What else do I need to attach?

Hi abighog and welcome. To me this looks like an old Velorex 560. Alot more people here could give you a definite answer. This will have 4 mounts to connect to the bike. I have decent pics but one in particular was sent to me by Claude. It is the hardware setup. Hopefully the pics will add correctly. Good luck and for sure you will get the answers you need here. This place has helped me over and over again.

Wow Les! This is about a perfect answer to the man's question. The photos you attached show perfectly how it should look and what you should need. Each bike will be different, but nearly all sidecars will attach just as you show. Someone should make this a sticky for frequently asked questions.

Mike

Should be real easy with the mount kit xs1100sgman shows you in his picture. Should be great for your intended use. Click on my name and send me an email and I'll send you back a copy of the Velorex install instructions. I can even send a copy of another brand's instructions too.

Sidecar looks great Les, glad i tall worked out for you!
The attached picture shows one point that should have an eye kept on it. It is best to try and keep away from 90 degree or close to 90 degree attachments when using a strap type clamp. This is hard to do and many times almost impossible when no subframe is used.One thing that can be done if slippage is detected is to install another strap clamp on the bike's left side frame tube and connect the two strap clamps with a rod of some type. The issue when we cannot line up the connections better is that a potential hinge point is created that promotes the strap clamp to rotate around the frame tube. Putting a reference mark on the clamp and frame is not a bad idea so any movement can be detected.
The lowere rear is high like a strut also and this can allow the rear of the sidecar to tend to sag down and move closer to the bike.
Not wanting to sound critical here just pointing some areas to monitor from time to time.
Main thing , keep an eye on your mounts.
Have fun out there 🙂

Thank you Claude,
that you mentioned what I was about to write too.
On both post's photos are weird things possible to observe.

The tube clamp on the front motor will always tend to rotate on the tube which will change the hole geometry. And if you over tighten the tube it might be deformed or the strap may fracture. A position rest to the second frame tube or engine mount may help here.

On the other bike the front mount is the one to blame and should not be put into a files section as good, but as bad sample installation.
An angle connection will fail and collapse, not meaning to break, but missalign badly. And if that happens suddenly an accident might occur.

Both points come down to an old engineering principle:
Polygon structures are unstable. Go down to triangle frame structures with positively defined positions and you are on the well defined and safe side.

Always remember what can be adjusted can get disadjusted. Clear and well defined structures might need their time to set up in the first time, but ease later maintenance and alignments. Better pay a machine shop then build Mickey Mouse. (this is not blaming, it is a well meant advice everybody should have heard before at least in "Sesam street": "Ask! - The one who doesn't is the fool!")

When You construct your s/c mounts, permit length and angle adjustments. Therefore the old fashioned ball joint is still a superb construction tool.
But be aware of mounts that may swivel or have too long levers.
When you have to go around an obstruction a short and little bend adaptor takes its time to be build, but will pay off the investment in a very short term.

The idea of a photo collection for good (and why not too, for bad) mounting samples is very good. Claude, each time something comes up you throw in excellent photos. You seem to have a huge fundus already.

At this time I want to thank you for the excellent guidance you give here on the forum for everybody. Newcomers and old windfaces learn a lot from your posts. I sometimes ask myself if you make it as full time job. Its a huge afford you put in here, that only the one above will be able to pay back for. I am sure that those who inform themselves, listen to your advice and apply your hints have avoided fatalities, that otherwise they would have run in because of ignorance.

You make a great and very important volunteer work! Thank you in my and the name of others who see it the same way.
I hope somewhen to be able to make the great trip north for to get to know some of you folks there. And Claude you are in the top range of the list of the people I would love to visit.

Best regards
Sven Peter

I know the mounting points were a little off, thanks for noting that. That particular bike was very difficult to mount to. I eventually took it off and attached it to a '73 CB550. It turns out the CB550 was a perfect match and had better steering and stability. Lucky for me I did not encounter any problems but note that I really tightened down on the strap mounts and checked them often for changes in position and secureness on the Kawasaki. As far as I have heard, it was only the 2nd time anyone had ever attempted to mount a sidecar to a 454LTD. Looked great, pulled great but hard to mount to and the bike handled poorly compared to other models. I also have to applaud everyone who give imput here as it saves time and lives.

Originally written by claude #3563 on 4/18/2008 6:14 AM

Sidecar looks great Les, glad i tall worked out for you!
The attached picture shows one point that should have an eye kept on it. It is best to try and keep away from 90 degree or close to 90 degree attachments when using a strap type clamp. This is hard to do and many times almost impossible when no subframe is used.One thing that can be done if slippage is detected is to install another strap clamp on the bike's left side frame tube and connect the two strap clamps with a rod of some type. The issue when we cannot line up the connections better is that a potential hinge point is created that promotes the strap clamp to rotate around the frame tube. Putting a reference mark on the clamp and frame is not a bad idea so any movement can be detected.
The lowere rear is high like a strut also and this can allow the rear of the sidecar to tend to sag down and move closer to the bike.
Not wanting to sound critical here just pointing some areas to monitor from time to time.
Main thing , keep an eye on your mounts.
Have fun out there 🙂

I was speaking more of the attachments on the sidecar side. The most common question I hear when someone buys a used sidecar is, "What do I need to attach this to my ? I think his photos do a great job of spelling that out.
Mike

Your sidecar frame obviously is not a Jawa/Velorex 560 model. They used a rounded rectangular tubing for frames.
It may be a MarkII Bingham which used the same body shape as the Velorex.
Velorex U-clamps and struts will fit for mounting it though. An exception might be the front lower J-tube receiver if your frame is not sized to accept a metric sized tube.
I have these parts in stock.

Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
nwsidecar@aol.com

Again, as he has done with me severals times, Lonnie at Northwest Sidecars saves the day.... 😉

I am still waiting for a short length of bent 1" thick wall tubing. Then that less than perfect front mounting set-up will all be changed. Turning the clamp on the frame and the strut cut and the bent tube 'glued' in and all will be happy with my rig. I know that I should not mention this but I will - the guy that did the final thightening is my 190# monkey. I even explained that I did not like it, for a passenger, that it was safe for my use. After some short around town stores etc. we went back and checked everything. Nothing had moved or loosened. We then did a 30+ mile ride up into the mountains. Everything is still all together, I just don't carry passengers anymore until I get the mount issue taken care of. Believe me when I say I know what I did was wrong. The front lower one is also an issue.

Some of what we see here is a testimony to why a subframe can be an advatage. I am not saying that subframe is 'required' on all bikes but it does have many advatages over truying toi utilize any universal mounting system. In addition to adding strength to the whole assembly a subframe can allow the rigger to place each mount in a place that will provide the best possible triangulation which translates into strength and lack of mount slippage. Placing th emounting points correctly through use of a subframe will also simplify adjustement to the setup later on.
Typical scenario: Lower rear mount is very far forward and closer to the lower front mount than it really shoudl be. Why? There may be only one place where the bike frame clamp can be placed on the bike frame. Solution: Subframe.
Typical scenartio #2: Bike lean out is adjusted and toe in changes drastically. Why? Lower rear mount placements are not in line nor are the same distance from the ground. Either of these thiungs will make toe in change with lean out adjustments.The unwary can grind off a rear tire in less than a thousand miles if toe in increases much...been there doine that.
Again, I am not saying a subframe is totally necessary but it sure can make life more simple in most cases.

Sven wrote:
>>You make a great and very important volunteer work! Thank you in my and the name of others who see it the same way.
I hope somewhen to be able to make the great trip north for to get to know some of you folks there. And Claude you are in the top range of the list of the people I would love to visit.<<<

Hope to meet you some day too Sven. Please don't single me out though. There are many posters here who offer excellent advice and guidance. There is some great input at SCT also by numerous folks. Some of us have been messing with sidecars for many years.
Although some of us are in a sidecar related business it does not mean that they are no longer sidecar enthusiats and want to try and help as much as possible.
There has been a little flak now and then about those of us who are in a sidecar related busines posting so much. I intend to try and help others as much as possible and I feel Lonnie is of the same mindset. I think you can see that neither of us promote ourselves over and above others. We have both recomended that someone go to whatever company to get what they need. To me all of this is promoting the sport of sidecaring and that can't be bad.
Others post from time to tiem who I really woudl post more. Todd Parks is one who has a ton of knowledge that i wish would post more. Mike Laubestein also psots some and I wish he wold more. There are others also but I won't try and make a list here.
Face it... we are all learning and by comunication we may be able to learn more from other peoples experiences to make life in the sidecar world easier and safer for all.

Hello Claude,
Well I am in industrial machine automation and one of the most important things to me is, find out what the clients really need and send them to the specialists who I know of that they do good work.That way we all feed our families and the friendship between the collegues improves.

The friendly, well meant advice is my favourate service.
Specially I take a lot of time when someone asks me for work to indicate him where i should ask, because I myself once was unemploed for one year until I founded my own shop.
Although Ticos might see me as a too blue eyed idealist and try to get advantage out of my friendlyness, at least I feel good each morning at shaveing in front of the mirror.

What I see is that you must sit most of the day behind the screen. Only few people are willing to share that generous their time and knowledge.
I see too Loney, Hacke'd, and some other who's names don't come into my mind right now, help out with their wisedom. (same as in the other groups I frecuent (CNC and machine shop related) there are a nucleous of soul mates who pull the cart.

Wish you and everybody else a nice weekend and happy spring.
Regards

Sven Peter