The author strikes the proud owner pose with the upgraded 1993 K1100RS / EML Speed 2000 on the Side A Little More More on the Side not safely ride on a . Both of Building a hack to my specifications… our boys have loved riding in the side- car. The excitement of being dropped By Michael S. Currin, PhD #54532 Hayabusa sidecar rigs ridden by of at preschool in a sidecar and getting some of the other gatherers. Obtaining everyone’s attention is an awesome feel- “Being at the right place at the right the horsepower levels that these other ing. Kids would line up at the fence to time” and “sometimes it’s who you bikes put out from my twelve year old see us arrive. know”, these two eternal truths came K-bike was probably out of the ques- Driving a sidecar has its own chal- together at the 2005 High Performance tion, so I was thinking about upgrading lenges and joys, different than a motor- Sidecar (HPS) Gathering in Maggie the handling. cycle, but just as much fun. Most Valley, North Carolina. For a long time I originally became interested in mornings it’s the sidecar rig that gets I had been thinking of upgrading my sidecars when my children came along. picked for the ride to work, leaving the 1993 K1100RS with EML Speed 2000 It seemed like a way to share motorcy- two wheelers in the barn. Even the old sidecar rig to better keep up with the cling with our two boys, especially since reliable R80/7 was sold since it never

A Litt l e Yamaha FJRs, Blackbirds, and our youngest has cerebral palsy and can seemed to get picked when it was time

56 BMW OWNERS NEWS August 2007 to ride. A couple months after I got the really go around a corner. It was a lot kit included a sub frame that ran under K1100 rig, my wife decided she was also faster than I ever would have expected. the K1100RS body work and tied to the interested in sidecars and an R80RT The Speed 2000 sidecar was high tech bike at the steering head, front motor with an EML Tour T sidecar showed up for its day. The installation kit featured a mounts, and at the transmission. This in the barn. Leading Link (LL) front end and 14 inch strengthened the bike frame for the When I began the sidecar search, I automotive wheels and tires for all three had never heard the words “sidecar” and wheels. The LL front end is better than “high performance” used in the same a traditional telescopic fork at handling The sidecar frame was modified paragraph, let alone same sentence. My the side force generated by a cornering to move the body four inches to original interest in the K1100RS / Speed sidecar. Also, it can be designed to use 1 the right to provide more room for the front suspension. Other frame 2000 was based on one picture sent to a much wider tire than would fit on the modifications were the addition of the me by the former BMW dealer in St. stock motorcycle front end. Automotive mount for the swing arm pivot and Louis. No mention was made of perfor- tires put a lot more rubber on the road extra bracing. mance; it just really looked good in the than conventional motorcycle tires and The bike side swing arm mount photo. since the rig does not lean there is no had to be designed to allow After reading some of the how-to- need for the rounded profile of motor- 2 clearance for the brake pedal ride-a-sidecar information, I was a cycle tires. The wider tires really make and to not block the oil sight glass. little worried about my first ride. I was a difference in the cornering and stop- The front swing arm was first pleasantly surprised at how well the rig ping capabilities of an HPS rig. tack welded together and all worked right out of the box. There was The leading link front end had less 3 alignments double checked. none of the pulling to the right or left trail than the original, making the Once the swing arm was that I was expecting and after a while steering easier. This is very important completed the front shock I started to find out how fast it could when running a 175-series car tire. The 4 mount was designed. 1 3

2 4 C urrin. Finney And Mike Mike And Finney otos By Ji m By P h otos

August 2007 BMW OWNERS NEWS 57 sidecar duty and also included mounts forward pointing single sided swing The next thought was if the 175/75 x for the sidecar. arm. Properly designed, they are more 14 automotive tires that were originally Among the attendees at the Gath- rigid than either a standard or leading on the rig were good, 195/50 x 16 tires ering were Ruth Ann and David Han- link front end. Since all the compo- had to be better, plus it would be nice nigan, with one of their new Suzuki nents are on one side of the front end an to be able to use standard car rims; no Bandit 1200 Bandito sidecar rigs. The automotive style wheel can be mounted more looking for a shop that can or is Bandito is the first American-made using lug bolts. This makes removing willing to mount and balance a 14-inch sidecar setup to use Center Hub Steer- the wheel much easier. car tire on to a rim made to fit a motor- ing (CHS). Prior to this, if you wanted Also attending were Margie and Bill cycle front axle. If I’m making that leap, to experience the handling advantages Ballou. Bill is the designer and fabrica- I might as well make all three wheels of this caliber of a rig you had to import tor of the CHS front suspension used capable of using the same rims and a sidecar from Europe, an expensive on the Hannigan Bandito and K1200RS tires. So now I’m looking at a new hub and time consuming process or build sidecar rigs. After some discussion, I to mount an automotive rim on the rear your own. Hannigan has now added a learned that the prototype for the Ban- of the motorcycle, and also changes to CHS sidecar for BMW K1200 RS. dito hub was still lying around Bill’s the sidecar hub. Center-hub steering has many advan- machine shop and could be purchased After a few days of sitting and star- tages for sidecar use. One is the reduced for a suitably sized stack of cash. The ing at the rig, I had a basic concept of camber change when turning, in other only problem was there was no swing for my new front suspension. Instead of words, the front tire stays flatter to the arm. I would be on my own to design the short swing arm, pivoting in front ground, keeping more rubber on the and fabricate everything between the of the radiator and going forward to the road. With a telescopic or LL front end hub and the rig. front hub, as used on the Hannigan rigs, the tire rolls up on its edge when turn- This started the wheels turning. A I would use a long swing arm, pivoting ing. The static friction can be greatly few years prior, I had added a sway bar between the bike and sidecar. There were reduced, improving the ride and road connecting the sidecar suspension and several reasons for this. First, it would handling ability. Also the front end can the rear-wheel suspension, so I figured reduce the amount of caster change be designed to have adjustable caster it couldn’t be that much more work as the front end moved up and down on the (trail)Side going from quick steering for the to add a new front end. (I have been through its suspension travel, second it twisties to slower steering for greater known to occasionally underestimate would put less material in front of the stability on the interstate. the time and effort required to complete radiator on a bike that already tended to The CHS designs looks a lot like a a project). run a little hot, and third it looked like 6

More 5 7 A Litt l e

58 BMW OWNERS NEWS August 2007 something I could build. rotor and two 6 piston brake calipers slightly to the left so the tire would Pivoting the front-end swing arm from a Suzuki Bandit 1200. After about clear the rear suspension. After look- between the sidecar frame and the EML six months of Sunday afternoons in ing at many wheels, both aftermarket sub frame that had been part of the the barn with the Harbor Freight pipe and OEM, I decided to use stock Mini original sidecar kit meant that it would bender, I had a forward-facing swing Cooper wheels. They were the narrow- no longer be possible to adjust the side- arm pivoting on tapered roller bearing est 16-inch wheels I could find, looked car wheel toe in and bike lean out by on a ¾- inch shaft between the bike and good, and plus they’re akin to . adjusting the sidecar mounts. So I now sidecar. I took one of the Mini Cooper hub caps had to redesign the sidecar wheel hub Then I had an adapter made to to the local BMW shop, where the parts to be adjustable for toe in, ride height, have the same lug bolt pattern on the man helped me find some BMW roun- and camber. Since I was going to have to rear wheel of the bike as is used on the dels to cover the Mini logo. modify it for different wheels anyhow, sidecar and front wheel. The adapter After a couple of calls to Penske I might as well upgrade the sidecar would also have to offset the rear wheel Racing, I had new shocks for the front brakes and move the sidecar body a end and sidecar. They have remote res- couple inches to the right, give some ervoirs and are adjustable for length, extra room for the front swing arm and Much thought was given to rebound, and compression. The sidecar mounts. wheel and tire size, to get both shock uses a hose that is long enough to as wide a tire as practical and I’ve never been accused of doing 5 mount the reservoir between the bike end up with the best final gearing. things half way. The new sidecar hub and sidecar for easier adjustment. I had The sidecar hub consists of a uses a rear hub from a front wheel drive mounted a Penske shock on the rear of Toyota hub, Honda automotive Toyota Corolla, with a Honda Civic 6 brake rotor and two Suzuki the bike a few years prior to this. The brake rotor and two Suzuki 600 rear brake calipers. Penske people are very easy to work brake calipers, one tied to the front The EML sidecar swing arm with when building custom shocks. brake, and one tied to the rear brake. pivots next to the bike and runs They changed springs and valving at no The hub assembly bolts to the sidecar 7 under the sidecar body. The additional charge, other than shipping, swing arm so that toe in and camber new hub was bolted to the modified until I got what I needed. can be adjusted by shim washers. swing arm. While I was there, I decided to try By this time the prototype front hub Top view of front suspension. and do something about how the bike had been delivered. It uses the same The brake lines have since been tended to run a little hot since the addi- Toyota hub, but with a Mitsubishi brake 8 redone. tion of the sidecar. I tend to have a lot of “while I’m there” ideas, probably why my projects tend to take a little longer than planned. I had read somewhere that the older three core K-bike radia- tors could be made to fit a K1100 with just a little bit of work. It may have been a little bit of work if there wasn’t already a sidecar sub frame fitted to the bike, but it did fit. As with any project there are still a few tweaks to do, but all in all it works great. I’m very pleased. The first real test of the upgrades was at the Daniel Boone Rally, in Boone North Carolina. If you haven’t been, you’ve missed some won- derful roads. It was a short ride from the rally to the “Snake,” 489 corners in a 12-mile radius of Shady Valley, Ten- nessee (http://www.shadyvalleycoun- trystore.com/default.htm). Highway 421 going up to Shady Valley is just as challenging as Deals Gap and includes much more elevation change. Even with a front shock spring rate about one-half what would finally be decided on the front end worked wonderfully. The LL front end would push the front tire if I accelerated too hard from a stoplight with the bars turned left the rig would just push the front tire, going 8 August 2007 BMW OWNERS NEWS 59 BMW R1200R straight through the intersection, until I’d let off the gas, then the front wheel would hook up and the rear end slide San Diego, California around, and then the rig would turn. www.calif-motorcyclerental.com It can be very entertaining, if you’re (858) 456-9577 expecting it. Now the front end just hooks up and turns. With the caster WHEN IT COMES TO BOOTS AND GLOVES, adjustment set for quick steering it’s WE WIN THE RACE, HANDS DOWN! like having power steering, but a little Call the experts. twitchy for on the interstate. SPECIALLY FOR WOMEN: • IXS Gloves/Boots and Before using just the front brake Racer Gloves FOR EVERYONE: • Socks would cause the rig to veer to the left, • Had Headwear • M&R Tiedowns 877-913-4579 • Orina Rainboots and more! XXXMBEZSJEFSTXFBSDPN with the coupled front and sidecar brake it stops straight, and with all that rubber Guard Dog® it stops quickly. I did remove the ABS during this upgrade and so far have not oils, treatments & missed it. Using the back brake gives grease for splines just as straight a stop, just not as fast. There were many hands in this proj- Moly Lubricants www.GuardDogMoly.com ect besides mine. Bill Ballou did a won- derful job on the CHS front hub and I’m sure Bill McSheehy had a hand in there some where. The rear hub adapter came from C Stanley Motorsports Corpora- tion, Penns Creek, PA (570) 765-8310. Andy and Lucky at Custom Machine

and Tooling (http://www.cmtaltiforce. on the Side com/index.html) were always able to fit my small machining jobs into their schedule. Gene Snyder, my step-father- in-law, did all the real welding after I tacked the pieces together. Bruce Pick- ett did some welding and machining and the guys at Lee’s Automotive were always ready with advice and tutorials on the rear suspension of front wheel drive cars. I need to thank my wife, Jody, for not complaining too much about the con- stant stream of UPS deliveries and let- More

ABSOLUTE GUARANTEE •TRAILERS •HITCHES Laundry List •TRIKES • Original EML Speed 2000 sidecar Show Pride •SIDECARS kit with sidecar, subframe, leading in Your Ride link front end, and 14 inch tires and • Quality apparel and wheels $10,500 (1999) accessories • Professional rigging, painting, • Detailed embroidery carpet, etc $4,000 (1999) • Hundreds of motor- • Swaybar upgrades $350 (2004) cycle and car designs • Front hub and machine shop bill • Exceptional vehicle $4000 (2006) color matches • Wheels 3 @ $200 each = $600 • Shocks 3 @ $900 each = $2700 Experience • Materials (steel) $200 the AutumnRiders Member B.B.B. Difference: • Brake lines, bearings, nuts and www.autumnriders.com 1.866.638.1793 866.644.0280 (US/Canada) bolts $300 978.251.2234 www.dauntlessmotors.com • Plus, the original cost of the bike. BMW’S – R32 TO LATEST Covington, WA USA A Litt l e 60 BMW OWNERS NEWS August 2007 HI-TEC DIGITAL TIRE GAUGE T G10 0 $ 24.90

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Suburban Machinery

More ting me have a break from the honey do com/. Hannigan’s High Performance list. I’m trying to get caught up. offering are at http://www.hannigan- Now that these upgrades are finished, trikes.com/content/home.html. A couple the ante’s been upped. Two of the gath- of other sites of interest are http://home. erees have purchased Kawasaki ZX-14 insightbb.com/~ralph1/index.html and to use as sidecar mules and one of the http://hometown.aol.com/sidebike99/ Hayabusas has added a nitrous kit. A index.html. Hannigan K1200RS rig has been spotted Dr. Currin has been riding motorcy- at Deals Gap. I wonder if anyone has a cles for 34 years. The first 20 years were turbo kit for the K1100, maybe nitrous, on a 1967 Triumph chopper, which he or wonder if I could find a K1200 motor still owns. Fourteen years ago he decided R1200RT to fit in there. What about that new that his manliness would survive having K1200RS, which should make a good electric start and a windshield and pur- Handlebar 1.0” risers sidecar mule. To be continued? chased a well used R80/7. Since then it’s Footpeg comfort kits for K12LT been BMW’s. He is a civilian contractor and most Oilheads & Hexheads For more information on high perfor- at Ft Bragg, NC and resides in Erwin, 1-800-297-1341 mance sidecars including more step North Carolina with wife Jody, sons by step details on the K1100 upgrades Cody and Jacob, a couple dogs, several see more products online at checkout the High Performance Sidecar rabbits, some peacocks, chickens, ducks, www.suburban-machinery.com forum and links at http://hpsidecars. and geese. A Litt l e August 2007 BMW OWNERS NEWS 61