Sidecar 101

snowdave said:

Yeah, it's a real shame all the pics are gone. When I was first researching my XS / Spirit of America rig, they were really helpful. Sadly, I never took copies of them. I got sidetracked by a two year stint in England, but the build is finally underway. We'll see if this just ends up as another pile of motorcycle parts or I actually finish it.

Click to expand...

Hi snowdave,
my son and I put a Spirit Eagle on his XS650 a few years back; nice little rig, he used it for the getaway vehicle at his wedding.
The only hard part of your install will be making the subframe, especially as my favorite subframe rear attachment points are the bike frame's centerstand mounts and some genius has cut yours off.
Ah well, sidecar attachments are just a series of compromises, eh?
What I'd do is use the rear muffler attachment points instead.
Use longer bolts or threaded rod to attach a flat plate each side of the front mounts going down to a crosspiece.
Use both tapped holes in the muffler attachments each side to mount a flat plate each side that goes down and back to another crosspiece.
Weld a fore and aft length of steel to the ends of the crosspieces.
Drill through the fore and aft steel to mount Heim joints in just the right places to attach the sidecar's lower mounts.
I've used 1-1/4" x 1-1/4" x 0.1" wall square tube for my subframes.
FYI, here's the SofA attachment manual:-







This last photo is the Spirit Eagle being attached to an XS750 that has since gone to that great scrap pile in the sky but the attachment methodology is the same.

Here is the original thread with all that info, just have to wade through 7 pages to get the whole picture. Don't skip through it as there is some good input from other members. Also there was an upgrade on the leading link.

The original no guard fork brace that was copied by ..............

650rider rides again

Thanks a lot for posting that link. Tons of good info there.

Jack

Thank you both 650Skull and fredintoon for the helpful replies. I have started an ADV thread (Link) with the build details and the initial recommendation is to make a subframe.

Any pics or details I can find on how others have conquered the XS650 frame mounts is welcome. I do have plenty of fabrication and machining capability in my garage, but I am really hoping to keep this project cheap(ish) and quick.