45s with side cars?

[1776J]

I'm wondering about the idea of running a side car on my 1937 45,.. though i'm thinking its probably much to underpowered to do so,...to be able to pack it up with camping gear and head out with it on short trips, etc?..or take the wife in there on small run-abouts?

Is the side car a thing more suited for BT power?

[Rubone]

1776J,
It depends on whether you want stock looking or aftermarket sidecars. I have done a fair amount of work over the years for a friend with a '48WL pulling a Velorex sidecar. The car is very light and the bike does fine. About 5 years ago I built it into a stroker for him using T&O 4-7/16 flywheels and stock cams and other internals. It really pulls the car now. Will easily maintain backroad speeds with a load in the car.
Stock sidecars are much heavier and require such a gearing down of the bike that highway speeds are hard to obtain. Looks like time for a UL!
Robbie

[Chuck#1848]

1776J

another thing to consider is where you will be traveling with the sidecar IF you are in the flatlands and don't mind downshifting a bit more than a stock original sidecar mated to a 45 may not be a bad thing in that type of area.........BUT........like Rub mentioned you are going to need some power to pull the hack along at times,something to remember is that any type of sidecar that is added to a motorcycle put's stress on various parts in your case the motor ,sprockets,chains,wheel bearings and in some motorcycles swingarm bearings to,will all need more maintance and replacing than usual.

Aside from that I personally think they are great! oh I sure as heck wouldn't put a velorex on 48 WL

[1776J]

Well thank you very much fellas! I appreciate you guys weighing in on the idea. I'm probably just going to pass on the sidecar idea for now,... maybe in the near future I'll be blessed with a BT flathead project I can hook on a side hack to??

[Tommo]

In 2003 I rode from Vancouver BC to Milwaukee and then Chicago, over 4500 miles on a 45 dragging a fully laden period Goulding sidecar. Over Stevens Pass, up the Beartooth pass, all over the place and yes at times it was a bit slow but I never had to resort to low gear on any of the climbs and generally I got along at 50 to 55 mph with a fully laden sidecar.
The bike runs standard gearing and the only mods are a 1 3/16 bore carb and a dropped cylinder wall beside the valves. To bring the com back up the heads were planed to give 7 to 1 compression ratio.
With a following wind on flat going I have seen almost 70 on the speedo.
I say go for it especially if it's only a short haul, day tripper style of thing and if you haven't done much sidecar piloting it will be an excellent learning tool.
I've done thousands of miles over the years on sidecars so I do tend to be a bit biased towards them.

[c.o.]

Tommo, that ride must have been awesome! It's interesting this topic came up. I've never thought much on sidecars but I've got a little grandson that loves going for short rides. A sidecar would be a hoot to haul him around..... I'll have to give it some thought.......

[1776J]

In 2003 I rode from Vancouver BC to Milwaukee and then Chicago, over 4500 miles on a 45 dragging a fully laden period Goulding sidecar. Over Stevens Pass, up the Beartooth pass, all over the place and yes at times it was a bit slow but I never had to resort to low gear on any of the climbs and generally I got along at 50 to 55 mph with a fully laden sidecar.
The bike runs standard gearing and the only mods are a 1 3/16 bore carb and a dropped cylinder wall beside the valves. To bring the com back up the heads were planed to give 7 to 1 compression ratio.
With a following wind on flat going I have seen almost 70 on the speedo.
I say go for it especially if it's only a short haul, day tripper style of thing and if you haven't done much sidecar piloting it will be an excellent learning tool.
I've done thousands of miles over the years on sidecars so I do tend to be a bit biased towards them.

Boy!
Sounds like that really hauled ass without a problem!,...
How hard are the Goulding sidecars to come by? I could swear I saw someone's catalogue where they were replicating them? Any ideas?

hmm,... well, I'll think about it some more,...??

[Jack K]

sidehack pics 001.JPGIf you are happy with 50-55 mph a stock 45 will handle a sidehack just fine. Using a servicar engine sprocket (22 tooth I think) it will hit "close to" 70 with a little tail wind. The hack shown here is heavy so will cause her head to shake some at slow speeds. Just screw the damper down until you get it up to road speed.
As Tommo stated, it may not be the rig of choice for long mountain passes but if you are not traveling main hyways it does a pretty good job.

[1776J]

[ATTACH]4199[/ATTACH]If you are happy with 50-55 mph a stock 45 will handle a sidehack just fine. Using a servicar engine sprocket (22 tooth I think) it will hit "close to" 70 with a little tail wind. The hack shown here is heavy so will cause her head to shake some at slow speeds. Just screw the damper down until you get it up to road speed.
As Tommo stated, it may not be the rig of choice for long mountain passes but if you are not traveling main hyways it does a pretty good job.

I'm up in the air over it really... just undecided. I think it would also really depend on what I could get a side hack for ($$$) and so on. Isn't there someone making reproductions of the Goulding style sidecar? Could have sworn I saw that somewhere?

[Perry Ruiter]

Isn't there someone making reproductions of the Goulding style sidecar? Could have sworn I saw that somewhere?

Here's the guy that makes them. North Americans will find it easiest to order one from 45 Parts Depot ... Perry

[Chuck#1848]

A SIDECAR.....why not!

I'm up in the air over it really... just undecided. I think it would also really depend on what I could get a side hack for ($$$) and so on. Isn't there someone making reproductions of the Goulding style sidecar? Could have sworn I saw that somewhere?

I am not real fimilar with with 45's and what their abality is guessing and with what we can read from previous post's you are looking at 50-55 mph what I was trying to say earlier is personaly I believe you could do it but the most common mistake people make that install sidecars to their motorcycles do is to "lug" their motors this will literally tear the lower end out of an engine be it modern or antique this was why I was mentioning about more down shifting and the roads traveled say if you live in west virginia in the "hills" plan on a lot of down shifting or running second gear,and like I mentioned there is a bit more of maintance to do depending on the type and amount of riding miles you do with it.

The tires on your bike I believe should be able to be rotated front and back look in your manual their should be things mentioned in it on what to do when the motorcycle is being used for sidecar service things like tire pressure and so on, something to watch for is the rear tire wear if it is wearing or grinding the inside tread off between the motorcycle and sidecar your alignment needs to be changed it's no different in my mind than the alignment on a car or truck poor alignment = poor tire life I would be more than willing to help explain to you how to best set it up trust me, HD didn't always have the right ideas on that topic.

Look at what Tommo did with his sidecar rig the motor has been modified for more power to help move it along, before you plunge in I would suggest finding a sidecar try it out first get use to it it is a completely different style of riding forget about leaning in through the corners should you follow through with a sidecar take the time to get adjusted to it as much fun as they are they can also be very dangerous to the ones that want to scream through the corners a sidecar rig isn't much different from driving you will be stearing your bike,

Cory,I think that would be great if you choose to do that for your grandson I sometimes think that that's what may have gotten me started with motorcycles when I was around maybe 7,8-9 years old there was a neighbor that had an Indian sidecar rig that took the kids for rides although it scared me with the loud motor noise and smell.......maybe burning oil? I later got the bug for motorcycles now when my daughter was 2 years old I bought a sidecar for my 72 flh on Halloween in 1992 had it hooked in a few weeks been running them since

[1776J]

thanks for the heads up!,... I'll take that advice... thanks