SIDECAR PROJECT

Many years ago, when my wife and I were newly weds, we took our honeymoon to Edmonton, Alberta, on a motorcycle sidecar outfit. The rig was a Yamaha XS650D with a Velorex 652 sidecar mounted on the right hand side as is typical in the USA. It was my new brides first real experience with motorcycling. Only weeks before we took off on our honeymoon, I taught her to ride a solo bike so she could get an endorsement on her drivers license. In those days, Washington State had a three tier system with endorsements for bikes up to 125cc, bikes up to 500cc or unlimited displacement. She got her unlimited endorsement so she could pilot the sidecar outfit on our trip. She fell in love with motorcycling on that trip and we spent many years riding with friends all over the country. The XS650/Velorex was one of five sidecar outfits I have had in my life. Since my wife and I have been married we have also had a KZ1100 with a Motervation Spyder and a CB900C with the same Motorvation sidecar on it. In addition I had previously had an SR500/Velorex rig and an SR500/Spyder outfit.

Over the years the XS650D/Velorex rig has held a special place in our heart and has been rebuilt on a couple of occasions. It currently is in our storage locker in a pretty bad state of disuse. We sold most of our other bikes a few years back but held on to this rig out of sentamentality. Unfortunately we have just not done much riding over the last few years. lately, many of my friends have been getting into biking and three friends have recently purchased Harleys. Of course I would like one too, but being a humble retiree on fixed income it is out of the question. None the less I have gotten enthused about riding again and have decided to once again rebuild our sidecar outfit. This time however, I plan to go about it differently. I am going to build it up as a dedicated sidecar outfit rather than simply a motorcycle with a sidecar attached.

The first thing to do will be to completely disassemble the bike. The motor will get set aside and will be the last thing I work on. The first order of business will be to replace the existing running gear with sidecar specific running gear. Sidecar outfits do not have the same requirements of tires as motorcycles. Since the sidecar outfit does not lean and hence does not drive on its sidewalls, it does not need tires designed for that purpose. Motorcycle tires are very soft to provide the traction necessary for control while cornering. As a result, motorcycle tires, which are much more expensive than car tires will wear out in 10 to 20 thousand miles under normal conditions. On a sidecar rig they will wear out in only 3 to 5 thousand miles! Thus the desire to instal a set of automotive radial ply tires.

In order to make this conversion I will need to build a new front end and a new swing arm. The front end will probably be a leading link type with adjustable trail to allow fine tuning the steering. I am also looking into hub center steering for this outfit. The Swing arm will need to be somewhat wider towards the front and so will need to be a custom built unit to allow the wider car tire to be used. It may also require a bit of an offset to the right to allow the drive chain to clear the tire. Replacing the sidecar tire and wheel will be the easiest part of this project. I hope to be able to use the same wheel and tire combination in all three positions on the outfit so as to allow carrying a spare when traveling.

As far as brakes go I plan to install disc brakes on all three wheels and perhaps connect them all to the foot brake. If I put a second disc on the front wheel, I may connect it seperately to a handbrake, but if the brakes are properly proportioned there is no reason not to have a single actuator.

As this motorcycle was designed and manufactured in an age when there was no requirement in the law for having the headlight and tail lights on constantly it is not really designed for that continuous load. Thus I plan to replace all the lights with LED units. I will also provide for a much larger battery to assure more reliable starting. (XS650s are notorious for having a marginal electric starter.)

During one of the previous rebuiilds of this unit, I purchased a new OEM exhaust system, hoping for a good quiet set of mufflers to make all day touring more comfrotable for both the driver and passenger. The exhaust system was not cheap. Nor, as it turned out, was it quiet. Not only was the machine manufactured before constant on headlights were mandated, it was built before stringent noise laws were in effect... My plan is to build a two-into-one header with the pipe running across the front lower sidecar mount to an automotive muffler istalled under the sidecar. I plan to make this unit as quiet as possible.

The wife is looking at paint schemes and knowing her it will not be anything understated. I am expecting some very bright colors and contrasting colors for the bodywork, frame and wheels.

The engine may get a two in to one manifold for the intake side of things and a single carb for simplicity and reliability sake.

So there is the basic plan. I need to finish a couple of projects on the house first before I really get started but I have been doing some design work and hope to start on some parts soon. This will be updated as time goes on. Some interesting links are found at the World Wide Sidecar Links and Pictures and there are some pictures here of an interesting project called the Blackbird with hub center steering. There is lots if information about Yamaha XS650s at the 650 Central Page.