Hi, Folks;
First post here.
I recently picked up a barn-find '82 Standard Goldwing GL1100. "Standard" meaning no fairings, so it looks like a huge old British bike!
I got it with the intent of adding a sidecar, but my mechanical/electrical knowledge far exceeds my sidecar knowledge, so that's why I'm here! 😉
I've been recommended several times to practice in a parking lot, which is great because I have one. But, of course, I have other questions.
First, while I have the bike apart, what is the modified front suspension I see about half the Wings using? Trailing arm? Obviously it gives something, or folks wouldn't bother doing it. How important is that to do, and exactly what does it give you?
Kind of the same question regarding the use of a car rear tire. I got spare wheels for the bike that I blasted and painted while the originals are holding up the bike. Rears wheels for that year are 3.00" x 16" tubeless. Should I just go ahead and buy a car tire for it now, or get a bike tire to use while I learn? How about the front, which would be harder to find in a car tire -- 2.5" X 18 wheel?
What are the expert's thoughts about the wife riding pillion and the 50-lb Border Collie in the chair? Would I be better off having the wife in the car, with the dog in front of her?
Thanks.
Welcome K9!
The REAL pros will be along shortly to give you some solid advice. In the mean time I'll take a crack at some of your questions.
Yes, do practice in a parking lot. Put about 70 pounds of ballast in The car when you practice. Note that humans and K9's make for poor ballast until you are proficient!!
The front end mod you read about can be done in a number of ways. First, a little background, as you Know, a 2-wheeled bike is set up for counter steering. That's. To say A slight press of the handlebar to the left plus body lean makes for a smooth right turn. With a sidecar (rigid) attached, there's no more leaning. Therefore you have the direct-steer your rig. The suspension mod makes your bike favor direct steering by removing the counter-steer bias it left the factory with. The difference is that you can steer your rig with much less effort. You don't have to fight the counter-steer bias to make 'er turn. The downside is your bike becomes a dedicated hack bike as trying to ride a direct-steer bike on two wheels is difficult if not down right dangerous!
The two primary methods to change the geometry of the front is thru modified triple trees or thru a "leading link" suspension system. Leading links are popular in Europe, not so much In the states. My rig just happens to be an '82 Goldwing too. I drove her for a year with factory trees before I installed modifieds. In my humble opinion, you'll be much happier with a modified front end. Your shoulders and arms will thank you.
Passenger/cargo loading:
Think of the three tire patches of your rig as defining a triangle. Each leg of the triangle makes for a "tip line". For maximum stability, you want the center of gravety to be low and in the middle of the triangle. That way, your rig resists the tendency to tip along one of the lines. The trouble with putting two humans on the bike with the dog In The car is that the center of gravity for the rig is way too close to the tip line defined by the tire patches of the two bike tires. The weight is also up high. As you come into a right hand turn, the weight of the bike plus the weight of the two humans high up on the bike will cause the rig to "fly the car" and may even actually tip over! The other big danger is that if you aren't prepared for the weird sensation of the car flying, you'll tend to correct by straightening out your front wheel. While this will bring the car back down, it will also cause your rig to drift into oncoming traffic! I suppose I could have just said, "put he wife and the dog in the car", but felt a little explanation was needed as well.
Car tires:
There aren't any standard car tires that will fit an Unmodified GL1100 rim. If you come across one, please let me know! Also let me know if you can find a modified rim for under a grand. Be prepared to change out your tires every 6-9000 miles.
Hope this all helps and I hope also that the REAL pros will correct the mis-statements I have made above!
Best of luck to you and enjoy your new rig!
P.S. Here's a little reading for you! http://www.sidecar.com/links3.asp
Thanks, OldSchool! Great information.
Another handy piece of advice K9. At no time sould you EVER refer to the wife as "ballast". The term "monkey" doesn't work either unless the two of you opt to race your rig. ;-D
OldSchool_IsCool - 11/25/2013 9:00 AM
Another handy piece of advice K9. At no time sould you EVER refer to the wife as "ballast". The term "monkey" doesn't work either unless the two of you opt to race your rig. ;-D
Naw, I got a good one. Second date (1982) we went out on my Yamaha XS650. When I took delivery of the first VF750 Interceptor in the State, in February, she let me keep it in the living room in front of the fireplace until Spring! 🙂 The cats loved sleeping on the seat and used the rear tire for a scratching post!
Everytime she sees a sidecar she gets giddy. So I thought it was time to get her one!
Do you have a link to any photos of your GL rig, by any chance?
Here is my build thread from a few years ago.
http://www.sidecar.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=9017&start=1
I need to build an Album on this site. There is an ALBUM link in the header above if you want to browse some AWESOME rigs!
What are your thoughts on this tire? Supposed to fit a 3" X 16" rim...
http://www.cokertire.com/500-16-s-coker-classic-cycle-blackwall-tire.html
First if you can take a sidecar class, If you can not at least get a copy of the book "Driving a sidecar outfit" by David Hough, We sell this book for $34.95 follow what it says to do in the book.
As to attaching a sidecar to your bike, Make sure that the sidecar is a strong and heavy sidecar, you have a big heavy bike and the sidecar needs to be strong and heavy enough for it to be safe, This rules out Velorex, Spirit eagle, cozy's and a few others. Make sure that the sidecar is attached with bike specific NOT universal mounting hardware as it will work out much better for you in the long run.
Having put about 150K on GL1100's with sidecars I know them well. When I first had my bike I kept the stock front end. I did not know that you could modify the front end for easier steering. After a year or so I was wearing one size larger of shirts as the sleeves where getting very tight. Making changes to the front of the bike is a good idea but not needed. You can do this a few different ways, the way I went with is with a leading link front end, new these cost about what your bike is worth however they do come up used from time to time. You can also go with a triple tree that changes the angle of the front forks. I only know of one company making these for the GL1100 and the one we tried took us 6 extra hours of putting it on and off the bike and running it over to the milling machine to make changes before we could get it to work. This was about 4 years ago, perhaps they have fixed the issues.
Sidecar bikes do tend to eat up rear tires, On mine for the first few years I ran the least expensive tire I could find on the rear, I then switched over to a custom wheel that ran a 145 15 automotive tire. This worked out well as it lasted over 40,000 miles and I could run a studded snow tire in the winter however it is a lot of money so you have to ride a lot of miles to reach the break even point unless you find a used wheel.
BTW on the front you can run either a Heidenau or Metzler sidecar specific tire as both companies make a 4.00 18 which is what a 1982 runs.
The most popular sidecar we have for this bike is also our least expensive the Kenna $3695 with bike specific mounts. We can also help with mounting hardware for other sidecars.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
Well, now you've got me discouraged and questioning my choice of rides.
So I don't "need" but "should have" a mega-buck front suspension, a mega-buck rear wheel, and a mega/mega/mega buck sidecar (plus shipping across the US) and bolt them onto a motorcycle I paid $800 for?
I need to give this a lot of thought before proceeding...
No, you got it wrong, The automotive rear wheel is nice, but only if you are going to put a lot of miles on the bike. When I ran mine I put 150K on the GL1100, for me the automotive tire was almost a must but only as I was riding 40,000 miles a year at the time. As to the front end change, Yes it is nice to have, with out it you will find that it steers heavy, You can slow down around corners and it is not so bad. And as to the sidecar our least expensive sidecar is only $3695, If you look at what anything costs new, that is a long way from Mega/mega/mega bucks. Remember, If your $800 bike was a new bike, it would be a $25,000 bike.
Any bike that you add a sidecar to (or convert to a trike) is going to have heavy steering unless you modify it, This is not Goldwing specific. Same with the rear tire however lighter bikes some times do not use up rear tires as fast and some bikes you can run an automotive tire on the stock rear wheel. There is no narrow 16 inch automotive tire that will fit on the rear of your bike that is worth running. There might be an antique tire that will fit but the wear is not better then a cheap motorcycle tire.
If you find a used sidecar, before you buy it contact me, many can not be made safe for a large bike like yours, others by the time you make them safe they are not a good value. Safety must come first over price.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
No, Jay -- I appreciate your input. Thank you.
It just seems that life would be lots easier with a lighter bike. There is no way I could afford to bolt on brand new, and so far in my quest the only used sidecars within driving range for pickup are all lightweights. For the uneducated (as I was) the photos of the "V-brand" made them look very beefy. Who knew?
Until the last couple of days I was unaware that sidecar weight (and construction) was such a safety issue. It just makes locating something appropriate for the GL quite challenging.
Yes, K9, it gets scary pricy in a hurry. And you alone will need to make the call on whether or not it's worth the expense. From my experience, I have a GL1100 with a double-wide car. Even with this hefty setup, I'm still looking for room to stow more gear for longer trips. If your intention is only for around town, then a smaller rig would work just fine. If you have dreams of long weekends with the pooch and your bride, then a small rig will quickly become the limiting factor as to what you can logistically do.
I can second what Bruce tells. With my Jawa Velorex rig the trip to Alaska would have been like riding squeezed into a sardine tin, while the Ural became very handy and pretty confortable for what my son and me are used to. Now imaginating a double wide sidecar and a work horse as a GL that would have been for sure luxury out our mind.
By the way for somebody from Centralamerika, ALL ROADS WE PASSED BY IN USA INCLUDING ALASKA; AND CANADA WERE SO PERFECT, NO SIDECAR DRIVE WAS NECESARRY AT ALL,ANYWHERE.
2 WD is a merre luxury for winter and mud. In sand no way to serve at all. you just dig in downwards.
Adding to sidecar and bike weight I may confirm, keep the relative relation sane and you stay happy, overload the bike with a too big sidecar or the sidecar with a too big bike is insane and dangerous. Some thing will break. And if you buy some rig that is too expensive your wallet will break and the best of all wifes will not tollerate that neither.
So look for harmony in everything you do.
Just 2 cent of somebody who broke this summer his wallet for several coming years. "But what the heck, you live only once and shall make things while you still can"
Otherwise if you delay every dream, there might come the moment you will regret yourself.
Rig pushing is higly addictive and does cause many more smiles and grateful memmories then any other hobby I know of.
Best luck
Sven
I can second what Bruce tells. With my Jawa Velorex rig the trip to Alaska would have been like riding squeezed into a sardine tin, while the Ural became very handy and pretty confortable for what my son and me are used to. Now imaginating a double wide sidecar and a work horse as a GL that would have been for sure luxury out our mind.
By the way for somebody from Centralamerika, ALL ROADS WE PASSED BY IN USA INCLUDING ALASKA; AND CANADA WERE SO PERFECT, NO SIDECAR DRIVE WAS NECESARRY AT ALL,ANYWHERE.
2 WD is a merre luxury for winter and mud. In sand no way to serve at all. you just dig in downwards.
Adding to sidecar and bike weight I may confirm, keep the relative relation sane and you will stay happy, overload the bike with a too big sidecar or the sidecar with a too big bike is insane and dangerous. Something will break. And if you buy some rig that is too expensive your wallet will break and the best of all wifes will not tollerate that neither.
So look for harmony in everything you do.
Just 2 cent of somebody who broke this summer his wallet for several coming years. "But what the heck, you live only once and shall make things while you still can"
Otherwise if you delay every dream, there might come the moment you will regret yourself.
Rig pushing is higly addictive and does cause many more smiles and grateful memmories then any other hobby I know of.
Best luck
50 and still counting as a kid that doesn't want to grow up.
Sven
Enjoying my 82 Aspencade with Motorvation formula 2. Has plenty of power. Just downshift for big hills so you don't lug the bike.
