I have a Velorex 562. When I purchased it, the previous owner did not spend enough time setting it up. I spent a whole day following the manufacturer's instructions for proper setup. The result - perfect steering and handling. The problem is that this sidecar only has about a 200 pound rating, and therefore a very light suspension. When someone sits in the sidecar, it sags, and changes the whole setup causing it to pull to the right. The heavier the load, the more sag, and harder pull. (Staying within the rating of 200 pounds). I thought about beefing up the suspension, but won't that reduce the rider comfort? Is there a "best of both worlds" solution? Thanks for any advice.
What bike do you have it on?
Couldn't you set it up with ballast (sand or birdshot) roughly the weight of a passenger and then remove the ballast when you actually have a passenger?
I have a bolt-on suspension upgrade for the early Velorex sidecars with the 15mm axles (all prior to the Cruiser and Tour models).
This is used with the heavier bikes and for dual sport and off road usage.
No other modifications are needed for a stable handling early Velorex rig.
For particulars email me at: nwsidecar@aol.com
or: Phone (208) 629-8409
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars, LLC
It's on a CB-900
I know that would work, but wouldn't that be kind of a ridiculous fix? You could never go somewhere and pick someone up, or you'd have to leave your ballast at the place of pickup. Plus you would have to carry around 150-200 pounds of sand bags all the time? There has be a "real" fix.
Sounds like Lonnie has a "real fix".
But I guess it all depends on what you want to do and how much experience you have. I like the consistent ride and I hardly ever have passengers. When I do they usually leave with me from my house or work. Being a newb I like the ballast in there. Remember that regardless of the suspension the rides going to change with or without passengers. Braking, turning, even accelerations going to be different with different sidecar weights. I haven't yet flown the car accidentally, so it works for me. But it might not for you.
Sounds like Lonnie's deal is a good way to go.
We, and others,have modified a lot of older Velorex sidecars by plating the frame, changing to a torsion bar suspenion with manual tilt adjustor, adding a 1" spindle with different wheel etc etc to allow them to work well on larger bikes. These mods can run into a lot of fabrication whereas what Lonnie is talking about would be pretty straightfowrard.
The stock suspension on older velorex sidecars is very soft. Probably half of them that we have taken apart had the shock come out in two pieces.Once the rubber bump stop is toast the shock over extends and dies shortly there after. The tell tale sign is oil on th eshock body. Unless the rubber bump stop is totally gone the shocj will typically say together even though it is just a spring.
The stock spindle is also quite small (around 5/8").
It is also very common for the shock tower that the swingarm is attached to being not 90 degrees to the sidecar frame. This needs to be dealt with when setting up the rig. We have 'fixed' these shock towers many times to allow the sidecar frame to be level when the sidecar wheel is vertical.
Don't get me wrong the ve;lorex sidecars are cool sidecars. They ,many times, get a bad rap due to being mounted on bikes that are too large for them.
I remember the Kawa Z650 in the 80tees had a set of air shocks in the back that would pump up allways to the same level.
Lot of load hard suspension at the standard height within a few meter riding. Little load bleed off and soft suspension at the same level.
That would be for me the perfect way to go. myself i did not go that far yet.
I set up with ballast of half a person and have that way a compromize, because most times I ride anyway alone with a certain load... Tools and spares I have to buy or bring to the clients.
And when it goes for having fun one of the kids or the camping and fishing gear is taking its the place.
Regards
Sven
