Hack attack

[Lee Bruns]

had a visitor (Loingrader) up this way yesterday fromn the list.
Let him loose on my sidecar a bit, and discussed how to build his own. Dual sport sidecars are a HOOT.
Anyone else want to play with the sidecars a bit, stop on past.

[loingrader]

and what a friggin blast it was.  i got a couple pics to follow in due time. 

i'm hooked.  there will be one in my future!

thanks again lee!

[plumber mike]

and what a friggin blast it was.  i got a couple pics to follow in due time. 

It's due time now

Jealous.

A very generous offer, Lee. Be careful. A few of us may take you up on it

[Lee Bruns]

Oh, no worry about that Mike.
its a working garage. Part school, part skunk works, with some actual productivity on occasion. The hack is BUILT, oh, its missing third gear, but its a tank other than that.

[loingrader]

i don't have any action shots.  just this pic and a bunch of close ups of the fab work that went into this hack.  notice the suzy water buffalo and my xx in the background.

for those of you who don't know, lee built this rig from scratch.  the frame, swingarm, bike mounts, etc.  he BUILT the tub of the sidecar out of a bunch of aluminum breadpans and about 10000 rivets.  i would hate to know how many fab hours he has in this thing, but if he put a price on it i'm thinking it would be sold pretty quick.  even without 3rd gear!

i'd never ridden a sidecar rig before.  first lee took me out on a run with me in the chair.  he instructed me on the finer points of piloting a hack and demonstrated some awesome skills.  like the lock up the rear tire and power slide around a left hand turn.  that was pretty damn cool!  again, i'd never been a sidecar monkey before but it was awesome, and very roomy.

we then switched positions and i drove the bike with lee in the chair.  even though this was my first time, it was a lot of fun, not scary or difficult at all.  lee instructed me to accelerate thru the right handers and brake to go thru the left handers easier.  with someone in the hack, it pulls and pushes a bit with accel and decel, but nothing unexpected.  right hand turns can be taken much faster with someone in the chair keeping it from reaching for the sky.  i only put lee into the curb once on a turn.  it was a helpful reminder that a sidecar rig is wider than a bike.  lesson learned!

then lee told me to take it out solo.  with no one in the chair, going straight it behaves almost like a motorcycle.  virtually no pushing/pulling, but the chair bounces a little more than when occupied.  nothing bothersome, just noticable.  right handers at anything other than a snails pace will bring the chair up (fly the chair). 

what a blast!  at 60mph (fastest we went in town) or at 20 mph and everything in between, it was awesome.  not tiring, not scary, not difficult.  just a friggin good time. 

[plumber mike]

Awesome! That is all.

[Lee Bruns]

A properly set up sidecar is a blast, a poorly set up sidecar is the worst, least-fun thing on the road. There is not much between those two points. They are either very right, or horribly wrong. The problem is, they look like such simple set-ups that folkd try to align them without the knowledge of how to do it right. Those are the people who will tell you "All sidecars pull to the right when going down the road" and "Sidecars only get 3000 miles to a rear tire". Etc.

[Dustin]

Very impressive Hack!

[Hank]

I like this...

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=535183

[Lee Bruns]

NICE!!
LOts of nice rigs out there if a fellow wants to spend the money.
I' had a REALLY sweet Guzzi sidecar rig for a while, but found that when the paint was all pretty and the bike was nice, I was hessitant to go down gravel roads. Now, with the 'rough' rig I've had a LOT more fun with the hack. Lesson learned, sidecars are too much fun to worry about keeping the paint nice.
     Better to nab a 80's vintage japanese bike and build or bolt a second hand hack on it. Rip up the backroads, go see Nemo, head to Mystic, go check out that Coolage lookout tower again.

[Hank]

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=616752

There ya go Bret!

[loingrader]

I'd rather have that fj1200 and $5k in my pocket.  but then 2wd would be cool too.  I keep going back and forth but my first hack will be done on the CHEAP.  plus i've already got a tug in my barn.  1983 silverwing 650.  One of two that I am blessed to have around the homestead.

You would love a ural hank.  Think of all the room for engineering improvement there is on that baby!  It would be just like  blank canvas, ready for your ingenuity.

AND, when you make it able to do 100mph for days on end and get 40mpg and then get sick of it, I'd kindly take it off your hands.