- Hi, I have a Royal Enfield Classic 500 with a sidecar inder. I'm having a great time with my wife and dog. It's a lot of fun! Now I'd like to change gear because the speed developed for the Classic 500 is a bit limiting. I was thinking about a Royal Enfield Interceptor. I've already seen a few Interceptors with a sidecar, and it looks pretty good in my opinion. I've seen the Royal Enfield Bear, and I like several things about it, including the reinforced frame, the suspension, and the fact that the rear wheel ABS can be disabled for off-roading. I plan to go off-roading. But I have a question. The Bear has an inverted fork (USD). Could I install a steering damper, as all sidecars with that type of fork usually do? Or would I have any trouble attaching the steering damper to the fork? Thanks for your help!
Welcome, Manuel! Great to have you here. I certainly am not the person to answer this question and someone will be along shortly with a technical answer to my general statement: gear ratios are everything with sidecar operations. You don't want too tall a gear for your first and final gears - everything in the middle is probably good enough. Rather than looking at a different tug, perhaps changing the front and rear sprockets would solve some of the operational challenges?
For instance, the Yamaha Royal Star is a fantastic tug for a large sidecar. Unfortunately, it's fifth gear (shaft drive) is too tall for efficient and versatile use so some folks put the final drive from a V-Max into it (same dimensions but lower gearing) and had better function.
Illegitemi non carborundum est!
