Sidecar attachment parts - National sidecar to a 1916 Harley J

[Nils_r]

Hi- I am restoring a National sidecar to fit on my 16J. Unfortunately all the attachments on the bike have been lost at some stage over the last 100 years (last 70 yrs in storage at various locations) but the bike and sidecar was a pair when delivered New and used as a combination. The National sidecar has the type of 2-piece clamp with two hemisperical shaped elements which are pressed together With a bolt and a set nut. This means that the attachment connected to the bike (front frame tube and rear axle attachment) should be ball connectors. Harley did this the opposite way and had a conical arrangement with the hemisperical part connected to the frame. I will probably have to make ball attachement to the bike frame based on some Harley mounts and do some milling, drilling and welding UNLESS there are somebody out there which happen to have such attachements for the frame lying around or could provide pictures/drawings/advice of such attachements for the National sidecar. I have seen a National connected to a Thor and an Excelsior but did not succeed in getting in contact with the owners.

Best
Nils_r

[jellywrestler]

Hi- I am restoring a National sidecar to fit on my 16J. Unfortunately all the attachments on the bike have been lost at some stage over the last 100 years (last 70 yrs in storage at various locations) but the bike and sidecar was a pair when delivered New and used as a combination. The National sidecar has the type of 2-piece clamp with two hemisperical shaped elements which are pressed together With a bolt and a set nut. This means that the attachment connected to the bike (front frame tube and rear axle attachment) should be ball connectors. Harley did this the opposite way and had a conical arrangement with the hemisperical part connected to the frame. I will probably have to make ball attachement to the bike frame based on some Harley mounts and do some milling, drilling and welding UNLESS there are somebody out there which happen to have such attachements for the frame lying around or could provide pictures/drawings/advice of such attachements for the National sidecar. I have seen a National connected to a Thor and an Excelsior but did not succeed in getting in contact with the owners.

Best
Nils_r

i have several boxes of sidecar fittings, if you are able to post piccies i can have a look see what i have

[Nils_r]

Hi- here is a Picture of the frame With the clamps shown. I need the bike attachments which should have the matching balls for these clamps.
IMG_1157.jpg

[Nils_r]

Greatful of anybody has got a picture of the male connector to these clamps

[exeric]

This is the best I can come up with, Nils. National, and Rogers had a business partnership and their mounts were the same. I got these poor photocopies years ago. If you have Photoshop, you can rotate, crop, clean, and rearrange these pages. Most everything you need to know is there, just hard to find.

[duffeycycles]

If you search sidecar patents they come up

[Nils_r]

Hi- I have tried this earlier using Google books but there are only excerpts available using for instance this thread:

https://books.google.no/books?id=4gI9AAAAYAAJ&q=national+sidecar+patent&dq=national+sidecar+patent&hl=no&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwji3_fq2KDSAhXCDZoKHWfZCx0Q6AEIGjAA

No Library Close to me have these books unfortunately

[Nils_r]

Great Eric - it sheds some light on what I need

[Jack Innes]

I have the same National Model V chassis with the "Vibrasorber" upper connection that was always on my Reading Standard. It used the ball under the seat & a clamp on ball front & back. I will take some pictures & post them later today.

Jack

[Nils_r]

Great- that is very helpful- any measurements you can make is also most useful

[Jack Innes]

Here are some pictures of the attachments. The lower balls are 1" dia. & the upper one is 1 1/8". All are worn a bit.
You will see an original RS mount at the front that is not used.

[Jack Innes]

More pictures.

[exeric]

Great pictures, Jack.

[Nils_r]

Great- thank you a lot- very useful - I now know what to chase to connect my sidecar.

NilsR

[exeric]

Bear in mind, the rear axel fitting for an H-D is different than the R-S that Jack has. It is #203 on the Rogers list, and has an offset mounting.