Added/moved from Suzuki cruiser to my Kawa Concours C10
I like the sitting position much better on the C10 not sitting on your tailbone all day.
May need to address the heavy steering, but otherwise it handles fine.
Mike
Just wondering, I had a Velorex on a Kawi Voyager years ago, always had trouble keeping it down without a lot of ballast, is it a good match for the Connie?
As with most, if there isn't weight in the car or on the frame it will come up, especially on right hand turns. Doesn't seem any worse than the cruiser it was originally on.
Right now the front suspension on the Connie is too soft. I get quite a bit of lift when getting on it pretty strongly. I'm going to go to a heavier fork oil until I maybe get a leading fork. Otherwise it runs true and straight with 12 inches wheel lead (more than I wanted, but location of rear mounts caused that) and 2 1/4 tow in.
Mike
This car is way to small and light duty for a safe match up on this bike. 12 inches of wheel lead is far to much and 2 1/4 inch toe in is way, way to much. It is handling "ok" only as it is scrubing tires bad. Just becouse you can put a sidecar on a bike does not mean you should. It might go down the road "OK" but what happens if you have to manver hard, you do not have much if any saftey margin. Safety must come first, In this case safety came last. "universal" mounts usualy are a bad idea, Having to run 12 inches of wheel lead due to not having adjustment in the mounts does not mean go ahead and run 12 inches of wheel lead, it means you must modify the mounting hardware to get the wheel lead correct.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
866-638-1793
Jay,
Thanks for your comments. Your expertise is welcome. One part I'm not sure I agree with is you statement about "this car being much too small and light duty for this bike." Can you expand on that thought?
Again you comments are most welcome.
Mike
When a sidecar is to light duty for a bike, It does not leave much of a saftey margin should things go bad on the road. I know of at least one person who is now dead as a dealer installed one of these sidecars on an 1100cc Moto Guzzi. Yes you can add ballist but the frame, wheel and axle are only are not really up to a heavy bike, remember these sidecars were developed for a 350cc two stroke Jawa. Yes, Velorex did come out with some heavier duty sidecars and up graded the axle from a 15mm which is known to fail to a 20mm axle . They did add a stiffener to the frame but did so in a stupid mannor so that they could keep their know to slip "universal" rear frame clamp. They have gone to a stiffer shock which all helps. This assumes that your sidecar is one of the up graded "heavy duty" ones. They still only have a small drum brake that does not play well with modern disk brake bikes so most people end up not hooking up the brake. I feel that it is dumb not to have a brake on the sidecar when ever possilbe. Even if a brake only once gives you better control over the rig and keeps you from hitting some thing, that one time is worth all of the cost and effort to have a brake. As Velorex insists on going with "universal" type mounts rather then developing bike specific mounts their mounts are known to slip and as such people end up riding rigs that are out of aligment. Also as they do not provide a proper way to adjust wheel lead as you found out as such more often then not you end up with the wrong amount of wheel lead so you also end up with a rig that does not handle as well as it should and as such, if the rig does not handles as good as it can or should, you are riding a rig that is not as safe as it could or should be. For not much different money a person can buy an American made sidecar that does not have "universal" type mounts for any of a half dozen or so American companies and end up with a much better handling rig made on a much more robust frame leaving a much larger saftey margin.
The Velorex is a great little sidecar for LITTLE bikes, if you do not use the scrap metal they call mounting hardware they work out fine. I owned one my self for a while, loved the rig, it was a factory built MZ silverstarr Gespan which is a 500cc single. The Velorex was a good match but still even on this rig required 50lbs of ballist.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
866-638-1793
We know you hate the Velorex's since Jack pulled your dealership, Jay, but keep it real.
The Tour model sidecars are not like the one shown in the first post. Triple tube frames and many upgrades, different suspension with correct leveraged swing arm 20mm axle with wide spoke Italian chrome wheel and a 130/90/16 tire. They still use the old over engineered sliding rear lower clamp though. They must still have a lot of them in the storehouse. At 174# this is still a lighter sidecar and not a match for the dressers or heavy cruisers.
The one pictured in the frist post? That is an early 562/03 The Economy model (562E) with 15mm axle and super light suspension a 154# unit built for the JAWA 350cc and 500cc models. 300# plus bikes.
Happy trails,
Lonnie
If you read, my post, I do not hate Velorex sidecars, I just hate seeing people and dealers install them on bikes that are way to large, I hate the fact that they are represented as having "universal" type mounts when I have yet to see a single bike where the "universal" mounts worked well. I hate on there web site they still claim that they are good for any bike over 400cc One of their dealers has even installed one on a GL1800 Goldwing and on their web site several years ago said "Velorex and Goldwing, the perfect match" I figured they must have been talking about the paint work. I have never seen one where at some time the lower rear mount has not moved unless it was welded down. I think that it is just plain stupid that they have no real adjustment for wheel lead other then placement of the front lower frame clamp which seldom can be placed in the correct place on the bike to have proper wheel lead, when it can chances are for better triangulation the clamp should have been placed further forward so from the start you are having to decide if you want the wheel lead correct or the best triangulation. It is also a poor design on the lower rear mount where you go from a clamp that can slip, to an eye bolt that can slip, to an eye bolt on a clamp that can slip at the eye bolt and at the clamp. Good design does not put so many possible locations for movement. Very few modern bikes you can use the Velorex drum brake set up on. As they are selling these new for new bikes, why are they still putting a small cable drum brake. When was the last time that a motorcycle of any size came with a cable drum brake on it? I have seldom been to an event where some one has not ridden in with a sidecar way out of alignment as the mounts have slipped. I have been to many events where I have ended up fixing the alignment on a Velorex sidecar good enough to get them home to fix it right. I have seen way to often the plastic bottom half of these sidecars fail. I doubt any made in America sidecars companies would sell a product that they know is so lacking in engineering details I have to think that no one at the Velorex. company rides bikes with their sidecars any distance. I also find it interesting that you are constantly pushing Velorex sidecars and yet, you do not ride them. Loenie, it is time you get real, look at what the sidecars are, look at what changes are needed to make them hold an alignment and have proper wheel lead, Look at what they try and pass off as a mounting system, look the poor brake set up for modern bikes. Safety must come ahead of sales no matter how much profit you make off the sale of a sidecar. Peter at Side-effects perhaps said it best "there are two types of sidecar dealers, those that install Velorex sidecars and those that take them off."
BTW, Jack at Velorex did not pull our dealership. They wanted us to sell there sidecars mounted on bikes that we did not feel safe, We refused and turn in our dealership. Safety must come first. Hardly a day goes by where I do not turn down selling mounts to put Velorex sidecars onto bikes that they should never be mounted on. You know this as you have ordered mounts for a bike in the past telling me that a Motovation sidecar was going on a GL1500 as you knew I would not sell the mounts for a Velorex I found this out when your customer phoned for product support.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
By the way Jay,
I put a plug in for you (DMC in Enumclaw, WA) during my interview for the next Thunder Press issue(even though you aren't crazy about those noisy Harleys). I still like mounting the Kennas on the Baggers.
Have a good year,
Lonnie
