Has anyone had any luck finding an OEM Harley sidecar weight?
The Harley spring perch weights are sometimes offered on Ebay.
Lonnie
Haven't seen this mentioned but I use two 5-gallon collapsible water jugs in the trunk of my Hannigan Classic. That gives me 80# of ballast that I can easily get rid of if I want to give someone a thrill. Than I just fill the jugs back up at the next stop.
Hall
HI FOLKS:
To have removable weights, stumbled on ample supply: old, large-sized brake rotors! My sons/yours truly did brake jobs on our respective vehicles over last 2 yrs.[full-size Buick, 2 pickup trucks]. Saved old rotors[about dozen to-date] which weren't too corroded and wire-brushed them. Use varying number in hack, depending on how much camping gear we're toting. Rig is GL1500/FSIII, so don't need many, but they DO make a difference in peace-of-mind on our terrible secondary roads up here in New England, after every spring thaw.
AND have 900cca truck battery in s/c trunk also! TTFN. Old Tom in NH
...member, NE 3 Wheelers
And THANK YOU LORD for bringing my son home safe from Iraq last month!
Originally written by helliott on 6/10/2007 1:44 PM
Haven't seen this mentioned but I use two 5-gallon collapsible water jugs in the trunk of my Hannigan Classic. That gives me 80# of ballast that I can easily get rid of if I want to give someone a thrill. Than I just fill the jugs back up at the next stop.
Hall
Helliot, just put 80 pounds of permanent ballast under the SC or in the trunk, and LEAVE it!...no need to ride around with the water jugs...big PIA.
the extra weight along with the passenger is a plus!
I have a Valkyrie with a Spyder 'car. Track width, about 64"
I have three duct taped bags each with 17 pounds of wheel weights, plus a complete set of Craftsman tools, another 20 pounds, plus about 30 pounds of gas in my aux sidecar tank.
I have a Yamaha SR500 with a Jawa Velorex 560 sidecar. It's a pretty lightweight rig. The tug and the chair are well paired. But the chair will come up pretty easily in a right-hander when empty. I run with a little over 100# of ballast when you factor in my tools. I bought some 15# stainless steel shot bags used for light rigging. They are very well made, have handles and don't move around in the truck. They are not cheap but will last a lifetime. I'll be getting some more for my second rig. Here's a link.
http://lowinglight.com/products.html#shotbags
No ballast in my 2006 Ural Tourist LX hack. I can lift it up by hand, but when I set the hack wheel down on my wife's bathroom scale (shhhh, don't tell her), it puts 165 lbs on the ground. Pretty stable as is. Can lift on RH turns, but a little technique and body english keeps it down most of the time.
Unless you are blocking up the bike to the same heigth as the scale so it isn't leaning away from the sidecar, you are getting a light reading on the scale. Part of the weight is being transferred to the bike wheels.
How much? Haven't got a clue.
Lonnie
Originally written by Hack'n on 6/16/2008 12:29 AM
Unless you are blocking up the bike to the same heigth as the scale so it isn't leaning away from the sidecar, you are getting a light reading on the scale. Part of the weight is being transferred to the bike wheels.
How much? Haven't got a clue.Lonnie
The scale is around an inch high so the effect isn't that much.
"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is." - 🙂
Originally written by Hack'n on 6/16/2008 12:29 AM
Unless you are blocking up the bike to the same heigth as the scale so it isn't leaning away from the sidecar, you are getting a light reading on the scale. Part of the weight is being transferred to the bike wheels.
How much? Haven't got a clue.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
dmobrien2001
The scale is around an inch high so the effect isn't that much.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Some long tim esidecar riggers will put the bike up on a 1x board (3/4") to simulate the crown of the road.If the sidecar wheel is on a scale the way to get the same effect woudl be to put the bike up on a thicker board.
Final adjustment will be " lean elft to go left and lean right to go right'...not rocket science here.
Claude
When my chair was removed for painting, I went to the local do all welding business and asked if they would be interested in adding some steel to the car frame. We dug around in his scrap and came up with a piece of carbon steel scrap which was 12" X 12" X 2" thick. It fit perfectly into the frame opening and adds 81 lbs. to the rig. It's supported on 3 sides with pieces of 1 1/2" angle. It took the weight of the Velorex up to about 235 pounds empty and approximately 35% of my bikes weight.
I couldn't be more pleased with the results after cleaning upthe welds and giving it several coats of Rustoleum paint.
That's a rare find.
The local steel supply here wants $240. for a 12"x24" slab of 1" plate.
Ouch!!!!!!
Lonnie
Originally written by Hack'n on 2/23/2009 5:57 PM
That's a rare find.
The local steel supply here wants $240. for a 12"x24" slab of 1" plate.
Ouch!!!!!!Lonnie
I used to estimate a lot of steel and we used $1.00 lb. for estimating
purposes. Fortunately for me, this piece was in his scrap pile and he
charged me $80.00 for the steel, $1.00 lb. and $20 for the welding and
angle. I couldn't thank him enough....
If you call a steel supplier prices are out of sight. Scrap yards and
scrap piles are the best source.
An easy calculator for steel plate:
http://www.chapelsteel.com/weight-steel-plate.html
i picked up a CB550 with a spirit eagle sidecar mounted to it...the owner said he was a little big for the old suspension and it leaned way to the left...i put new rear springs and shocks on the rear and it sits a lot straighter with me on it....i am new to the sidecar world but have road bikes for nearly 20 years....it is a different animal but i am liking it so far....my questions are
1.when my wife or daughter are in the car it corners and rides good but the steering is a bit wobbly at low speeds, is that normal?
2.my wife and i together are about #300 +gear(me #180)...my daughter is about #50 socking wet...if i were to put my self and my wife on the bike and my daughter in the car how much weight should i add or would it matter much? also would this be a safe ride? i'm not looking to go far just cruising around town and such
thanks
Tony
