Sidecar Shock absorber reccomendation?

We use progressive suspentions shocks for Harley aplications. Spring rate depends on the load you are going to carry.
This is what we use on our sidecars as well as the up grade unit we do for the California chassis.
As long as you are building this you may want to consider adding a brake.
Jay Giese
Dauntless Motors Corporation
www.dauntlessmotors.com
866-638-1793

Hello Al,
There are two Chester Springs in Pa. what county are you in? I am located about 50 miles north of Harrisburg. We have a friendship I here now that is going to get some upgrades. I like to convert them to a full length torsion bar with a tilt adjustor. (Similar to a lean adjuster but it tilts the whole rig). Jay does a different deal where the coil over shock is over on the bike side of the sidecar. I have only seen these in the pictures at his site.
Al,There are many options with shocks it all depends on how much you want to spend. If using used parts try something off of a big bike. Some of the automotive racing shocks are also usable such as Carrerra etc. They have adjustble ride heights and various spring rates can be had. See speedwaymotors.com or stockcarproducts.com and look around.
If you want to compare notes feel free to call me and maybe we can get together. (570) 837-5182
Hope to see you at the ISOK Sidecar RON DEE VOO in Weikert, PA. AUGUST 3-6...see elsewhere on this site for details. Note we will be raffling off a Kenna sidecar too...get your tickets soon they are going pretty fast already 🙂
I SEE YOU ARE INTO ENDURO RACING...We do have a dual sport sidecar ride planned during the RON DEE VOO..

Thats Chester Springs in Chester County, right off the Downingtown exit of the turnpike.

I do have the stock shock off the front of my BMW 1100 still, I put a works unit on it. I would think that it would be too stiff? guess I need to design with change in mind. The laydown angle and point of attachment to the swing arm will change everything too, gotta do more reading on that.

BTW I race 2 wheel enduros not sidecar enduros..

Once I get it done I'll post a project page.
It's all part of an articulating rig I'm fabricating. I've found very little useful info on these shores but a real pleathera of it over in Germany where Armec and Swing make these kind of rigs.

What I have discovered is this:
The front pivot height to rear pivot height is critical as well as the placement of the pivot center line (it seems that they lean better if the front is about centered on the bike and the rear is closer to the rig. Ive received some very good reference pics and measurements from the Germans.

Again if anyone knows of someone who owns an Armec, I'd love to talk to them about some measurements.

Thx-guys!

Didn't realize it was a leaner. You can go softer with one of those than with a rigid rig.
Be sure to think out the pivot point placements carefully. The pivot points (lower mounting points) will move in a radial motion with contact patch of the bike tires being the center of the circle so to speak.
With this in mind I am a little concerned on what you wrote.
>>>What I have discovered is this:
The front pivot height to rear pivot height is critical as well as the placement of the pivot center line (it seems that they lean better if the front is about centered on the bike and the rear is closer to the rig. Ive received some very good reference pics and measurements from the Germans.<<<
There are compromises in both directions and front to rear. If you keep the idea of a radial movement in mind it begins to make more sense.
Example(s) to think on:
If both pivots are the same distance from the centerline of the bike and the same height from ground level the sidecar wheel will stay parallel with the bike wheels when the bike is leaned in or out.
The higher they are from th eground level th emore the sidecar wheel is pulled or pushed to th eside as th ebike leans in and out.
If they could be put low there would be less pull and push effect on the sidecar wheel to the side the bike is leaning.
With that in mind lets say the front mount is higher than the rear mount. This would make the front mount move in a larger arc than the rear mount as the bike is leaned either way. Translation: front mount pulls to the side more. If you are thinking on thsi what does it mean? A larger arc on the front mount than the rear will pull the front of the sidecar over more than the rear mount. What does this mean? The sidecar wheel is 'steered' in the direction of the lean !!! Desirable? Most think so.
Just think it terms of how big of a radius the mounts are rotating on as the bike leans.
How much 'difference' is best? I have no idea. Some have went to extremes and some appear to be built with little variation.
When looking at leaner rigs be sure to not only consider the arc's radius but also on what part of th ecurve th emount is positioned. Distance from centerline of bike makes a different too. If the pivot was at the centerline of the bike it would lower that end of the sidecar when leaning as the centerline would be the 'top' of the radius when bike is vertical. If the pivot was closer to the sidecar that end of th esidecar would raise as the pivot would be 'climbing ' the curve so to speak.
So considerations of height of pivots and distance of pivots from centerline of bike can affect what is going on when the bike leans.
How much effect all of this geometry has on the handling of the rig is a good question that probably can only be answered on a case to case basis.
Keep in mind that with a leaner a light weight sidecar is your friend. Weight of sidecar compared to bike should be as light as possible unlike a rigid rig.
Have often thought of building a leaner and may do so someday. If I do I think an adjustable mounting system would be a good leaning exercise.
Have fun...be carEful... and please keep us posted.

Thanks Claude, I too have been lost in thought about this..even modeling it in Solid Works to check how things change when I lean the bike in 3D computerspace and measuring XYZ changes of the rig along with anglular changes.

I really would like to get someone with a sidewinder to take some carefull measurements for me as a starting point. I have some pretty good pics that I can guestimate with scaled grids and have some measurements from Germans that work on thier rigs.

Ideally I'd love to build a fully adjustable mount and rig to tune it ride by ride but that too would compromise weight and some saftey.

I will keep you posted. Thx

I beleive it was Tim Miller who built an articulating leaner from a Velrex. It is mounted on a Valkarie and he sai dit works well. Tim, are you reading this?
Also Gary Haynes (Sidecar Magic Shoppe) has done a couple of them. Email garyoldfriend@yahoo.com.
Yes, please keep us posted.