I am thinking of having a sidecar mounted on a '74 R90/6 and I am wondering if a subframe would need to be built/bought to make this a safe and reliable rig?
I have heard that I woudl need one, but the person who told me that has never done it. If anyone here has mounted one I would love to hear any advice you might have. If it helps I would probably be mounting a Ural car.
Thanks,
jack
The post /2 BMW frames are not up to running a sidecar with out sub frames as the frame is just not stout enough.
We make mounting kits specific to your bike. These kits are 100% bolt on and in most cases require no modifications to the bike. However some /6 bikes did not have one of the holes drilled in the frame that we attach to so you may have to drill one hole. We will have more in stock by Tuesday as a batch of 10 is at the powder coat shop right now. We also have sidecars that would work well on this bike. This inclueds the Kenna for $2495 as well as the Ural at $2695. The Ural sidecars we stock we had the factory build the frames to our specifications giving us an adjustable lower front mount.
We also have steering modifications for this bike and know them well having owned these bikes. We install sidecars on these bikes at the rate of about 2 a month in the shop and send out many more mounting kits.
Jay Giese
Dauntless Motors Corporation
www.dauntlessmotors.com
Thanks! I wish I lived on the other coast but I think shipping would kill me to buy from you (and it's always good to support local folks).
What steering mods are usually needed for these bikes?
thanks again,
jack
Campanula....
I have a '74 R90/6 with a Ural car and had it put together by Perry's Motorcyles in Fort Worth. He has a gorilla attach plate for the rear attach point at the frame. He also has a set of triple clamps to make that steering setup for the bike and it is working great for me.
I have over 27K miles on the rig and I inspect those tubes regularily and no problems so far.
However, he did put heavy duty shocks and springs on the rear and heavy duty fork springs and heavier oil in the forks to handle the heavier weights and loads on the bike.
Give him a call....maybe he can give you some help on your project.
budamy
R90/6/Ural
the front forks are not designed to cope with the sideways stress of a sidecar rig. even tho you add modded triple clamps.
Best thing to do is install a Unit leading link front end or an older BMW earles fork, as I have.
it is much stronger for sidecar use.
We use to modify the triple tree set up but discontinued the parts to do this once we ran out due to low demand for the parts. The triple tree set up worked ok. Leading links work much better as the stock forks flex. We handle the Unit brand of links as well as make our own for these bikes but we build them only when the bike is in our shop. When we make the links we convert from ATE brakes on the front to Brembo by spacing the rotors out for clearence. We then float the calipars on top so that we can dial in either dive or climb on braking.
Jay Giese
Dauntless Motors Corporation
www.dauntlessmotors.com
Please do not attempt to mount a car to the R90 without a proven sub frame system. I have Jay's sub frame mounted to my 75 R90/6. I've been very happy with them. I also use Jay's triple clamp mod (discontinued ?) with a tube fork brace. Seems to be ok (much better than the stock trail) and was a lot less money than a leading link. Definetly took some strain off the front end.
I too have Jay's subframe on my 1974 R90/6 Ural combo. Works well and was money well spent.
Regards,
Dr. Raoul Duke
Chicago Skyway Public Enemy #1
If I may run alongside of this train- any ideas why the early '50s Beemer stock forks seemed to do well with TR500s and such wout any fork mods?
Ok, so what's the solution for a /6 steering? Is it better to get an older Earles fork or is there another replacement? Can stock forks handle a lighter sidecar?
The stock forks aren't going to just fold up under sidecar usage. There are plenty of Beemers running around with stock forks and a chair on the side. Raked trees or leading link make for easier steering, but aren't absolutely necessary for survival.
For leading links there's Unit, older BMW, URAL, lots of options but some will need modification to work on your bike.
Lonnie
I put an earles fork on my /5 bike...super steering!!
took 2 days to get it on and riding.
Which one did you use, BOB?
the earles is from an old '56 Beemer i think. it has the curved rear cross bar on it.
I have at least 1" clearance between the rear of the earles and the front engine cover.
The steering head shaft slipped right into my /5 steering head, using a new set of bearings.
I have pics posted in the /2 conversion group, labled earles conversion,
