Need a RS sidecar before I die

[brianmac]

i cant be as cool as FPB unless i get a RS with a sidecar, any ideas or leads? , i have a few RSs and a RS trike, my wife wont leave me until i get a few more.

[Lug Nut]

I looked all.over everywhere before I bought my vstar 650 w/ sidecar. Found two for sale ALL over the country and they were $7k and $8k..and this was in 2017. I got my vstar 640 with Velorex 650 sidecar all professionally done with 15k miles for $2900 so I couldn't pass it up. Would obviously prefer a Road Star with sidecar .but haven't seen one for sale in forever....

[KFallsRider]

Liberty Sidecars

[Father Pobasturd]

I can attest to the quality of the Liberty Sidecar. Super fit, finish and welds.

[Mr. Miyagi]

I have a buddy who just picked up a Roadliner with a Moto Trike kit installed. It had been some kind of a showbike and was installed by Yamaha. I Have not seen a sidecar in real life on a Road Star, I have seen photos but nothing sitting beside me in the parking lot.

[Father Pobasturd]

I saw a really nice one on Ebay recently. Was that the one?

[Mr. Miyagi]

She bought it in Marshall, Tx at the PowerSports place.

[Father Pobasturd]

Brianmac, you're already as cool as me, but you'll never be as good lookin' I've been looking at those $2300 sidecars on Ebay, But I think they would not be heavy duty enough for a Roadstar without some serious beefing up. A stronger spindle, some gusseting, IDK, I would really have to see one in person to determine if it would really be worth it. It states in their ad they are not designed to run over 55mph, does not specify the max weight of the bike it's being mounted to. I remember BubbaKahuna's bosses wife had one she sold, a Roadstar with a Velorex 562 I believer it was. Now, the Velorex is a stalwart unit, but better suited for bikes around 650 cc's. If I remember she had a lot of work done to the sidecar to support the weight of the Roadstar. I had one mounted on a Yamaha XS 650, sold that bike, kept the hack, then later mounted it on a Honda Silverwing 650.

If a guy was a good welder, it might be worth trying to beef up one of those cheapo Ebay specials. A new Liberty or Goulding will cost upwards of $10K. Hell, you could buy 2 or 3 more Roadstars for that much. Anyway , I hope you live long enough to realize your dream. Keep working on the wife too. Excessive farting in bed helps. Mine kicked me out of the bed, and now the entire bedroom. No biggie.

[brianmac]

Fpb vellorex 563 is upgraded for a beefier bike are they worth it 4200 in tampa

[brianmac]

think a texas standard sidecar would work on a RS?

https://www.texassidecars.com/sidecar-models/the-standard-sidecar/

[Mr. Miyagi]

They have a photo gallery with some Yamaha bikes. Maybe the Ranger would be a better fit?

[brianmac]

im reaching out to sales personnel

[Father Pobasturd]

When I lived in Texas I did some business with Texas sidecar. Good people to deal with. I only bought parts so I don't know about their sidecars much.

[Lug Nut]

My 563 Velorex is pretty nice and I can go about 75 moh top speed u noaded and about 65 with passengers in sidecar and rear seat. Struggles up a grade though...need to drop to 4th. But ..the quality and "heft" of it seems great for my 650 and I would trust it on my Road Star (maybe weld a 50lb plate on the underside to stiffen the whole frame assembly. I run a 60lb bag of sand in my trunk of sidecar

[brianmac]

so do I have to do any welding to get one hooked up to a RS?

[brianmac]

RS is like a (softtail) , is it suitable for a sidecar?

[Father Pobasturd]

Yes, I put one on a Fat Boy not long ago. No welding.

[129drifter]

brianmac --- Squarepeg on this message board has a beautiful Velorex sidecar already setup with everything done to make it work perfect with his Road Star 1600. He lives about 20 miles from me and I have personally driven this rig. That thing is a blast! He is going to be selling the bike and plans to sell the sidecar setup separately. I am not sure if he ever registered for this replacement forum but he was very active on the old one. Send me a message and I will put you in touch with him.

[129drifter]

This is a picture I took of his Road Star with sidecar attached

[brianmac]

OK BOYS, i scored a velorex 563 in daytona , 3K CASH brand new , they are 4 sure average quality. it came with the wheel and drum brake, and a box of hardwate and the 4 "ARMS" 2 covers, rear rack and tall windshield. SO now i have to figure out how to mount it, my wife aske me which bike? so i wanted it for one of the RS,s but also have the T100 spoke wheel triumph bonnie , whick would look cool also??? DACISIONS?
ANYBODY HAVE ANY INSTALL CLOSE UP PICS AND SUGGESTIONS

[Lug Nut]

Fromy vstar...similar but not exact....

[Lug Nut]

More pics

[brianmac]

lug nut, do i need a curved front strut , the velorex is straight?

[Lug Nut]

lug nut, do i need a curved front strut , the velorex is straight?

That would depend on application. When I contacted Velorock's they said they didn't have one specifically for a roadstar. I think it's up to the shop that installs it to figure out how they want to hook it up, what points to use, and then they would order parts from Fellowrox from my understanding

[Father Pobasturd]

You won't need a curved front strut. I would put it on the Triumph. If you have the frame clamps and the torsion rods and hardware you should have everything you need to mount it. You want to have the sidecar axle in front of the rear axle 3" - 7". That's called lead. Stock Harley-Davidson sidecars are the only ones I know of that run zero lead. The sidecar wheel should be straight up and down, but not point straight ahead, you know, like aligned with the motorcycle wheels. It should be toed in ( front of the sidecar wheel closer to the bike than the back of the wheel ) at least 1/4" or more. If you have a chalk line, pop a straight line on the floor and park the bike on that line to use as a reference point. You'll know if you get the sidecar wheel straight on or toed out 'cause the front wheel will shimmy like a bad shopping cart when you try to ride it! Also, the bike should lean slightly away from the sidecar. When you sit on the bike, it will level out. Damn, I wish I was there to help you, I've got pretty good at installing and setting up these suckers. I did the second to last one I had by myself, it was a Velorex, I put it on a 1971 BMW R-60. Worked out really nice.

Before you start, make sure all 3 tires are at the maximum allowed pressure. Also, if you can, tighten the steering neck bearings a little. It'll help. You might decide down the road you need a steering dampener. If you go with the Roadstar, you might look into raked triple trees and extended tubes. It's not necessary but it does make steering easier. Tighten the chain / belt, which ever bike you go with. Brakes need to be in good working order. You really don't need to set up the sidecar wheel brakes. There's so little weight on the sidecar wheel when empty, it just locks up the wheel. If you are gonna run heavy loads in the sidecar frequently, then you might want to hook it up.

Start by putting the sidecar on blocks until it's level side to side and front to back. Then put the bike next to it and find something to put under the kickstand to level up the bike. Once you get 2 arms attached you won't have to worry about it falling over. Don't worry about fine tuning the adjustment for now. Just get the lead close first and go from there. It will take many, many adjustments to fine tune it. How well you can dial it in makes a lot of difference in how it behaves. Be patient. If you have never ridden one, you won't really know what to look for. You may want to run some ballast at first until you get used to it.

If you decide on the Roadstar, consider going Darkside. A sidecar rig will devour a back tire in around 4000 miles.

I will and want to walk you through this Brian, which ever bike you choose to put it on. If you want, send me a PM and I will send you my phone #. If you can get someone there to help you, it makes it a bit easier. Good luck, and let's see some hot photo's when you are done.

[brianmac]

yes, i wil get to work this tomorrow, i thought it would look better with a cast wheel on the car, but i just rembered i have a spoke OEM RS front wheel in my pile and i pulled it out ,easier to spoke the bike ? in good shape for florida ! the rear wotn matter much
?

[Father Pobasturd]

Gonna go with the RS, cool, can't wait to see it.

[brianmac]

they say if tug has a rear disc brake, no sidecar brake needed.?? LUG is yours just not hooked up?

[Lug Nut]

they say if tug has a rear disc brake, no sidecar brake needed.?? LUG is yours just not hooked up?

No brake on my side car. I would assume I could hook one up but I've never needed it. I bought the car from a lady that had it done at a shop by her and I called the shop and talked to the owner for a while about the setup.He said he has done many V-Star 650 with sidecar particularly the velorex 562 and 563. It would be tricky I think hooking up a break on the sidecar that would work well with the factory brakes you would need some sort of proportioning valve I would think and you would want disc brakes all around I would also think. And even then if that sidecar break was acting a little funny it could be a real handful.