Subject: RE: Hacking an Eldo?
Author: Jeffrey Buick
Date: Dec 22, 2004, 8:22 PM
Post ID: 1718099458
Forget the Urinal sidecars, I still have my Spirit of America sidecar
that I am looking to sell for $500. These look great mounted to a loop
(although this one needs a bit of cosmetic attention). One last shot on
the Topica list before it goes on Ebay. I just bought me another
project and now I really need the garage space: 1964 Volvo P1800S! Cool
looking little fastback car and it needs the garage for the winter. I
can send pics of the sidecar if anyone is interested.
Later,
Jeff Buick
Detroit, MI
1972 Eldo LAPD
1974 Eldo LAPD
1974 Eldo Civilian
1972 V7-Sport
Lannis wrote:
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) |