My new Vstrom DL1000 w/ Hannigan Dual Sport setup

So here it finally it's!! I received the sidecar from Hannigan the beginning of January. First off.... I can't say enough about Claude! He is AWESOME!! He was patient with all of my questions and put up with my frustrations on delivery beautifully! He helped over the phone with the install. It was pretty easy, I just had a few stumbling blocks. I'm planning a trip to visit him in Pennsylvania soon!

I guess let me start with what I have and what I did before I put on the sidecar. I will explain what works and what didn't for me.
2002 Vstrom DL1000
I am 200 pounds 5'9"
I sent my rear suspension to Jay at Sasquach suspensions to have him rebuilt and put in a heavier spring. I will find out what spring rate.
I upgraded my front suspension to Racetech 1.1kg springs and Racetech oil that I purchased from Jay.
I switched to a 530 chain and increased the rear sprocket to 45 and reduced the front to 16 tooth.
205/50 R17 rear car tire
Converted as many signals (turn and brake) to led to conserve power. (Vstrom power output sucks!!)
Givi 55L top case with Admore lighting kit
Signal Dynamics backoff, power meter and headlight flash modules
Hippo hands!! Awesome!
Givi 41L side cases with Admore lighting kits. I currently only use the right bag without lights. I also do not have the rear right blinker on the bike hooked up. Using the left box makes the setup too wide.
I am currently sill using the motorcycle battery. No external car battery yet. Power is good still.
Warm n Safe grip heaters
Had to remove Rick's peg lowering kit due to subframe.



Hannigan Dual Sport model
Options I ordered:
Sway bar
Carpet
Cigarette lighter adapter
Cup holder
Soft top
Half size windshield
Steering damper
Color match
Electric camber

Claude was kind enough to upgrade the sub frame for me. The sub frame that Hannigan provides with their sidecars seemed to be a lot less than what I would have preferred. Again.... Claude is Amazing!! His sub frame is Incredible!

I will provide more pictures as to the crate and some install pictures later.

Now I want to speak of the options that after 2 months of driving, did and did not work for me. First off, I never needed a steering damper. Hannigan forgot to send it and i am very thankful for that.
Next, i took off the anti sway bar. It seemed to make my steering a lot more difficult in ordinary driving and made the car even more difficult when just going over speed bumps. I'm happier with it off all of the time. Granted, I do not have any steering modifications whatsoever on my Vstrom. No leading links or Steerite as of yet.
The other thing that I removed from my Vstrom were the Rox Risers that I had installed before. Having the handlebars attached at two points made the steering feel odd. My steering is a lot more solid now without the Rox risers.
Steering a Vstrom without a steering modification is doable. It is complicated though with the fact that the hydraulic clutch on the DL1000 is very stiff and is actuated so far from the grip. Cutting down the pin in the handle and shortening the clutch throw activation is a must. Down shifting a turning a side car outfit is hard when the clutch is activated with your fingers extended. I do recommend this.
I HIGHLY recommend the shorter windshield. It is great in everyday driving and in high winds. I do like the soft top. When it was cold here is Dallas, ever so briefly, it was nice having a passenger in the sidecar protected from cold, wind and rain.
I Love the electric camber adjust. I Highly recommend it. I will be getting a different switch for it that will mount on the handlebar soon so it is more accessible. I like that I can adjust the car based on road conditions or even cross winds which helps with the car tracking better. I have the Vstrom leaning out and by adjusting the camber, I can increase this. I originally set the Vstrom straight up and down with the camber at its mid travel and later decided to make the bike be leaning out slightly even and the lowest travel of the camber adjust and increase from there. It is very comfortable for me that way.
I will be adding a front bumper to the sidecar. It has existing locations for round tubing. I want to add some LED floodlights.

My setup: The toe-in I set it all up to originally is .5". I will be double checking this soon.
My setup tracks straight at speed.
The Vstrom in leaning out from the rig. I don't have a specific amount. I'll get that.

If anyone is near and would like to meet up and see my setup, let me know. If you have suggestions, I'm all ears! I am still considering a steering modification. The permanent grin on my face due to the sidecar is AWESOME!! I'm not sure I will ever take the sidecar off at this point.

That's all I can think of right now. I will add pictures and information as time goes on.

Thanks!!






Héctor
2002 DL1000 "Stella"

Looks good !!.If you find the steering REALLY hard I will atest to the greatness of the DMC leading legs !!.I was ready to pull off my car from my Vstrom till I bought a set, AMAZING !!!!!,just ask Touring Dave about them !!!

Once I took off the anti sway bar, it is sooooo much easier to steer and maneuver. I really do have a permanent grin on my face now! Today was Very windy (wind advisory windy) and on the highway going 80 mph in both directions was just fine! I will look into getting a steering mod and possibly adding a sidecar brake.


Héctor
2002 DL1000 "Stella"

Hector,
I may be interested in the bar. Do you have any pics of it and how it was attached?
I absolutely love the brake on my hack, straight line stops, slight drag to help right turns.
Don't know what light Hannigan put in your car, but the one in mine (5 years old) was a P.O.S.! I replaced it with an LED unit from ADVMonster, now I have light!

Where did you get this part to move the wheel forward? it would make the same job as the leading links but for a fraction of the price I imagine.
wonder if can be modified to fit the KLR

We built the "leading legs" They are specific to the 1000 V strom, we make different ones for the 650 V strom so no you could not modify them for the KLR, For the KLR we build leading link front ends.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
jay@dmcsidecars.com

Oh man, this just increases my itch to hack the strom. I love the look of the hannigan cars. I waffle wildly between them and a more traditional hack like DMC or Claude.

I'm curious about the swaybar though. I spend my whole commute every day all year on the Ural slushmaster shocks with bonus extra bodyroll kit so swaybars at speed sound like a Really Good Idea. You said it effects steering? Can you elaborate?

Beautiful rig, it fills me with jealousy and make me think naughty thoughts about my Strom.

I may have a Dauntless sidecar rig for sale soon.....if your itch increases.....PM me.

Hey Hector, glad to hear you are enjoying your StromHack!

Did you get two windshields so you can use your convertible top? I love my shorty but on solo trips go without any windshield and really like the clean air and the economy of fuel.

How is the big gear ratio change working out for you? Personally, I feel it utilizes the big twin torque in those low gears perfectly.

You said:

You know, I haven't been down the road without my swaybar so I cannot comment on that and I also have the SideEffects mod on the triple trees. And yes, that is absolutely sweet. But I will say this, Claude frequently comments on here about practice in all driving conditions. I try to listen to him when he talks about safety issues. If you practice, for example, a right hander in a twisty where you must do an emergency extreme avoidance type turn, what will your rig do with and without that swaybar? My thoughts are that when I practice this I do not want to know what it would do without that swaybar. Now, I did do a shock upgrade with a HyperPro unit from Klaus at EML and let me tell you, it made a HUGE difference so you will no doubt be happy with your shock mod when you get it installed, but that swaybar may feel like an inconvenience to you under certain driving conditions but one should keep in mind what it could do for you and your cargo at speed when it is called upon. End of rant!

I have learned that although this rig is called a Dual Sport, its pretty much a pavement only rig. But thats ok, it eats up the miles on the highway where I mostly use it on our wide open spaces and does it all day long. Sure it will go on gravel or some dirt but the clearance issue keeps me on my toes. I installed a front bumper, which more than anything, keeps the nose from digging into the ground on every little dip I cross. I would also like to mount some lights, but there is always that little problem of POWER. A member on Stromtroopers, RealShelby, has installed an external alternator on his DL1000 and wow, great engineering. He fixed my clutch chudder by the way, voila, brand new V-Strom for 300 bucks. Absolutely amazing how it changed my power band for everyday driving.

Hey, I'll get some pics on here. These V-Stroms with Dual Sports are sharp looking rigs. Claude and the crew will keep cranking them for some lucky folks. Good job Claude, Dave and the rest of the crew!

Hackpirate

Hector, from one Stromoutfit pilot to another, that's one damn fine looking outfit you have there!

And they work absolutely brilliantly!!

Here are a few more pics of the rig.







Yes I took your advice and got the two windshields! What a difference! I had been riding with the big one for the soft top and it really made the rig difficult in winds!
The gearing is PERFECT!! Thank you for the suggestion!
I'm not sold on the sway bar as of yet. What it does is tie the suspension of the sidecar to that of the motorcycle. It feels unnatural just to go over a speed bump due to the suspensions being tied together. I have been ridding it for a week without in varying conditions and it feels great! Keep in mind I do not have any steering mods. I don't know which way to go. I will keep the sway bar for a while and see what happens once I change the steering.

The light on the Hannigan will be swapped for an LED that doesn't eat up power. I have a lot of things on my rig and the power consumption is good. I do recommend swapping anything you can to LED. It does help on the poor vstrom power output.



Héctor
2002 DL1000 "Stella"

I'm glad you are ok after your accident. I had been away from the forums for a while with family health issues. When I head up to Colorado, I'd still like to meet up. I LOVE your pictures and write-ups!!

Have you upgraded your charging system to a electronic MOSFET? I have and maybe that is why I'm doing well with power now. I have seen RealShelby's alternator on vstrom.info. Pretty nice. I think I was the 2 or 3 person to have his clutch basket mod done. Can't say enough of that mod!! Anyone that has a Vstrom needs it!!

That rig sure ain't ugly! (coming from a former K3DL1000 owner)

Nicely done!

I like the short windshield, I'll have to call and see if they make one to fit my Conde Classic.
The tail light on my hack is an automotive unit. I'm going to get some LED's from Superbrightled's to fit in the tail/brake lens and the turn signal lens. I'm also going to put a red led in the backup light lens to come on with the brake light.
Enjoy your rig!

The bulb is burned out on my sidecar light so I would be grateful if you could let me know what you find that works in place of the stock unit. Thank you!

No, I haven't yet. But I will certainly be looking for that soon.

I am curious, what did you end up with for a track width? Mine is 53 1/2".

I would love to see a pic of whatever car tire you installed. I am at the end of my second General Exclaim UHP and am not getting good life from them. (8000 miles or so) Still better than twice what the motorcycle tire was getting though. Randyo at Stromtrooper is running a General Altimax mud and snow tire on a solo bike and is really racking up some high mileage. I gotta figure out which CT to put on next. Oh, FWIW, I have also found that low pressure works best on my CT. Low 20's psi seems about right.

I have figured out that on the sidecar rig I use the rear brake a lot at stop signs etc. and apparently I am sliding the tire without realizing it and destroying the tire. Also doing that with downshifting. I know that front brake stops more and all that but I am talking about low speed stuff and the rubber on this tire is poof, gone. Strangely enough, it hooks up great on accel. Of course the weight transfer is big contributing factor, that and a bad habit I need to break.

Thank you for posting your rig and sharing all your experiences with it so far! Let the fun begin!

Hackpirate

I used these led lights from ADVmonster. My setup is pictured on the page I linked. I did have to rework the mounting bracket a bit, but the light fits right up against the hole in the hack body.

I really like the look of your softtop. I have an earlier Hannigan Dual Sport rig with a higher windshield, and the softtop they proposed looked a lot like the Munster Mobile. But yours is elegant. I might have to stop in Murray KY on the way out to Missouri this summer to check this out in person.