Kids in the Sidecar

Body mount bolt positions are usually used for attaching belts and harnesses. If none are adjacent the frame crossmembers are also a good mount position. Last choice is the use of fender washers (they come with most belts) bolted through the body floor.

L.

Every time I see a post like thhis I think about Bob Zinda.

The reason that there isn't much info is because a lot of folks think seat belts in a sidecar are a bad idea. Since your passengers are so young they are probably an exception.

Thanks guys. I'm sure my husband will be posting here shortly! (Who is Bob Zinda, btw?)

Brenda

Aha--I just did a search for Zinda and read several of his posts. So sorry to hear about him. Looks like there are many different opinions on seatbelts vs. car seats vs. kids in a sidecar. Looks like we have our research cut out for us!

Brenda

Al Olme - 6/20/2011 10:33 PM

Every time I see a post like thhis I think about Bob Zinda.  

The reason that there isn't much info is because a lot of folks think seat belts in a sidecar are a bad idea.  Since your passengers are so young they are probably an exception.

I also did a search trying to understand your comment about Bob Zinda, and I don't get it. Could you please explain??

It appears that Bob and several forum regulars had differing opinions on who/what/weight goes into a sidecar. (From the few posts that I scanned through).

Brenda

Bob Z. was a devoted sidecarist and is remembered for several things but two that always come to mind for me are...

1. Bob felt VERY STRONGLY that it is important that when distributing passengers you must place the heaviest passenger in the sidecar, not on the back of the bike. This is true enough but many folks don't ride that way and it's probably less important on a heavy rig than a light one. Just my opinion, you'll hear others.

2. Bob's sig line said, "I love my computer, because my friends live in it!"

My grandkids are 3 and 4 and both ride with me. I installed a lap belt just to keep them "seated" when I hit a pot hole or something else.

Thanks Scott....ours has the lap belt already but we're looking to tighten things up just a bit more. We just picked up our bike today so let the safety experiments commence!

I put my wife on the pillon(110lbs) and my child at 4 went in her car seat in the hack,..a truck battery, tool box and correct set-up had me running this rig safely with or without in hack , on back, 2 up,..what ever combination I wished,..with nothing more then my lunch box to work,..I had to really work at flying the chair,balance, toe-in, camber all make the difference in a driveable unit, ..the trick is that you are comfortable with the set-up, confident in your abilities and rig,..and use proper discression and judgement,....one thing to remember is the "Haan's device" to keep the childrens head/neck from a sharp breaking jerk in an accident situation,( remember Dale Earnhart?)..I could have rolled my rig on it's roof down the highway,..and my daughter was in good shape,...enjoy and have fun,...hacks are a hell of a lot cooler then mini-vans !!!! hehe crawf.

One of the biggest problems in having kids in the hack, is trying to find a DOT approved helmet for them, if they are under the age of about 6. Even for bicycles, it seems overly difficult to find good fitting helmets for really young children. I was reading at an online horse site recently, and the riding helmets for young kids there are almost non-existant, as well. I believe most folk adapt to using the smallest of bicycle helmets, but I am not so sure a bicycle helmet really protects well in a hack environment for a crash or such. Any rate, just something to be aware of when fitting the kids for helmets.

Lots of previous archived posts here about seatbelts or restraints. There are even more at sites like Soviet Steeds, the IMZWA message board and Advrider site. Lots of opinions and lots of good and not so good info to become familar with, too. Good luck in your choice of how to secure the kiddos. You will have to pick and choose what you feel most comfortable with from the available information out there. Good luck on your choice. Hope the kiddos enjoy hack riding.

Yesterday, my husband and the boys drove to a high-end auto fabrication shop in York, PA and spoke with one of the techs there. After taking a long look at our set-up, they both determined that there really wasn't a way to add five-point harnesses to the fiberglass shell of the sidecar that would make it truly any, "safer," than having the kids just use the lap belt. (The addition of any type of harness would probably only be there to give us peace of mind, but not to serve any real purpose). So we're going to leave it at that. As for the helmets, we ordered 3/4 youth helmets online a few weeks ago, and when they arrived, they were so heavy that the three year-old could barely hold his head up. So we sent them back and bought a pair of DOT approved Daytona half helmets. Not the full protection I'd like, but better than the bike helmets they were sporting last week!

And away we go!! Thanks everyone!

Brenda

My grandson goes with me almost all the time,with his carseat fastened in with automotive seatbelts. for more support and safty you might want to look at the Simpson five point restraint,it works well and is readily available from Jegs,Speedway and other racecar shops. Ride Safe..... Dave

My former record were 6 kids between 3 and 8 years in a MZ Superelastic plus me as driver yesterday: 5 teenager plus me had a blast in my Jawa Velorex flying the chair.
Just for fun no blameing needed I know that is nuts, but my nick name will explain all.
And today I was transporting trees for to plant in the farm. Soon my wife might ask me to use the tub for flower planting.... Hopefully not.
Sven 😮 😉