Subject: Hacking an Eldo?
Author: Lannis
Date: Dec 22, 2004, 7:09 PM
Post ID: 1718099224
All -
After a recent face-plant on an ice patch on my Centauro, I have
realized that, although I don't mind the cold, riding a two-wheeler on
roads that have a possibility of icy spots is a sucker's bet, like
bucking a 00 roulette wheel, or playing Russian roulette with a Glock
19.
But that means that 25% of my riding time is gone, since even here in
sunny south-central Virginia, land of magnolia trees and mint juleps,
the roads are likely to have ice somewhere on them from late December to
early March. (There's no real snow removal equipment here, so the cars
and trucks pack down the snow into ice as they drive over it until it's
hard as iron, and nothing can get it up off the road and patches of it
stay till Spring).
So I started thinking about sidecars. THEY'RE still real motorcycles,
not like these goofy trike-conversion things. THEY don't hammer you
into the highway like a tent-peg every time they go over glare ice.
Like a Ural with a driven sidecar wheel and rugged tires; I could go
places in typical Virginia snow in that instead of my 4WD Jeep truck.
But that means another brand of bike, another set of spares, another
bulletin board, more dealers to find, 7 or 8 thousand dollars that I
ain't got, etc etc.
Then I was riding the Eldo home today and started imagining that I was
steering it around corners instead of leaning and thought "I wonder if
it would reasonable to use THIS bike as a sidecar tug?"
It's got a disk brake and 1000cc cylinders and plenty of torque.
Is a '75 Eldo police model a reasonable sidecar puller? Will the stock
front end with a damper work, or does it just not work unless you
convert to a leading link fork? The stock rear end seems that it has
plenty of extra pull - does regular gearing work OK?
In other words, can I get by cheap with, say, a Ural sidecar and a
standard mounting kit made for an Eldo without making a lot of changes
to the bike? Will it bend it or wear it out?
Anybody have any experience or advice?
Lannis (older, sorer, and wiser)