Greetings y'all!
I'm a long-time rider - nearly 40 years - but I'm just recently showing a greater interest in adding a sidecar to my bike.
I'm currently riding a 2006 Star (Yamaha) Royal Star Tour Deluxe with 24K+ miles on it. After doing all the reading, perusing, poking and prodding around Urals, Harleys and other makes with sidecars attached, I've decided to stay with my 'Deluxe and add a hack to it.
Any suggestions regarding make, model, features, do's, don't's, etc., will be greatly appreciated.
If anyone has experience with the RSTD platform, I'd be very interested to chat it up with you.
Thanks for having a forum like this. I know sidecarring is still considered a "niche" for more traditional motorcyclists, but I've always liked them and I don't want to go with a trike - VW, Yamaha, Honda, Harley, or otherwise.
Thanks in advance for whatever you can offer me in the way of suggestions.
Be safe, and be blessed!
Papa Bear
Sons Of God MC
Middle Tennessee
in the dealers section you can find someone close to get an in person look .I just got a Motorvation Spyder for my Heritage it is about 160# vary nice ride got it used for $2k $500 for mounting hardware. Mary will help with all your questions.
Welcome Mike ,
You have a heavy (over 800#) bike. Make sure you mate it with a heavy sidecar that will support the bike and loads it will carry safely. A small, light sidecar does not have the suspension to handle to handle large touring baggers.
Lonnie
NWSC retired
Welcome to the slightly off-center world of sidecars Mike!
What kind of riding do you plan to do? I'm assuming your interests are paved roads. The Ural does off-road well and is pretty good on the blacktop too, tho prolly not suited for long haul touring at high speeds with passengers and cargo. How many passengers are you planning? I have a double-wide which is great for kids/grand kids, or in my case, the Boss Monkey and the Pooch. Plenty of cargo room too when I use it for 'round town grocery gett'n. The extra-wide stance is also good to help prevent unintended chair flights. A big bike like yours has plenty of grunt to handle it.
As for 'niche', it depends on how far back you take 'traditional'. It used to be that a bike with a sidecar was the ride of choice when early automobiles were out of reach for most.
don't get a sub frame mounted under your current frame and lose all your ground clearance. i have had best luck with Harley sidecars on the bikes they were made for. Real custom mounts are hard to find and get set up correctly.
I mostly plan on commuting around 15 miles round trip, local riding and regional touring with a few long-range trips thrown in each year.
After speaking to the folks at Freedom Sidecars, they agree that my RSTD is a stout and powerful enough platform to handle a sidecar. I don't, however, intend to tour at higher speeds, just take my time and get there when I get there.
I intend to have my wife as a passenger on occasion, my grandkids when they're old enough, my dog Maisie Belle (20 pound Jack Russell/Schnauzer/Heinz 57 mutt) and camping gear or groceries, depending on the task at hand.
I've seen the double-wides and I'm not sure I want that style, although I'm willing to consider one once I've done some more research.
I'll call Motorvation this week and get their input, and keep working on making a decision.
I do have a local shop who are very knowledgeable regarding bikes, trikes and sidecars. They're open again on Tuesday, and I'll swing by and talk with the owner about what he suggests and what they can offer me regarding service, etc.
Thanks for the feedback! I will definitely keep you posted on my progress.
Michael
We also offer many sidecars that come with bike specific NOT universal mounting hardware and are heavy and strong enough for your bike as well a offering triple tree's for your bike to lower the steering effort.
Let me know if we can be of help.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
I had a home made sidecar on an 1100 V Star, 05 model. It was rock solid and could exceed 100 MPH if I opened it up.
I welded mounting lugs onto the frame directly and had no problems with it.
I would highly recommend a subframe for that type of bike. For such a heavy bike you will need a heavy and stout sidecar. And you need to introduce force very soft into as much as possible parts of the frame. The subframe should be bolted to at least 4 connection points at the frame and from each point there should be a connection to the other side of the frame.
If it's done like that, it should last for a very long time without issues.
