Dart Sidecar

[lavrentyuk]

Because of the arthritis in my hip making it increasingly painful to ride a solo I have now acquired a Dart sidecar - as manufactured by Squire (now Watsonian-Squire) with fittings suitable for an ETZ300. Do any of the forum goers have any experience with fitting and running such a beast? I could do with some advice as I prepare it, hoping to use it for this years Pollard and Dragon Rallies in a month so don't have much time to waste.

[DAVID THOMPSON]

hang it on the r100
hang it out farther if not taking a passenger
never add ballast it just makes motor work harder
sent you a pm also

[Puffs]

Following a biased and flawed moderator choice (someone posting aggressive personal attacks is rewarded, while my technical posts are removed - behind my back & without any justification!), I have withdrawn from this forum.

[mr_luke]

I had a Squire Dart on my ETZ 250. Loved it!

They're very narrow and very light, and the mounting design makes it difficult to alter the distance between the bike and sidecar as it's governed by the non-adjustable rear mounting. Makes for entertaining riding but it might be sensible to start off with some ballast in the boot. Moving the battery to the sidecar, as far away from the bike as possible, is a good idea for shifting the centre of gravity without adding extra weight. You could even replace it with a car battery for added effect - and to run a nice heated blanket at the Dragon!

I fitted a 17T engine sprocket to mine which gave it enough grunt to pull a passenger on occasion but allowed for a cruising speed of ~55mph.

The front mounting is a bit of a weird affair, but if you have all the bits you should be able to see how it goes together. There should be provision for a (very) basic steering damper on the underside. Perhaps mine had a couple of bits missing, and I'm afraid I can't recall the details exactly, but I seem to recall mine had the locknut, which turned with the handlebars, rotating against the bottom friction plate, which didn't. I didn't like that very much, although it never really seemed to cause a problem, so I fitted a bronze thrust washer sandwiched between two ground steel ones - liberated from a worn-out 2CV kingpin!

The centre mounting took a bit of juggling to get it into the ideal position to allow kick-starting, and even then there was a knack required.

Have you set up and ridden a sidecar outfit before? 1-2" of toe in and 0.5-1" of lean out are a good place to start. Acceleration will make it pull to the left as the bike tries to overtake the sidecar, and deceleration will make it pull to the right as the sidecar tries to overtake the bike, but you want to set it up to track in a straight line at a cruising speed with little or no input from the handlebars. Riding one is always going to require more upper body effort than a solo, but you will get tired very quickly if it's a battle to keep it going in a straight line.

You'll probably find a tendency for it to shake the handlebars at 15-20mph... tighten the steering damper a bit and/or accelerate through it!

Most of all, have fun!

[lavrentyuk]

Thanks for the responses chaps.

David, sadly I don’t have the option of hanging it on the BMW. The Dart is very lightweight, I don’t have the appropriate fittings and anyway the Beemer is currently awaiting major surgery on its gearbox and wiring. On the MZ fittings the possibility of hanging it out further doesn’t come into it, the rear mount is pretty much fixed. Even the later two strokes came with factory approval for sidecar fitting, which BMW refused to give.

Puffs - there are few alternatives right now, eventually a hip replacement might do it - but I’ve hankered after a sidecar for many years anyway. The Dart is a very lightweight sidecar that came from the importer as an option from new as the Superelastik only ever came on the ‘wrong’ side for us. Some Velorex were fitted too I believe. I have other bikes I can ride solo when fitness permits, I suspect the sidecar will be for mainly local jaunts and the odd rally within Wales still.


Mr_luke some nice suggestions there. I certainly intend reducing the gearing and have a sprocket and chain ready to do so, somewhere in a shed. I’m missing the threaded rod and have yet to dry assemble what looks like a very weird mount with two bearings. I may come back to you. Do you still have yours? Some photographs would be most excellent. Looks to be an interesting learning curve - I have lots of friends with sidecars who seem to zoom about all over Europe with them. I have one who protests very loudly after a crash in his that they are a fools errand. I will be putting plenty of ballast in - which he didn’t! Further information on that front fitting would be gratefully received.

[DAVID THOMPSON]

the parts over here are home made the DHL shipping fees make it cost to much to DO with OEM parts
dave

made a sidecar for a guy years ago vw bug right front swing arm vw super bug
he drove the rig from the wheelchair it was a hoot getting him a handicap permit for it

[lavrentyuk]

Saw something like that on the Isle of Man a few years ago. A Ducati, with steering from the Chair into which a wheelchair could go in from the back, and be clipped in.

Very clever - must have caused a few turned heads.

Fortunately I'm not that bad physically.

[mr_luke]

I'm afraid I don't have it anymore. Wish I did!

I don't have any photos of my own, but looking back through some old emails I found a (slightly rubbish) sketch and a photo of someone else's. Hopefully of some use?

[lavrentyuk]

Splendid, and useful. Thank you.

[lavrentyuk]

Can anybody recall what size wheel rim and tyre they used to run on a Squire Dart?

Any tyre recommendations?

[mr_luke]

On the sidecar itself? Mine had an 8" trailer wheel, which I think was standard. It was fitted with a "standard" cheap trailer tyre.

As for the bike itself, a square(ish) profile is good, especially on the back. You'll get away with a more rounded profile on the front but a 'solo' tyre will wear out pretty quickly on the rear. Avon SMIIs aren't technically sidecar tyres but they are pretty square and relatively affordable in 18". Having said that, I'd probably wear out the solo tyres you have first!

[lavrentyuk]

Thanks for that, I have the 8" trailer tyre on mine but it does seem to want to make the bike lean over a lot - I have yet to measure mind. Not helped by my using Heidenau knobbles on the solo which do raise it - rear is still a sidecar tyre mind. I'll try it as is before changing the sidecar wheel.

[mr_luke]

Some of them were alleged to have a splined fitting on the Indespension-type unit, to allow for adjustment of the running height. I couldn't see any sign of this on mine, but you might be lucky? Otherwise, a 10" wheel might be a good place to start?

[lavrentyuk]

Mine neither - I'll try raising the height with wood blocks when measuring to see if any improve the angle. Everyday a learning day as I discover the weird world of sidecars! I'm rather enjoying it, though I have yet to ride it mind.