Sidecar on late 60s single frame?

[iansoady]

The body is steel rather than fibreglass and is quite substantail although I takethe point re vibration. I'm assuming the silentblocs are used like swinging arm bearings on some bikes (eg Norton featherbeds). In fact the rotational movement will be very slight.

I didn't know the alloy cones came in different sizes but will check them out. The steel cones I have are about 1/2" (OK 12mm as it's German) narrower than the available gap but thta's actually handy as it will allow me to offset the body to the left using a spacer as it's otherwise uncomfortably close to the clamps.

Still pondering whether to go with the struts rather than suspension units. There's very little clearance beside the body for the springs. In fact I was wondering about using gas struts?

[iansoady]

A couple of pics with the mudguard in place and solid rear struts fitted. In pic 3 you can see the box I'm constructing to hold paving brick ballast although my measurements have gone a bit awry...... The tonneau is just draped over although I've drilled the holes for the turnbuckle clips.

[iansoady]

Quick pic of the painted body and mudguard. The paint shop (Lee at Painttech in Bromsgrove -
https://painttechrepairs.co.uk/) has done a really nice job and the colour match to the bike is just about perfect. I'm leaving it for a week or so to fully harden before applying the chrome strips, tonneau clips etc.

Cost £675 which sounds a lot but given the work involved I think was very reasonable, as was the £40 each way transport by a local man & van. Shiply and anyvan wanted over £150 to take it about 10 miles which is about what I paid to have the whole lot brought from Wisbech to Redditch. And that by a proper bike removal bloke (Phil from Acceleration) who really knows his stuff.

[V500]

Looks a nice paint job.

[iansoady]

Yes, I'm very pleased. A bit orange-peely in places but I think that's true of most paint these days.

[idie]

Will look a treat when all together.

[iansoady]

That's what I'm hoping......

[iansoady]

So what do you think? I'm very pleased although the test drive will have to wait as I've wrenched my knee......

[limeyrob]

Very nice indeed!

[iansoady]

Finally I took the B'Zuki outfit out intending a short run round local roads. Fortunately I started by going to the end of our road then down a local cul de sac with a turning circle at the end. It was awful! As soon as I set off there was a terrible flutter from the bars, getting much worse if either the sidecar or one of the bike wheels hit a bump. I never got out of second gear and was thankful I didn't venture onto the main road. Scared me quite a bit I can tell you. Of course my outfit piloting skills are very rusty!

I've checked tyre pressures at 34 bike front, 38 bike rear and 26 sidecar but not looked at anything else yet. My initial thought is that maybe it's due to the Roadrider front tyre which has quite a round profile. This can easily be changed. Second thought is that aligment is not right although I have checked it carefully. Toe in at 3/4", sidecar wheel lead 10", lean out when I'm on the bike about 1/4" at the tyre. I'll check again. Worst case is just that the bike geometry - trail especially - is just not suitable.

Any suggestions welcome!

[limeyrob]

When I rode outfits I always had the friction steering damper wound down hard. I was looking at an outfit on the weekend (at a rally) and it had a large hydraulic damper.  Not sure which is best, the BSA friction type are easy to adjust while you are riding.
What you have is shimmy, which is a feature of castoring. There are fixes, a square tyre, a damper. It can be a serious problem on aircraft

[iansoady]

Thanks Rob. I haven't seen any figures for the trail on the unit singles and working it out with string & stickes doesn't seem very precise.....

A lot of people seem to use VW dampers although there's a strong school of thought that says you shouldn't need them. I guess I could work out a way of fitting an A10 or similar type.

[limeyrob]

I'm not sure the science is that precise. Certainly when I was learning shimmy was a bit of a black art and hard to predict, certainly for aircraft nose wheels.
A10 or another older bike damper should be easy to fit but then there are aftermarket hydraulic damper kits, but you'll need a pretty stiff one.

[iansoady]

It's been suggested that my rear suspension units are too soft. I did actually replace them as I was going to use the originals to suspend the sidecar body (but this proved a non-starter). The ones I used are indeed quite soft so I'm going to pop the originals back on.

I note that Classic Bike Spares have an A10/B31 steering damper so may look at that and see if it could be modified.

[limeyrob]

Shimmy is quite complex, its affected by a lot of things including you.  If you are feeling brave try a lighter or firmer grip.  The weight of your arms and body are part of the dynamic system.  I would certainly go for a dampers of some sort, the problem is that it can be so violent it knocks the bars out your hands.  A damper will stop that and give you a better chance of controlling it.