Friendship I

The torsional suspension was used until 1988. It has been upgraded to a coil over shock swingarm system. CSC had, or has, upgrades for this suspension.
The pre '89 CSC cars also used ball and collet type mounts that used a very small (marble sized) ball with a collet that used an extruded steel
"flower" that grabbed it and held it with a 5/16" SAE bolt. A very flimsy setup that was prone to failure. These mounts are also easily upgradable to Heim joint mounts from CSC and others.
Installing both of these upgrades will put your FSI on par with the late models, safety wise.

Lonnie

hey there, I too have a friendship 1 mounted to an '02 marauder, I have had no trouble with the suspension after 6000 miles and fabricated my own mounting hardware to attach to my frame,( millwright).. the car is light and handles beautifully with my with my 450lb cruiser, it works very well, but inquire to the " wise ol' men" of the site here for correct upgrades and appropriate corrections for your specific needs,..my two cents, crawf.

We have converted them to a real splined torsion bar suspension that has a manual tilt adjustor built in. Also I would not utilize the mounting hardware nor the strap clamps that were origianlly provided as Lonnie alluded to. Feel free to call for more details. 570 765 8310 daysNote that there are a lot of these sidecars on the road still with the original suspension that are not having problems. The small flat springs can be replaced by modified ones out of an older VW bug. Some have made the deal into a rigid sidecar. I know if two who did this anyhwo.

Gee, now you guys have me concerned about "the Luker" in his Friendship I. Guess maybe I should talk with Kurt.
Sidecar Ron and Luke

Thanks all for the reply's and information. I picked up the sidecar and brought it home yesterday. It's in great shape and was previously mounted on a GL1200. I'm going to be hooking it up to my Ultra Glide. I have a Ural that my wife and I really enjoy but we wanted a sidecar that was more suited to touring. Dick

I'm curious. I have a Ural sidecar on my Valkyrie and my daughter had a Cal 1. What makes the Cal better suited for touring?

He's probably referring to the more enclosed body and availability of a top for passenger protection from the elements.
It certainly isn't due to ease of ingress and egress. lol

Lonnie

I'm refering to the fact that my Harley has cruise control a great stereo and will run all day long on the interstate. We love the Ural but it has definite limitations. I think the Ural sidecar would be just fine hooked up to just about any type of motorcycle but I was looking for something a little better. Based on CS's reputation for quality, I thought the Friendship I would fill my needs until I could afford something better. After getting the sidecar home, I definitly see that getting in and out of it is going to be an chore. But, you know what, I don't care since most of the time we ride two-up and the dogs are in the sidecar.

Dick

the unit I purchased was previously affixed to an FLH, owner was also pleased with it,..we have a child's car seat and a 4 year old in ours most of the time, and we find she is well protected from the wind and road debris, I'm just glad I don't have to climb into the damned thing every time,..hehe crawf.

Woops,
Thought you were speaking of just the URAL sidecar, not a whole combo.
With the lighter CSC car on a Harley Bagger don't forget the dogs PLUS ballast if you're going to ride two up. That car is about 50# lighter than a URAL.

Lonnie

I hear you on the sand bag issue. It came with several add-on option's which included two fifty lb bags of sand. The dogs love the ride and have logged more time in it than my wife or I.

Dick

Up-date on the Friendship I.

After talking with both Claude and then Scott at Cal Sidecar, I decided that rather than jury-rig something together the best way to go was the safeway (read expensive). Scott was able to put together a mounting package for me and got it shipped right out inspite of the holiday weekend.

It arrived on Monday morning and after work that evening I was able to put all the parts on the Harley. Four parts, several bloody knuckles, an aching back and 3 hours later it was a done deal. Did I mention that this stuff is massive and in know way chincy. The Harley gained about 30 pounds in 3 hours. The directions were pretty straightforward and the biggest problem incountered was removing the right front floorboard.

So tonight the big challenge is to actually couple sidecar and Harley. I'm sure getting it aligned right the first time won't happen but ya gotta start somewhere.

More to come and maybe picture's if I can figure out how to post them.

Dick

Well, the Harley and side car are now join at the hip. It took longer than expected but the first outing was not to bad. Quite abit of low speed wobble with no weight in the car but it wasn't too bad with my wife as ballast. I need to re-adjust the lean-out of the Harley and check the toe-in of the car. The installation sheet called for 1" -1 1/4". The car is setting pretty much horizontal to the pavement but after reading some of the previous posts, it might need to have a little lean-in. The lead worked out to be 10".

The weather has turned cold and wet here so further testing will have to wait for a few days.

Dick

keep the car level with the ground,and lean the BIKE out, not the car.