Hello everyone, i'm a newbie in the sidecar world. i have recently set up a Volerex sidecar on to my roadking and i cant keep the back from sagging. it saggs about an 1' then stabilizes. any advise???
I have a Velorex on a Shadow. I'm no expert, but-
a) I think a Road King is probably too heavy of a bike.
b) Either ditch the mounts or weld them so they don't slip. They kind of suck.
c) If you have an older Velorex with the 15mm axle, it's probably unsafe with a Road King. I bent the axle on mine, apparently the 20mm axle might be good enough, but I'm going 35mm.
And talk to Jay (DMC), he knows his stuff. He has bike specific mounts for your bike that will work. I'm sure the sag is from the lower adjustable clamp mount sliding, mine did the same before I welded it down. Of course you can never adjust it after that... I also welded the goose neck. I can do adjustments from all the other hook ups, and can do a decent job lining it up, but it's a big PitA because instead of one adjustment, I need to do the other three.
Awesome thx, i purchased the unit off a guy who had it setup for a softtail. currently the sliding mount is welder but its not on a 90* to the frame, will that affect it?
A Velorex on a Roadking IS A BAD IDEA!!!! the velorex even the "heavy" duty ones are far to light in build and weight for a bike as large and heavy as yours. "Universal" type mounts are a bad idea in general and seldom work well. Even if you get the sidecar to stop sagging it can and never will handle as well as a properly mounted strong sidecar designed for a bike the size of yours. The largest Harley we are will to mount any Velorex to (heavy duty or not) is a Sportster. At this article you can get an idea of changes we make to the Velorex sidecar http://www.dmcsidecars.com/the-result-of-improper-sidecar-mounting-and-the-proper-fix/ While we have proper bike specific mounts for your bike and have the parts to make the up grades to your frame we will not sell them to you. I have to be able to sleep at night and will not help some one do some thing that I feel is not safe, Your bike with a Velorex sidecar in my opinion is not safe. Chances are the guy who sold it to you found that it did not work well on his bike which also was far to large for this sidecar. The Velorex is a great LITTLE sidecar for LITTLE bikes. I had one installed from the factory on an MZ Silverstar Gespan. It was great little rig, 500cc single but even on this small bike I ran 50 LBS of ballast in the sidecar.
We would be glad to help you install this sidecar on a bike it is suited for. Your safety and the safety of every one you share the road with must come first.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
Like I said, Jay knows what he is talking about. I think perhaps you could go a little heavier than a 500cc (with several modifications) but even my Shadow is a lot lighter than a Road King. Doing 70mph up the side embankment of the expressway while watching the grass inches from your nose, and wondering if the rig is going to tip enough for you to eat said grass, is something you really don't want to experience. Trust me. Jay might play it on the safe side, but for good reason, and is honorable enough to turn down business he doesn't think is safe. I strongly suggest listening to him, anyone who says he won't take your money... Well, trust me, he isn't out to sell you a bigger sidecar. He can, and personally, I'd buy one from him, but IMO he's the man to listen to. There are some that could tell you how to modify the Velorex to 'work', but I think it's a large pain for marginal performance, it's still too light of a car once you're done doing what costs almost as much as a new car anyhow.
