Greetings everyone, new here so forgive the first post anxieties. I've got an '02 Buell X1 and anticipate fitting a hack to it. The design is simply a 20"x40" oblong hoop constructed of 1" od .125 wall tubing and 3/8" roundbar as a platform sitting upon a subframe to be attached to the bikes frame with 1" tubing and threaded heim joints. Plan on utilizing a torsion half axle attached to the subframe and 17" Buell front wheel as rolling stock. Kind've along the lines of a competition go-cart theme w/alum. floorpan, 2" lightening holes throughout. Interface at the swingarm area and seat strut mtg. pts. would most likely work. Front motor mount location may be the only alternative for fwd. strut fitment. Anyone ever messed with one of these? Any input to steer me in the right direction would be great. This thing has got to be bolt on. Thanks in advance.
Attached is a picture of a Buell Subframe. The work was done by a firend of his. Seems to work well.
I have not done a Buell subframe myself but no doubt it can be done. Some models woudl be much more difficult than others.
Keep in mind that you need some 'beef' with a sidecar rig. When finished you want the whole outfit to work as one with no flex or movement anywhere. Movement makes setting up and maintaining th esetting impossible. It also encourages structural failures as all is not working in unison and a weak link will creatre problems either at that point of somewhere else.
A little additional weight on the sidecar side is not going to hurt you or the performance of the rig. Too little weigth over there will be a downside and not a help. Do not build th esidecar too light. Make it stout and it will work well for you and handle better too.
I would not go lighter than 1 1/4 x .120 DOM tubing for a sidecar frame and woudl prefer 1 1/2" material unless the frame was to be of a space frame type construction. Either way some cross bracing at the swingarm area is a good idea. The smaller th etubing th eless weld surface you get also..this is a factor unless well thought out.
Heim ends are used a lot for lower mounts on sidecars. You will get into trouble with heim ends used everywhere. These types of fittings are really made to move and can never be tightened up on all angles. Even if the traingulation of the mounts was perfect the chance of movement woudl still be a big concern.
Thanks for the quick and informative reply. The heim joint thing makes perfect sense as does the over engineering. Ridgidity is key here, I know. One thing I'd neglected to mention was the car subframe construction. I planned on using either 1"x2" rec. tubing and or possibly a ladder bar type affair to tie in the axle mount. If I had the spare jingle, this would be a breeze being my original plan for the bike was a donor for an old school, sprung seat bobber project. Fitment of a hack to that type of frame would be simple. Once I took delivery of the bike, I felt it was too nice to molest. This thing is low miles and clean as can be. Normally I wouldn't even think of doing this but my body is no longer cooperating in the manner where I'm confident on two wheels. I just don't want to give up riding altogether. I sold my Superglide last summer due mainly to the weight being too much for me. Currently gathering information and drawing plans for this monstrosity. Thanks again and the pic will be of good use. Got any more of that pretty 'S' model and its hack hardware?
Edit: The design of this thing would probably be considered of space frame const. w/no body unless the procurment of a belly tank occurs. Aside from a flyscreen/number plate type affair just to kinda match the theme of the bike. I figure if I come across a belly tank, fitment should be relatively simple on the hoop frame as an afterthought. I know there's some similar affairs in the aftermarket but have yet to see one on a Buell aside from some leading link morphidite looking thing. Another catch is funding. The steel and all materials would be mostly freebies. All I need to do is come up with a materials list. An aftermarket rig would be around three grand before I was done. Another hitch is, I've currently not much of anywhere to work on this thing other than the concrete walk in front of my place. It ain't going to work other than maybe fab of the hoop braces and frame attatchment points on the bike for the subframe there. The guy I'm consulting with is a former race car frame builder. Dude can fab anything. Thing is, his shop is over a hundred miles away. Guess I can drag the thing out of the shed and begin the gazing and rubbing of chin and head as I measure and cut templates from paper or flashing to send on to him for mounting boss clamps. Ugh, I need a damned garage!
Here are some more pictures. It was built prety wide to help stability with the light velorex sidecar. There are other way sto go of course but this rig did pretty well for minimal investment.
If you are building from scratch be sure to consider placement of all mounts for ease of adjustment. Spread them out as far as reasonably possible for strength and get dome good trianglation on them. There is no downside to adding a 5th mount if there are any concerns.
Who is the 'race car guy'. Just curious as we raced for many years and my wife is from upstate new york.
Thanks some more... That is a pretty sweet rig he's got. Fabricator dude is from North Brunswick, NJ. Has a big truck shop. Was always into bikes as well, Trumpets old and new and H-D. Think he's parted with all but a non running Triumph rigid/girder molestation and his Sporty.
Edit: BTW, the frames of mine and the 'S' model in the pics are identical from the front of the seat/swingarm pivot foward, so far as I know. I may just end up trying to replicate what's shown. Maybe given some finishing touches on his/our artistic merit will yeild a trick hack. With the power these nutty things make, it should prove to be an interesting ride. I just hope he's got the time for it.
