I'm a college student and I'm thinking about getting a bike with a side car. Just getting a bike wouldn't make sense cause I'm always giving people rides and carring projects to school and stuff, plus side cars look nice. So the extra space for people and or things would help alot. Plus I'm thinking I could save some gas. Money is very tight and I was thinking of getting a kawaski eliminator, which is like 3 grand and a used sidecar for a total of 6-7 grand hopefully and then plus the cost of installing it. Which I'm guessing would be like 8 grand. I saw the ural site and their tourist model is close to 10 grand. I have close to 8 grand now, any advice for someone who don't know anything about sidecars let alone bikes. Extra 2 grand means a lot. Also how fast can u go with a sidecar, the ural bikes top speed seems to be 65. Going 65 on the highway seems to be asking for people to tailgate u, I don't know bout that with a bike. Any info as to recommend what models and fuel economy and such?
The Eliminator has plenty of power for a tug. You might want wider bars for a sidecar rig. Less strain and more control.Most of the middle '80's Japanese Cruisers have been used for sidecar platforms with good results. Affordable yet easy parts and service availability. Shaft drive is nice and clean with smooth power delivery. Chain drive, though messier is a lot easier to work with if one wishes to adjust the power range. Chain sprockets are cheap and one can fine tune their power band easily.
A water cooled bike may be nicer to have in hot weather rush hour traffic although the air cooled ones seem to handle the heat OK.
Triple disc brakes are another big plus for a sidecar rig.
Most of the Japs' have good front ends but all could use better rear shocks with a hack.
For freeway use 1,100cc's is a comfortable engine size that will loaf along and be able to handle most situations in top gear without excessive fuel usage, depending on the driver's throttle hand, of course.
A pretty good basic sidecar rig shouldn't have to be outside the range of $6K to $7K in my opinion.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
There is a used V Star 1100 in the claasidueds on this forum. The seller is the insaller @ Hannigan Motorsports (sidecar company). If i was looking for a used sidecar, I suspect his might be in good shape with proper setup/install/etc.
Just a thought
