I've been toying with the idea of adding a sidecar to my 1972 SWB R75/5. I like the classic look of the Ural sidecars and was hoping to find out more information on what it would take to mount it to my /5. If anyone has pics of /5's with sidecars, I would like to see them.
Thanks,
-Jim
The ural is a good choice for a /5.
There are several regulars here who have nice /5 with ural rigs and hopefully one or more of them has some photo's they can share.
Are you planning to buy the sidecar new or used? If used it would be ideal if you found one removed from a bmw airhead as the subframes and mounts you need may come with the sidecar.
At the most basic level you need some subframes, homemade or purchased to distribute the load from the sidecar to the bikes frame. The rear subframe on the /5 where you mount the top rear strut will crack if you don't use a rear subframe as it is not designed to take a side load from a sidecar. The subframes seve a secondary purpose of locating the mounting points for the sidecar in the proper places for a stiff structure, rather then where it is convienent to attach to the frame. The /5 frame is not solid enough in the right places to mount a ural with out subframes if you plan to leave the neighborhood with it.
If you start using the rig for many miles you will probably want to change the trail to reduce steering effort. This can be done with modified triple trees or swapping the forks for a leading link front end. This modification is not needed to start using the rig, but is nice if you plan to use it for any distance.
Originally written by mahaney on 3/14/2007 10:46 AM
I've been toying with the idea of adding a sidecar to my 1972 SWB R75/5. I like the classic look of the Ural sidecars and was hoping to find out more information on what it would take to mount it to my /5. If anyone has pics of /5's with sidecars, I would like to see them.
Thanks,
-Jim
As Tod mentioned...you definately need a subframe, to mount ANY sidecar to all the / bikes..and most other brands also, for strengthening and ease of mounting.
I have a 73 LWB /5 with a subframe and earles fork mod...great!
I had a Terraplane mounted to it and now a MV FII flipnose.
We make sub frames for the /5 and also have Ural sidecars in stock. The Sputnik we have in stock also works well with this bike. There are photo's of /5's with sidecars on our site www.mysidecar.com
Jay Giese
Dauntless Motors Corporation
866-638-1793
Do you sell only new sidecars or do you also sell used ones?
Thanks,
-Jim
I have dauntless subframes on my r100rt with a sputnick.
The front subframe broke while on the highway in traffic after a couple years of use.
When it broke in front of the motor bolts I traveled very carefully to my destination about 30 miles from where it broke and about 400 miles from home and had it rewelded and reinforced by a local welding shop. A year later at the Bean Blossom Rally Jay spotted the subframe and pointed out to someone it was one of his. When I mentioned the needed repairs, he confirmed he had several reports of them breaking at the same place mine did and had redesigned the weak point for the current models.
If you decide to purchase this product I would make sure you are purchasing a redesigned subframe if you buy one from dauntless, and not one of the earlier design that I purchased.
I'm was not that suprised I broke it as I can be quite hard on my equipment, and did not bother dauntless with my problem as I thought it was a unique situation.
Due to my riding experience and skills I did not consider myself at risk when the sidecar started flapping in the breeze. The results could have well been different for someone with less experience on three wheels or who panicked when they saw what had happened.
My major disapointment in dauntless was while there was an admission that he knew it was a weak point in the design that could and did break on other rigs besides mine, he made no visible (at least to this ower) effort to warn users there was a problem, or make any attempt to rectify the situation.
We as far as I know never had any other /5 sub frame other then yours ever break. We changed the design as we cam up with a way to make it a bit stronger and cleaner.
We seldom have any used sidecars, The only one we have at this time is a Sputnik with about 500 miles on it that was on my own KLR, I pulled it to go with one of our new Enduro platform sidecars.
Jay Giese
Dauntless Motors Corporation
866-638-1793
