While at the Toronto Motorcycle Show a couple weeks ago I saw a different way to mount a car,different to me anyway. The bike had a bar mounted to the centre line of the bike under the engine. There were two bars to the car attached to it, one in front of the engine and one in front of the rear wheel. Both were attached so they could pivot allowing the bike to lean and the car stays flat. Has anyone seen anything like this before? I am building a sidecar and this looks very interesting to me. I wonder what it would handle like, it would be a lot more fun to ride in my opinion. The company that built it was from Montreal,I talked to them some but they didn't speak very good English and I don't speak French, so I didn't get a lot of info from them. This is their web site if anyone wants to take a look. www.trans-moto.com
Leaners have been around for a long time. Over 90 years at least. Equalean and Flexit are probably the best known and many are still on the road. Armac is presently available for a tidy sum as is Trans-Moto's unit.
The Equalean went out of production in 1984 and used an unusual track system mounted to the bike for it's ability to slide up and down allowing the bike and car to lean together. There is (or was) a rigger in Huntington Beach, CA who has fabricated upgraded mounts for the Equalean. I saw a very Skookum example at the 2003 Griffith Park Sidecar Rally mounted on a Yamaha. There is also a website dedicated to Equalean affecianados.
The early Flexit was a rigid mount that was linked to allow the sidecar wheel itself to lean left or right as the bike banked. Fine for slow operation back then (1920's) but not for the high speeds of today.
The leaners handle like a solo bike to a great degree. A certain amount of geometry is involved in getting the mounts situated for proper (safe) steering and handling. Some riggers have had varying amounts of success converting rigid mount cars to leaners.
Some of the drawbacks are reduced ground clearance and motorcycle to sidecar clearance on some turns. Some setups have a locking device so the rig doesn't fall over when parked and others must use the sidestand or centerstand to stay upright just like a solo bike.
Some advantages are that the rider doesn't have to learn the idiosyncracies of driving a conventional rigid mounted sidehack outfit and the sidecar size and weight isn't an important factor anymore with a leaner.
Lonnie
Thanks for the reply. I am familiar with some of the leaners, I just haven't seen one mounted as simple as this one. What would you have to worry about with geometry, I know toe would be important but what else? I took a couple of pictures of the way it is mounted and I will try and post them. I ride a Suzuki Volusia and ground clearance might be an issue. I was hoping this mount would work so riding would be much the same. Would a car mounted like this get rid of some of the tire wear issues?
Hey Lonnie,
Can you send me a link to the Equalean website? Or are you referring to the Yahoo Flexit site?
And, if possible, the name and some contact info for the guy in Huntington Beach.
Inquiring E'Leaners want to know...
You might try posting a request on the General Information forum here.
We're in the middle of moving our operations to Boise, ID and we have records on both ends right now.
I sold an Equalean to a man in Texas a while back and he told me of a club or group that he was getting parts and info from.
Lonnie
