Fellow Sidecarists -
I have a 2003 MG Stone Touring with a Sputnik chair. The previous owner of the Sputnik changed the original wheel to a 70s BMW mag wheel because it had the same axle diameter. I would like to change it to a wheel matching the Stone but know that the Stone axles are a different size from the Sputnik. Would it be as simple as finding a different bearing that would fit the wheel and the axle? Has onyone done this type of thing before?
Thanks,
Rod
Most standard sized wheel/axle combos can be accomplished with bearing changes. The other critical measurement is axle length. If too short you have a problem, if too long spacers or washers will take up the extra space.
Lonnie
Your axle on the Sputnik is 17mm, The stone 20mm, there is not a bearing swap that will make this change. So you will need to change the axle out on the Sputnik in order to do this.
BTW, for your bike we offer bike specific mounts as well as triple tree's to lower the steering effort and we do have a very limited supply of new Sputnik parts on hand still.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
866-638-1793
www.dmcsidecars.com
Jay, from what I could find, the bearings on a Stone are 20 ID X 47 OD X14 W and the current BMW bearings are 17 ID X ? OD X12 W. From the wildguzzi.com board, I got a bearing #6303 that has the right dimensions (17 ID X 47 OD X1 4 W) but I haven't looked at axle length yet. Did you find axle length to be an issue when you did Sputnik wheel swaps? The snowflake wheel is pretty thin.
Of course, I may be all wet on this.
Kind regards,
Rod
It is the O.D. that will not allow this to work, if there is a bearing that will work it is not a very common bearing or listed in any of the catalogs we use.
Jay G
DMC sidecar
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
Thanks, Jay. I did use your mounts on both the Guzzi and the Sputnik. I am pondering your triple tree but didn't you also have the Headingham Leading Link front-ends available?
Kind regards,
Rod
We can do the leading links, the triple tree's are 1/2 the price and work almost as well.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
