Sidecar winter project

sneak preview?
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I’ll have a little folder to share soon.The big hole is history now.
 
I hardly think anyone will get sick over informative,fun pictures.Post them and lets see.Thanks
Well you asked for it Magoo66!
lower front.JPG lower rear left side.JPG lower rear right side.JPG upper front.JPG upper rear.JPG
So there they are! I do have larger copies but those might give some idea of them. The lower rear was designed to allow use of kick starter.

Also note that those pictures were taken five years before I retired so bike looked even worse the last spring I used it for transportation to and from work. Commute was all of a little over a mile each way.

Plus 15 years before I retired it was hit by an Isuzu trooper and listed as totaled!
 
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Well you asked for it Magoo66!
View attachment 202893 View attachment 202894 View attachment 202895 View attachment 202896 View attachment 202897
So there they are! I do have larger copies but those might give some idea of them. The lower rear was designed to allow use of kick starter.

Also note that those pictures were taken five years before I retired so bike looked even worse the last spring I used it for transportation to and from work. Commute was all of a little over a mile each way.

Plus 15 years before I retired it was hit by an Isuzu trooper and listed as totaled!
They are fantastic,no nausea at all!Thanks
 
They are fantastic,no nausea at all!Thanks
Well one thing that really upset me was only a few days before I retired as I was getting ready to go to work something locked up in the bike so I had to take the Rav4 for the last few days.

Then after I retired I decided I might try to fix the bike up enough to ride it some more. That's when I found the problem was the chain had jumped partially off the front sprocket and just jammed against the case. If I had thought to check it I would have just replaced it with a good used chain. But then again when I found the swing arm with a rust hole as big as my thumb I decided it was trying to tell me enough is enough!
 
Well one thing that really upset me was only a few days before I retired as I was getting ready to go to work something locked up in the bike so I had to take the Rav4 for the last few days.

Then after I retired I decided I might try to fix the bike up enough to ride it some more. That's when I found the problem was the chain had jumped partially off the front sprocket and just jammed against the case. If I had thought to check it I would have just replaced it with a good used chain. But then again when I found the swing arm with a rust hole as big as my thumb I decided it was trying to tell me enough is enough!
Sure sounds like it served you well.Great memories are priceless.[/QUOTE]
 
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Plus 15 years before I retired it was hit by an Isuzu trooper and listed as totaled!
I can see how that would total an Isuzu... All kidding aside, I always feel an emotional pain when I hear of any bike being wrote off. Were you on the bike when said Trooper smacked it?
 
I can see how that would total an Isuzu... All kidding aside, I always feel an emotional pain when I hear of any bike being wrote off. Were you on the bike when said Trooper smacked it?
Yes I was! Just pulling in my drive way and guy swerved to miss the car behind me and went off the road across front yard and his left front wheel hit the culvert under driveway before hitting the right side of the sidecar tossing in into the yard. Worst damage was breaking the swing arm off the sidecar and bending mounts from sidecar to the XS650. My injuries were just a soft tissue shoulder one but doctors kept me out of work for six months. Probably mostly because I worked as a heavy equipment mechanic.
accident02.jpg

If you look at the picture down by the you can see the mailbox that the Isuzu managed to miss while coming from the left in that picture. Picture was taken next morning it is where dad moved it not where the accident put it! It was to the right of driveway down by the road, as was I!

Just glad I did not land on that broken part of the sidecar windshield, look close at the picture!
 
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Good morning , (snowing outside) this thread has renewed my enthusiasm !!! Time me to get back on it.
Nice looking start! Like the sub-frame on bike. Might be a bit of over kill but I might be tempted to install a diagonal between the two lower mounts, like from the sidecar side at rear to the bike side at front. Just picturing those long straight parallel bars flexing a bit.

Oh and yes mine was a 1981 at least the frame. I say that because while working on the engine one time I did find the remains of a spark advance system which was not needed with electronic ignition! When I got the bike which I traded a Honda 750 SS, for the guy who ran the shop I believe built it out of his spare parts bin!

Might have made a mistake as when I first looked at it it had a Vetter faring on it. I asked if they could swap that out. That faring might have been nice in cold weather!
 
Why did my owners manual (XS650SK) say "NO SIDE CAR"? One of you must be able to answer that for me. I'm just curious and maybe I misremembered as I lost my owner manual years ago.
Hi Marty,
because it's a manual for the US market, where you can successfully sue someone else for the results of your own actions.
Like the lady who sued a coffee vendor for selling coffee hot enough to scald her when she dropped the mug onto her lap when driving.
 
Hi Marty,
because it's a manual for the US market, where you can successfully sue someone else for the results of your own actions.
Like the lady who sued a coffee vendor for selling coffee hot enough to scald her when she dropped the mug onto her lap when driving.
Is the insurance still valid or is that in fine enough print to be overlooked by the agents?
 
Is the insurance still valid or is that in fine enough print to be overlooked by the agents?
I think it was more about warranty claims than anything else. That said I know in some countries any modification, like adding a sidecar, needs to be inspected and approve by some official agency.

Also I believe in some states in the USA you need a special license to drive a sidecar outfit or if you take your road test on a sidecar you are only licensed for sidecar operation.

I guess it was pretty obvious as to the fault in my accident, I was about six feet off the road in my driveway at time of impact, that there was no questions asked about the legality of the outfit or me! Like dad said next day when he helped move outfit in to garage, "Good thing you had that sidecar!" Point being if I had stopped there to pick up my mail and on a two wheeler my right leg would have stopped the Isuzu!
 
Is the insurance still valid or is that in fine enough print to be overlooked by the agents?

Hi Tinker,
most likely things have changed in the UK since I emigrated in 1969 but back then a motorcycle's insurance cost would be cut in half if you added a sidecar.
Once you learn how to operate a sidecar rig it's far safer to ride than a solo bike.
Admittedly there's no crumple zones & such to protect you and no way a rig will split traffic but OTOH a rig can't fall over,
you can see all round and nobody can distract you by yelling in your ear about trivia.
 
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