Checking to see if any members know of an electric reverse system, such as the Gold Wing type, that can be fitted onto a standard bike such as a Triumph Bonneville or a Kawasaki W800? Both DNC & Champion offer a mechanical/manual reverse gear kit for H-D Evos and wonder if such kits could be adapted to a standard motorcycle? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks & Stay Safe at Any Speed!~GeneralT
No idea about the reverse gear option. but 2 years ago i had a direct comparison ride between 2 solos Boneville 1000ccm with 86hp against W800 with 48hp.
Don't laugh both owners, we agreed that the W800 won by far in the smoothness factor and engine elasticity, as well as better gear match for town riding. I am in for a W800 with a 3rd wheel trade, once life gets permitted to be free life again and not cage neither in Germany , nor in Costa Rica.
First, you would get more results if this were posted in the right area, you posted this in the area for help with the forum.
For Harley it is fairly easy to add reverse as it has a remote transmission that is a very simple design. There are also enough bikes out there that the market is large enough for it to make economic sense to develop. A bike like the W800 if a reverse were developed chances are that not enough units would sell to pay for the development let alone the cost of tooling and production. I once worked out how to add reverse to BMW 5 speed oil cooled bikes. Never made a single part as I quickly figured out that at best I would be making work, not money. There is a company that offers a reverse for Harley where it replaces the rear sprocket and is internal to the sprocket. I own the patent rights to a similar design however when I went to put it into production having to our source all of the parts I would have had to sell it for a lot more then the reverse you can already get for the most popular application, Harley. There is a slight chance now that I have CNC mills and a machinist that some day we might produce this in house. Once programmed it would be fairly easy to change tooth count and bolt patterns as needed. If we do this it will be for Indian motorcycles.
We have done electric reverse but only for people who had physical limitations such as wheel chair bound people and amputees' as for able bodied people backing a bike with a sidecar is so easy that it is not worth the expense and effort.
We have done the electric reveres several ways, once we split the spacer for a brake disk on the rear of a Moto Guzzi Convert then put a flex plate flywheel off of a Chevy 2 driven by a starter motor, crude, no real speed control, added a lot of un-sprung weight but did work and as the bike was operated from the sidecar while in the wheel chair was needed and met the budget we had for the build.
We have used a harbor freight winch where we replaced the spool with a hub that contacted the rear tire held in with an electric actuator, This worked however is crude but did fit the need and budget. This was done on an electric shift Suzuki FJR again for some one driving from the sidecar.
On a BMW GS for an amputee we once used a Caravan (trailer) mover where we lowered a wheel down lifting the bike for good traction to back up the bike. It worked well but is bulky and crude and with all of the above we only had one speed, in this case a bit slower then we would want, on the Guzzi faster then ideal.
Harley offered electric reverse for their sidecars. It was expensive, drove the sidecar wheel so if the sidecar wheel did not have good traction it did not work. Took up a lot of space in the trunk and, Harley did not have the battery tied to the bike to charge back up.
Hub motors might be a way to go moving forward however for a company to do this there has to be enough demand to make it worth doing. Finding the right hub motor that moves slow enough and has enough torque to move a bike and sidecars may not be easy. Developing from scratch a hub motor for this and producing it is a money loosing proposition as backing a sidecar bike is so easy if you are able bodied that there will not be much demand unless it is so cheap that adding it makes little difference in the final price of the sidecar.
There is a caravan mover you can buy out of China that the price is low enough that it could be adapted to drive a wheel on the bike if some one wanted to do this as a one off. Makes no economic sense for a company do do this. The issue with Caravan moves is speed. They are very slow.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
It will be lot easier and chipper to reinstall sidecar on Goldwing, BMW or Harley then to try to find electric reverse for your bike. Sorry.
I have blown out knees and while crude etc My rig behind the car wheel does the job, its slow but it works and is not obtrusive. Where possible I try to roll back in using the slope so I can just drive out when I leave, or park facing uphill so I can roll back out. I have a handicap tag on my bike tho I only use that priveledge when I have bad days which are usually from doing something I should have more sense than to try. Trying to backpedal about 1000 lbs is something that I have learned to avoid or I pay the price for days. Jay I agree 100% with you about the market and the costs. You have to get a ROE that matches your normal margins or you go broke. You are free to help some needy person and I commend you for your charity. I on the other hand have to look at the cost benefit and find the most economical solution for me. I never understood the problem until the last few years until it started to become my own problem and there are many folks just like me. An elegant cosmetically pleasing solution is beyond our means so we do the best we can so we are not forced out of an activity. I am not arguing with you just presenting the other side of the argument later Chuck
