Bike sidecar help - yes I searched!

[hoof]

I have been searching on here, and on google far and wide to find all the info that I can about bicycle sidecars. I have a neat old bike (AMF Roadmaster) that was my great grandfathers that I am redoing, and I would like to be able to ride it on the rails to trails with my daughter. Since a modern bike seat would look like a$$, and a vintage bike seat is akin to having my daughter ride on the hood of the car I am thinking about building a sidecar.

My idea so far is to use a few donor bikes I have laying around, and build a basic frame out of tubing, and use a 20" wheel. I am going to try and use a steering tube as a pivot fastened to the bike, and use the neck and fork as mounting locations for the car, allowing it to move up and down. I am trying to wrap my mind around how it would work, but I am thinking if I had one side of the mounting higher on the tube it could force the side car to lean and steer when the bike leans? I will have to use trial and error to see how it works out. I am figuring on a light weight side car made out of a wooden frame with door skins (luan) over it as skin.

Like I said I searched and searched, and saved what ever I could, but does anyone else have any experience with this?

Thanks,
CHAZ

 

[CCR]

i havent built one, but i know theres a few sidehack bikes around here somewhere, bike rod n kustom also has a few on their site too.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15426&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=hack

 

[rick74304]

http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15426
:mrgreen: 8)
Rick

 

[deorman]

My limited knowledge of sidecars includes the following. Those which have pivoting mounts need them to be as low as possible, definitely below axle height to provide the driver leverage. You need a set of 2 mounting points so flex doesn't doesn't allow the car wheel to change track relative to the bike. Some have 2 sets, an upper and lower, which tilt the car wheel together with the bike. On motorcycles, toe-in and positive camber is used to reduce wandering at speed, same as a car, probably not a concern on a recreational use bicycle driven by dad.

 

[Downtune]

Here's mine.
It's fixed, and a pig to ride (although GREAT if you only want to turn right). I wouldn't trust myself with a child in it. I've only done that once, just around the yard with my little cousin. Having her in such close proximity to exposed moving parts made me nervous. I'll have to throw a chainguard at it sometime soon.

My eski fits in there quite nicely, and riding with cold booze within arm's length definitely makes those long rides a breeze :mrgreen:
It was given to me in this condition, apparently it's a hack from the 80's BMX sidehack racing days that was chopped and attached to a girl's Malvern Star.

And 'finished' (terrible photo, yeah...)

 

[hoof]

My plan was to attach the pivot to the bottom tube running back to the rear wheel. I want to keep the "car' as low to the ground as possible. I want to build a small generic platform to which I can mount a passenger body, or when the little one is too big a cooler or something like that. I will post a build thread once I get started, and then I will take any advice I can get.
CHAZ

 

[icyuod2]

heres a few i pulled from google for bikeriderx.
a google search revealed hundreds of em.
i believe the last one is a pop. mech diy. project.


viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15941&start=15y.

 

[bjaspud]

Chaz, Hate to rain on your parade but it is a federal offense, really not kidding, to operate on railroads without railroad permission. Chances of getting caught are low but you will be in big time trouble if caught. It's almost the equivalent of yelling 'hijack' on an airplane. If caught the government shows no mercy.

FYI
Spud

 

[Boardtrack fan]

This is one of my favorites. I think someone posted a picture of another motorbike with a side car recently. I believe it was for sale on CL.

 

[hoof]

Chaz, Hate to rain on your parade but it is a federal offense, really not kidding, to operate on railroads without railroad permission. Chances of getting caught are low but you will be in big time trouble if caught. It's almost the equivalent of yelling 'hijack' on an airplane. If caught the government shows no mercy.

FYI
Spud

I have no intention of riding the rails, where did you get that idea?
CHAZ

I was trying to mock some things up last night, and I think I am going to attempt to mount the pivot to the rear wheel stud. I thought it seemed like a lot of stress for that one stud and nut, but then I remembered about the "pegs" that screwed onto that bolt. If they could hold our body weight on a BMX/freestyle bike back in the day it should hold a 40-50 pound sidecar.
CHAZ

 

[Chainsaw]

Bjaspud, Rails to trails are reclaimed r.r. tracks that have been made into bike/hiking trails.

Here's a site that might help. It's motorcycle related but some great knowledge and ideas!
http://www.hackd.com/sidecargoodies/sid ... signs.html

Also, Atomic Zombie has a discussion going on this ...
http://forum.atomiczombie.com/showthread.php?t=1770

With my little experience in the Hacks I've built, I would recommend the same size wheels all thw way around. I've used a larger wheel on one of my hacks and it sucks for turning, but it's for jousting, so it doesn't really matter that much. :lol:

Kepp us posted this should be a cool project!

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Here's mine.
It's fixed, and a pig to ride (although GREAT if you only want to turn right). I wouldn't trust myself with a child in it. I've only done that once, just around the yard with my little cousin. Having her in such close proximity to exposed moving parts made me nervous. I'll have to throw a chainguard at it sometime soon.

My eski fits in there quite nicely, and riding with cold booze within arm's length definitely makes those long rides a breeze :mrgreen:
It was given to me in this condition, apparently it's a hack from the 80's BMX sidehack racing days that was chopped and attached to a girl's Malvern Star.

And 'finished' (terrible photo, yeah...)

Even your sidecars are on the wrong side of the road :lol:

 

[C.S.]

Here are two examples of wobbly sidecar bikes:
http://www.ewetel.net/%7Euwe.bitter/ssw4.jpg
http://oilycog.com/sidecar.htm
And have a look at my intro for two examples of the lift-the-rear-wheel-in-a-sharp-left-turn variety.

 

[kingfish254]

This is one of my favorites. I think someone posted a picture of another motorbike with a side car recently. I believe it was for sale on CL.

Wow, that sidecar looks too cool!!!!

 

[Dorian]

Side car stuff at Bike Rod and Kustom

http://bikerodnkustom4.homestead.com/sidecar.html

 

[kingfish254]

Side car stuff at Bike Rod and Kustom

http://bikerodnkustom4.homestead.com/sidecar.html

Very cool stuff there. I especially like the canoe sidecar.