My Other Bike Is.....

[micawber]

Not been on here for a while. Still, my other bike is....




a bit different.
This is my old '93 Yamaha Diversion 600 which I put up for sale soon after I bought my NTV. As you can see, it's in good nick, fairing lowers, various improvements, etc. yet could I sell it? Apparently not. It was a good bike going to waste. After over a year including time in my local dealer who tried to sell it for me I brought it home. I had thought about fitting a sidecar some time ago but the time was not right.
A friend of mine put the word out for me, a couple of weeks afterwards someone rang up to say they had one for sale, and after looking at it I agreed to buy it. To be truthful it was more like a kit of parts but it was cheap enough and with a bit of perseverance it has turned out ok. Not every one's cup of tea maybe but memories of the fun me and the kids had with the last one kept me going. It has taken longer than expected to get sorted (as with most projects) and the budget took a bit of a bashing too.
I now am in the happy position of having too many bikes but there you are, you can't have everything!
For those who may be interested, it's a Squire ST2, a single seater (bucket seat) with a large boot. The bike could probably have managed on standard gearing as first is pretty low but I was able to get a 15T front sprocket from an XJ400 (standard is 16T) just to be on the safe side. Who knows, I might want to tow a trailer in the future!
It was a toss up between fitting a sidecar to the NTV or the Divvy at one time as the NTV has the sort of torque that would go well with one, but it's just too nice as a solo, and the Diversion was actually the "spare bike".

Comments please!

Micawber.

[McF]

Hi Micawber
sounds like you're happy with the way things have developed, so I'm happy for you ;D
Sidecar is not the most likely cuppa tea for many people, and I'm probably one, but if it gives you another option for biking freedom - crack on ;D ;D
I can see the logic behind Sidecars, and also Caravans. I have never had much experience of either, so I'm not actually qualified to judge.

How easy is it to remove the sidecar and replace? If you only had the one bike, is this a practical thing to do?

Thanks for sharing with us, please update as you gain more experience with the 'car.

[micawber]

Well McF, many years ago, some manufacturers marketed their sidecars as quickly detachable.
Certainly in my case, the physical connections are 4 eye bolts over which the slotted ends of the sidecar mountings fit, 2 at the front and rear of the frame low down and 2 high up at the front and back of the frame.
The lower mountings set the lead of the sidecar wheel ahead of the rear wheel and the amount of "toe in" of the sidecar wheel. The upper mountings set the lean in or out of the bike relative to the sidecar. So once everything is clamped tight, it should be possible to remove and replace the sidecar leaving the eyebolts in place on the frame, with all the settings remaining undisturbed.
The suspension can be adjusted at the rear (usually at max preload with a sidecar) but unless you have forks with adjustable preload they will remain at whatever stiffness they have been set at to cope with the weight of the sidecar. Manufacturers used to supply sidecar springs as an option (some people used to fit them to solos to firm up the front suspension) but these days you just make up a spacer and put that on top of the fork springs to preload them. It's a struggle to get the fork cap nuts on with those in place! A connector block can be used to disconnect the sidecar wiring, not forgetting to put the left side bike indicator bulbs back in.
Because bike steering geometry is not ideal for a non leaning vehicle a steering damper is used to damp out any wobbles so that would have to be disconnected, not too difficult. Then you could ride it as a solo.
Of course, if you had gone the whole hog by fitting leading link forks and 15" car rims and tyres, it would not be so simple! Fitting a square -ish section tyre front and rear is usually recommended even to standard wheels which would not be so good on a solo, but by compromising a little, it is feasible to be able to remove a sidecar and use as a solo.
One advantage to riding an outfit is that you can go for el cheapo tyres using old fashioned block treads rather than expensive super grippy sports tyres (assuming you can get the sizes).
Too much information!

Micawber.