Hi,
I've been toying with the idea of building a sidecar just for my dog. It'll attach to a Yamaha Vino 125 scooter and the dog weighs approx. 80 lbs. I've got a well equipped shop and just need some pointers to the engineering aspects of sidecar design.
Thank you,
--Maxx
heavy dog: preferable to use a 250 or heavier bike. With the 125 you will loose fun and money. Your dog might even be faster runing. My Irish setter/golden retriever breed is faster then me (Jawa 350/Velorex) the 140m up to the gate
regards
Sven Peter
Ya, I'm sure you are right what with the added mass of a standard sidecar. But I'm thinking of making this a downsized/downrated/lightweight car using 4130 CrMo tubing and a blown or wrapped lexan shell. This sidecar will NEVER go over 50mph, so it should be possible to use much lighter construction than a standard sidecar.
I live in a large city and our local "off-leash" dog park is five miles away. This trek will become the primary mission for this special sidecar.
So, who can tell me about the geometries and balance issues that I need to know about?
You probably need to start by reading the books.
The German text was the most help. Thank you for pointing to this resource.
It looks like a sidecar design can be very simple as long as the upper attach link is of adjustable length-- to set the "lean-out"-- and that some form of toe-in adjustment on the wheel is possible. The only question that goes unanswered by the texts is, why on most of these designs the sidecar wheel leads the bike's rear wheel by approx. 20% of the length of the bike? It's obvious that the further forward the wheel, the more force is required to turn. So why is it that the wheel of most sidecars is forward of the bike's rear axle at all?
Anybody?
Bueller?
For stability in turns away from the sidecar. If the sidecar wheel is too far back the nose of the car will dive into the roadway and over you go.
David
One must consider ALL forces. Where and how they act. And tip-over lines. This is fairly complicated. But fully explained in ALL three books. The farther back the S/C wheel the easier for the bike to flip over the sidecar on sharp lefthanders. The more lead then the bike is not so prone to flip over the sidecar. The lead is also a function of the type of suspension. A good compromise has been found to be from 8 to 12 inches of lead. Please read ALL books and ALL sections for better understanding. You are just looking at a very tiny piece of the puzzle.
Hal Kendall
