A leaner for my Roadliner

[Hiho]

Lurked here for a while now and got some usefull info and ideas.I built my first leaner twelve months ago and attached it to a Yamaha XJR1300. It was quite sucessful and we did some 10k with it ranging from track use to touring.
Old age caught up with me and so a new bike saw the need to build another sidecar. we found some more information to create a better handling unit and when attached this unit allows me to take hands off the bars at 100kph and it tracks dead straight.
Due to it being a cruiser style bike the lean angle is nowhere near that of the XJR but is still a lot of fun to ride.
We are just doing some shakedown rides at the moment, but come late December there is a 10k ride across Oz and back for five weeks.
Cheers for the great sight and freedom of info for all to acess. I will post some photos of it attached to the bike later.

[claude]

Looks nice looking forward to mor epictures

[Hiho]

This was the set up of the chassis before starting on the body. I had seen a similar swingarm and because it is narrower than a conventional double swing arm decided to go this way.
After the first run the swingarm needed another brace, which was added and now performs perfectly. The shock is a progressive fully adjustable and it does an awesome job. Riding last night with a passenger for the first time the ride was super comfortable.

[FR700]

Rough neighborhood ... who stole the wheels off the falcon ?


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[XL-erate]

Really like the looks of that sidecar body! I'd love to see more pics of the build if you have. A bit confused by the swingarm from these pics, brightness of paint makes it difficult to see definition. Curious what that cylindrical thing in front of the car's shock mount is, almost looks like it has wires coming out the bottom and passing through a grommet into frame.

Have you thought about adding a diagonal brace inside frame box from right front to left rear at chair's wheel, to help control flex and distortion?

[Hellracer.nl]

Wow, that looks realy nice! Good job!
Can you post some more pics of the swing arm and suspension set-up? I've build a leaner last March and I'm planning a second one. Good input is always welcome.

[Hiho]

Thanks for the comments guys, i will try to answer your questions and add some more photos.

The swing arm was a copy of one i saw in a photo and liked the idea of the lines and narrow width. As long as the push is direct on the shock it will work well. We may add an adjustable set up to the top link so as to have more adjustment depending on the load.



This was the start of the swing arm.



The flatpack of the body after it was cut out.



The very first go with my new English wheel.

[Hiho]

So on with it,



Continuing with the English wheel to form the back, what a learning curve(pardon the pun)



And the finished back with a fair bit of planishing and bog to go.



A better shot of the swingarm design.

[Hellracer.nl]

Nice work, looks great!
Keep those photo's coming!

[claude]

[XL-erate]

Well, I must say I'am amazed, even astounded! Looking at the first couple of pictures, yes, I was very impressed. Clever fella, great design and some very nice fiberglass work.

WHAT??! ALUMINUM!??!!! WOW! I could hardly believe my eyes, had no idea! I quickly moved from impressed to genuinely humbled by your fine craftsmanship! Most excellent and I'm even running out of exclamation points! Beautiful....thanks for sharing!

[MitchG]

Any chance of an update on this build?

[Hiho]

So it was finished and we went on our trip to Tasmania. Some 4000ks to Melbourne and onto the ferry across to Tassie. We did about 5500ks touring the island and the ride and handling was superb. This photo was taken on the last day about eight hours before the return trip to the mainland.


At about 10.00am that morning we met a railway crossing in Devonport and this happened.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...psc4e53639.jpg

And this was the outcome.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps04d4db64.jpg

I copped three broken and several fractured ribs, and the wife got a 50 staple cut on one leg and her left wrist is shattered in about forty pieces.
The moral of the story is dont build a sidecar too low and if you do dont overload it.
We have started the new plans for the next body and chassis. We will recover the swingarm, wheel and shockie off the old one. Everything else is bitter and twisted.
Our holiday, which we have renamed an adventure, ran about $10,000 over budget. This was partly due to the wifes father passing away and a return flight to Thailand for the wife, then hospital accomodation, hire car, transport for the wreck. Flights back to Perth, instead of riding.
But, it was a great trip and we are already planning another in Tassie in March 2015.

[DRONE]

Wow! That's terrible news. Not much to laugh about there. So when the subframe hit the railroad track did it make the rear end buck up throwing you two in the air? Did your wife get her lacerations while exiting the sidecar, or on impact with the ground?

The only kinda good thing I see outta the whole affair is that the newspaper reporter characterized you as a "middle-aged couple". If it was me and my wife, they'd probably say "a couple of old codgers". Bu then again, I'm two years older than you so maybe that's fair.

[MitchG]

Wow as well! Thanks for the reply. Sorry to hear about the mishap and hope you both had a thorough healing.

Just starting a leaner build and yours mimics, closest to what I had in mind. Note taken on ground clearance! Railway tracks are one thing I had not considered. Your second run at this should be interesting as the first was very impressive. Subscribed so please post any progress here or a link to it.

I do have a couple of questions if your up to it? Main hoop/frame tube OD, wall thickness, material, basic dimensions and/or sketches, did you do your own tube bending?

BTW, the trailer in the pic looks very interesting!! Any info available on it?