Hi, I have a question about putting one of these smaller Indian made sidecars on a larger bike. Most documentation I have seen recommends that a sidecar weigh about 30% as much as the bike it is attached to. These smaller sidecars weigh a little under 200lbs which seems like they would be perfect for a 600 lb bike. However, there seems to be a conception that they should not be used with a bike with higher than 500-600cc displacement. Many of the bikes I have looked at with much higher displacement 900-1100 still weigh around 600 lbs. So, what's more important? Would it be ok to attach one of these to a 1000cc bike as long as it doesn't weigh much more than 600 lbs?
Thanks!
I wouldn't put one on a larger displacement bike. These sidecars aren"t freeway proper in my estimation.
I have installed them on some of the larger scooters.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
I agree with Lonnie. Some of these sidecars even go as far as using a bushing rather then wheel bearings. Also the 30% rule is a bad rule that some one came up with and it stuck. When putting smaller sidecars are larger bikes, How strong the sidecar is, is much more important then how heavy it is. For instance while our Kenna single sidecar is only 170lbs as it is made up of 1 3/4 .0120 wall tubing and it runs on a one inch axle so it is strong enough to ballist for even bikes as large as the GL1800 and yet we also run them on scooters like the Burgman, Silverwing and C650GT BMW. Other things that make a difference to how heavy the sidecar needs be include how wide the sidecar is mounted, how high up the bikes carries its weight, how heavy the rider it. As to engine size, it has little bearing on any thing. There are some sidecars that I would mount on a 1200cc Sportster that I would not mount the same sidecar on a different bike of 600cc.
Also mounting systems make a difference. "universal" type mounts leave a lot to be desired and often do not work well even on light bikes. The Cozy's mounting system leaves a lot to be desired. When we mount Cozy sidecars, we make many canges to the mounting system. The last we mounted was on a Suzuki Savage 650cc it worked very well with the changes we made. We had a customer mount a Cozy to one our mounts on a V strom 650. The mounts held up fine, I ended up making emergency repairs to the Cozy parts while at an event with a borrowed welder as the Cozy parts were not up to a bike as heavy and powerfull as the 650 V strom.
Your saftey matters. So why risk it. If you think it is marginal, do not do it. Get a stronger sidecar. Your life is worth spending a bit more on the sidecar.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
jay@dmcsidecars.com
