexing before I found it.
One comment I got about this whole thing was that the powdercoat finish tends to hide simple cracks until they become major ones which is likely why my daily inspections didn't spot anything until the cracks opened up enough to also crack through the surface coating.

A note on the Escort is the tire that is all but impossable to find because it is an out of production size for the Yugo and if you need a replacement while on a trip you will likely be SOL. The Champion 2+2 Daytona uses a common and easy to find tire if you need a larger car. I think many of the other brands use 12" tires that are easy to find at places like WallMart while on the road. If I had been aware of the lack of tires for the Escort I would have gone with the Daytona or another brand. Another thing I found with the Escort is that the screws holding in the Lights front and rear are hidden under the carpet which must be ripped out to find them. They arn't documented in the "Manual". Then there was the Driving/Fog Light Bulb that was Hardwired into the Wire Harness without the ability to simply plug in a replacement. "VERY TACKY"!
The Intercomm connection provided by Champion would not work and I had to re-design the wiring harness to correct their errors. That error was repeated for two or three years for the 1800 and should be corrected by now.

With the GL1800 I would seek out a known Sidecar Specialist like Jay or Claude to build you a better subframe than any of the ones I have seen so far.
IMHO the Subframes should attach to both sides of the engine up front and both sides of the frame in the rear to spread the loads as much as possable. Also the bottom rear attachment should not be to the tubbing section behind the Passenger Footrest! When I found my frame cracked like so many others I built a custom mount that goes to both sides of the frame using the Passenger Footrest attacment point

Thank you so much for an enlightening and educational reply to my questions! My bike was among a serie of 2003 mod.recalled for welding, for cracks on the frame, in conection with loads on the centerstand.(I was told).
Solavo.

moonlite.
Thanks for the tips. Will have a chat with side strider.
solavo.

I have a Hannigan on mu 07 GL 1800. So far, great. great service as well. I live in California, had a problrm with the windshield, they shipped one no cost immediately.

hi and good morning, check your e-mail later today as i am going to send you a copy of the last e-mail i recieved from hannigan regarding the process i must go thru to purchase a replacement windshield for my expensive dog house(MY GSD NOW HAS A $6000.00 DOG HOUSE)0f course he is not pampered.(lol)this will show you that i just don't make things up,the truth and nothing but the truth, i do not make posts just to hear myself talk, nor do i comment on things i know nothing about, only the treatment i personally recieve from a stealer is passed on so others do not make the same mistake, contrary to some peoples opinion i believe we should pass on ALL comments regardless of whether they are positive or negative, i can not speak of the treatment others encounter, only what i am personally aware of, and when it happens to you, that's personal!solavo, these statements are not aimed at you, just to the 3 people that e-mailed me privately to say that i caused the problem, no way, i conducted myself in a professional manner all thru the ordeal,and i am not the only one, i have 5 e-mails on file that were sent to me by others who feel they were treated very poorly by their customer service reps when they needed results, not rhetoric. i wish you well and i just want you to have all the facts before you plop down you're hard earned cash, disregard this if you are the one who hit the mega millions this past week, as a matter of fact send me enuf to buy a new rocket3 and a new watsonian s/c.(lol) ride safe and ask all the questions you want,GOOD LUCK mike

JerryR.---What kind of tire do you have on the front of your bike?
Solavo.

Solavo I have 3 sets of wheels and use a variety of tires for different seasons and reasons.
The one you see in the pic is a now discontinued Avon Gripster. I also use a BT45 for Summer and a discontinued M50 for mild conditions and light gravel roads.

On the back I run a Blizzak or Kumho Ice Bear.

I also normaly keep one set of wheels mounted with ME880's for 2-Wheel use.

Solavo,

I, too have a GL1800 (2006). I have a Dauntless Liberator on it. It was supposed to be the latest and greatest last year when I had it installed by the factory. As it turns out, I'm going to court to get my money back. There's just way too much to get into here, but bottom line is: When the lawsuit is over I'll be on my way to Hannigan to have the GTL installed. I've done the research. I need a two seater, and the GTL is just the ticket. I was leaning in that direction last year but the owner of Dauntless gave me a deal on a "slightly used Liberator with only a thousand miles on it." It's a beauty, and it's a shame that they just can't get it right. In all fairness they want to continue to make adjustments, but being so far from the factory, I'm not interested (among other reasons). Like I said, too much to get into here.
Ps. I found others who have the same problems with Dauntless.

Good Luck,
Mike

Originally written by therossiproject on 3/3/2008 4:22 PM

I need a two seater, and the GTL is just the ticket.

Mike... FYI the GTL is not a two seater sidecar. Hannigan does offer a wide seat option, which I have, but the sidecar is not a double wide. With the wide seat my wife has plenty of room by herself, and there is room for her and one of the grandkids, but you would be hard pressed to put two adults in the sidecar.

By the way, my wife loves the GTL.