I have been a Harley rider since I was able to get a license. We always considered them to be work horses. From hill climbs to drag racing, to flat tracking. Great things for my 45 years on 2 wheels. I know that the BMWs and the Hondas have more ccs and hp but low end pull I don't know. Never had one. It has different suspension and no electric camber control which makes it harder to adjust for different loads. I have a 2008 ulta classic and now she wants a new hannigan sidecar which has a top without snaps, and little wider. We camp a lot and now the question comes up how about a small trailer. When do I say enough for the air cooled bike. When we go over the scales we hit 1600 lbs no trailer. Thanks for any input you might have. I know there has to be a time when you become unsafe.
When I transported an upright refrigerator on a dirt bike , I may have been pushing the envelope just a little.
Phelonius... I'm thinkin' when an impromptu get together happens they tell you to bring the beer...
People stared like they had never seen a refrigerator before.
Was it plugged in?
Only after I got it home. I didn't have a long enough extension cord.
I once had only 2" to look above the bed I transported on the 7 house movements I did with the MZ rig. At each crossing I had to stand up in the pegs for to watch out.
As to the load questions you should take several things into account. Engine status, landscape, climate, load, aerodinamics, wind, town stop and go....etc.
The HD has one unlikely point the second cylinder in the wind shadow of the first one.
An oil cooler with fan and perhaps fan for the cylinders too can ample the use range.
Important, are you able to speak with your bike and interpret correctly what she tells you and can you change your drive modus accordingly. I have met people who weren't able to control their gas grip and killed engines in a row... ( a nut in Braunschweig chopped 5 CBX and you couldn't make one single out of them all) While others were kind of virtuous, albeit they abused their rig frequently, but their rigs lasted and lasted. 20and more years.(ex: Haenschen's Porsche chaser in Braunschweig too)
So it depends on multiple factors.
Analyze your conditions , circumstances and needs, decide later when you have the answers together.
Sven
As for the Harley cooling problem on the rear cylinder, It is not a problem with a sidecar rig depending on the shape of the hack body.
As wind is channeled between the bike and hack, it piles up against the riders leg and rear pannier forcing it to flow across the rear cylinder.
My V twin honda benefits from this too. There is an electric fan thermostat controlled behind the small radiator, it almost never comes on.
The most important part of your question was " I know there has to be a time when you become unsafe" Power as far as safety is not the issue, for safety brakes and handling are the issue. The Hannigan sidecar more then likely has a brake, is it hooked up and working well? How does the rig handle? Are you exceeding the load rating on your tires? Yes you can get away a bit with over loading a bike but I have seen with the air cooled Harley's greatly reduced engine life when ran loaded heavy. For some people they must ride a Harley, no other bike will do. If you are one of these people look at ways to reduce what you are taking, if not there are some bikes that may work better. For me I would go with a Honda GL1800 if I am staying only on pavement (I like off pavement so my own bike is a 2014 BMW R1200GSA water cooled) The GL1800 has so much power that there is even a company in Europe that makes a tow kit for the bike where the take the bike and weave through traffic to where a broken down car is and then unfold a tow rig that puts the front wheels of the car on a dolly and tows the broken down car away. The GL1800 you can also run an automotive tire on the back which not only lasts a lot longer but also has a much higher load capacity. I have only once ran out of power with a GL1800, it was running a two seat sidecar, pulling a tent trailer while out of the country playing with sport bikes in the mountains, the GL1800 rig would not do better then 95mph while pulling the mountain hills at altitude so I would have to catch back up with the sport bikes in the corners.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
