greg_in_london
07-09-2008, 03:47 PM
I hope having sidecars added to the forum title is welcome - the styling choices and motivations of trikers and sidecarists may be different, but lots of the technical challenges will be similar.
There aren't a lot of kits available to fit sidecars to ventures, so unless you make your own subchassis, you have to hunt around a bit for places to mount to, not least because the seat and panniers attach to a bolt-on sub frame which is quite narrow tubing. I didn't think it suitable for attaching fittings to. (Unlike bikes which have twin shocks, where the tubing around the top has to be more substantial.)
Either way, I took some pictures for someone who asked how I sorted my sidecar fittings and would be interested in knowing how other people achieved the same aims.
Bear in mind that I'm in the UK, so the sidecar is fitted on the left. Also I fitted it several years ago, so excuse the grotty paintwork.
This is a view of the fittings between my 1983 VR and Squire QM1 sidecar:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/frontview.jpg
I was a little worried about the stiffness of having all the mounts so far forward, so used three fittings at the back, but it was also because I could double triangulate across from the sidecars two chassis rails.
Here you can see the bottom two fittings:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/triangulatedrearlowermount.jpg
And here they are again from above
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/rearmountsfromabove.jpg
I used a box clamp on the sidecar frame to have some forwards/backwards rigidity. I felt that I needed a good strong fitting on the left of the bike that would prevent there being any movement / flex when cornering, so I replaced the footrest hanger with a steel plate I could weld two eyebolts to.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/footrestplate.jpg
There was a couple of inches of tube that I could squeeze a clamp onto, so that sorted the rear top mount on the bike.
At the front I had the conventional two fittings. I couldn't manage a clamp on the lower front bike fitting, so I used a female eyebolt onto an engine mounting bolt. I used an extra plate to spread the load, but in retrospect I'm not sure it makes much difference.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/frontbottombike.jpg
At the top there is even less space so I had to make up a frame clamp - an eyebolt welded to a piece of plate, with holes drilled to accept U-shaped exhaust clamps. They never fail to amaze me just how durable these clamps are - much stronger than we have any right to expect.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/fronttopbike.jpg
The mounts to the sidecar are not unusual on the front, but the bottom is the box clamp and gives some rigidity, the other is only there to stop the bike flexing towards the sidecar.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/frontmountssidecar.jpg
There's another fitting at the back, which to be honest I mainly put on because I liked the way it swept around the pannier, so I've not shown it.
Not necessarily the best way of doing it, but it has worked for me for several years and twenty thousand miles, mostly pulling either a camping trailer or a trailer tent, usually with luggage.
Hope it's of some interest.
There aren't a lot of kits available to fit sidecars to ventures, so unless you make your own subchassis, you have to hunt around a bit for places to mount to, not least because the seat and panniers attach to a bolt-on sub frame which is quite narrow tubing. I didn't think it suitable for attaching fittings to. (Unlike bikes which have twin shocks, where the tubing around the top has to be more substantial.)
Either way, I took some pictures for someone who asked how I sorted my sidecar fittings and would be interested in knowing how other people achieved the same aims.
Bear in mind that I'm in the UK, so the sidecar is fitted on the left. Also I fitted it several years ago, so excuse the grotty paintwork.
This is a view of the fittings between my 1983 VR and Squire QM1 sidecar:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/frontview.jpg
I was a little worried about the stiffness of having all the mounts so far forward, so used three fittings at the back, but it was also because I could double triangulate across from the sidecars two chassis rails.
Here you can see the bottom two fittings:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/triangulatedrearlowermount.jpg
And here they are again from above
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/rearmountsfromabove.jpg
I used a box clamp on the sidecar frame to have some forwards/backwards rigidity. I felt that I needed a good strong fitting on the left of the bike that would prevent there being any movement / flex when cornering, so I replaced the footrest hanger with a steel plate I could weld two eyebolts to.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/footrestplate.jpg
There was a couple of inches of tube that I could squeeze a clamp onto, so that sorted the rear top mount on the bike.
At the front I had the conventional two fittings. I couldn't manage a clamp on the lower front bike fitting, so I used a female eyebolt onto an engine mounting bolt. I used an extra plate to spread the load, but in retrospect I'm not sure it makes much difference.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/frontbottombike.jpg
At the top there is even less space so I had to make up a frame clamp - an eyebolt welded to a piece of plate, with holes drilled to accept U-shaped exhaust clamps. They never fail to amaze me just how durable these clamps are - much stronger than we have any right to expect.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/fronttopbike.jpg
The mounts to the sidecar are not unusual on the front, but the bottom is the box clamp and gives some rigidity, the other is only there to stop the bike flexing towards the sidecar.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/frontmountssidecar.jpg
There's another fitting at the back, which to be honest I mainly put on because I liked the way it swept around the pannier, so I've not shown it.
Not necessarily the best way of doing it, but it has worked for me for several years and twenty thousand miles, mostly pulling either a camping trailer or a trailer tent, usually with luggage.
Hope it's of some interest.