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This photo is of the Sidecar, shortly after the interior was completed, wheel assembly replaced with chrome rim and new tire, exterior running lights replaced, and the top hood repaired. Compare with the first photo below to show the subtle changes made in fixing the sidecar up.
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1988 Hannigan Astro
On Saturday August 8th, 2003, a friend of mine told me of this sidecar sitting on the front lawn of a house that he goes by on his way to work. We spent some time playing a game of 20 questions trying to identify the make and model of sidecar that it was, but it remained unidentified. Whatever it was though, it sounded like a great deal better than your run of the mill basic sidecar. Thanks 'FZ1', for the tip, time and info!
I couldn't resist the curiousity to find out what it was, or if it was still available, so early the next morning i got on the bike and headed on down the road to check this mystery sidecar out in person. Finding the house, i found the sidecar dragged up to and chained to the front door handrail, it looking rather lonely and neglected, but overall it was fairly complete and intact. Best of all, it was an early version of a Hannigan AstroGT sidecar, still being manufactured with a retail base price of $5800.00 USD!
I spent some time quietly inspected the sidecar for about 20 minutes, assessing it's mechanical condition, before i knocked on the door of the house, waking up the owner of the sidecar. Doh. Oh well, he didn't mind too much. We talked a bit about the sidecar, and it turns out he had just moved to the house, and the sidecar had been delivered a day or so before and not moved out of sight. He really didn't have a place to store it, nor an appropriate motorcycle to install it on. Indeed, at that point, i got the impression that the owner viewed the sidecar as a liability, rather than as an asset, as that evening before, someone had either tried to steal or vandalize the sidecar, and had done some minor damage to it. He realized that he had little way of protecting his investment in the sidecar, with it being stored outside the way it was. He had left it outside, with the view of seeing whether anyone was interested in buying it, but hadn't actually gotten around to sticking a For Sale sign on it.
I asked him if he was interested in selling, he wasn't 100% sure, but he did say that he had $1200.00 CDN into it. I asked him if he did want to sell, how much he'd want for it. He said $1000.00 CDN would be acceptable, and yes, he'd sell it to me, if i wanted. He even offered to deliver it in his pickup truck for me, that day. Considering that i'd been expecting him to want to pad the price of the sidecar to include a little profit, i was surprised. I excused myself to find a bank to get the funds, and took off like the very Devil himself was nipping at my heels, in search of a bank. I was NOT going to let this one slip by!
The end result is, i ended up having a project sidecar being delivered to my workplace, about 4 hours after i initiated my search for the sidecar. A quick and dirty evaluation indicates that i can bring it's mechanical and cosmetic condition up to having a very nice looking and performing sidecar, for less than an additional $1000.00 CDN and a winters worth of work.
Over the course of this coming winter, i will be using this webpage to itemize what it needs, what repairs were effected, and what the approxamite cost was. I hope to have it finished and installed on the Bandit by the beginning of the 2004 riding season.
September 26th, 2003.
The first set if photo's, mostly of the finished interior of the sidecar:
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| Sidecar, as purchased and delivered. |
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Front seat, stereo drawer closed. |
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Front seat, stereo drawer opened. |
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Stereo drawer opened. |
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October 28th, 2003-January 6th, 2004.
A third set of photo's, showing from the start to finish of the subframe assembly attaching to the motorcycle. The last four photo's show the final configuration of the subframe, prior to powdercoating. The subframe is largely made up of 1"x1.5" square tubing, cut and welded to fit into the centerstand receiver of the motorcycle. This is the main weight bearing mount for the sidecar, so is heavily built.
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| Centerstand Mount in Receiver |
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| Built Up Centerstand Mount in Receiver |
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| Centerstand Mount clearing Exhaust |
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February 7th, 2004.
Another set of photo's, that show the installed 'HT Wheels' solid centerline rear wheel on the Bandit. The Tire is a 165-70R15 Automotive tire:
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April 3rd, 2004.
Pictures taken during the mounting of the sidecar frame to the motorcycle. Mounting proceeded remarkably easy and quickly
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April 4th, 2004.
The final set of photos, showing the rig together and roadworthy. It's been a long haul to get it here, but it rides nice and straight, better than i expected for a first mount attempt. Still some adjustments to make, but the project can be considered completed (for now, who knows what lays in store for winter 2004-2005?).
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April 22nd, 2004.
Conclusion:
I've had a few weeks now to play with the sidecar outfit, and i've been able to draw some better impressions of the finished project. Overall, the project took a lot longer, cost a lot more than was originally foreseen, and was a lot more involved than i originally anticipated at the start. To quote, and paraphrase an earlier entry in the project log, "A quick and dirty evaluation indicates that i can bring it's mechanical and cosmetic condition .. for less than an additional $1000.00 CDN", my arse! I definitely forgot the garage tinkerer's maxim of 'accurately budget all time, and expense costs of any prospective project - Then triple it.'. I gave up counting time and money invested, about 1/3rd of the way through the project, it was starting to get scary.
However, given the overall cost in time and money, i am more than satisfied with the end result. What i've ended up is a quick steering Hooligan hack, that loves to spin up the rear tire in spirited corners, has little tendancy to lift the chair, and is a true 100 mph sidecar rig. It's certainly still got plenty of get-up and go. If i were to do the project all over again, i'm fairly certain i'd look for a sidecar with a body that is shorter than the bike is, though! The sidecar is a heavy outfit, and it's sheer size tends to dominate the whole appearance of the sidecar rig as a unit. However, I am totally satisfied with the final outcome (to date) with the project.
Animated photo was updated to reflect current configuration of the rig, as of May 15th, 2005.
Winter 2004/2005 Project photos/explanations
November 2004.
The following are of the swaybar fabrication, photo's taken in-progress.
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Photo 1: Shows the hardware, prior to assembly. Upper portion is of the motorcycle swingarm clamp assembly, lower portion is of the sidecar swingarm assembly. Photo taken October 24th, 2004.
Photo 2: Shows the sidecar pillow block mount, edge on. This photo illustrates the swaybar arm tunnel, and the curved cuts on which the mount bracket will be welded to the sidecar frame. Bracket welded up on November 17th, 2004.
Photo 3: Shows the sidecar pillow block mount, looking down. This photo again illustrates the swaybar arm tunnel, and the two brackets which will be welded up to the sidecar frame.
Photo 4: Shows the swaybar arms, cut out of 1.75" x 3/8" 4130 stock. The swaybar arms have been tapered down to 1". Both arms need to be pressed at the taper point for a 17 degree offset, to run straight to the swingarm mounts on both the motorcycle and sidecar. The length of both arms is at 15", but both will be cut down to approxamitely 11.5" from swaybar center to linkage mount points, once the final bends to fit have been made as are necessary. Arms were cut out to shape on November 17th, 2004.
Photo 5: Shows a top down view of the swaybar pillow block mount, as it is welded to the sidecar frame. The mount cover is not attached in this photo.
Photo 6: Shows the motorcycle swingarm clamp assembly for the swaybar mounted on the swingarm, as well as the motorcycle side pillow block bearing mount for the swaybar end. The 1/2" Hiem joint linkage is fully adjustable with the joining collar, without removing either end from the swingarm or swaybar arm. Component finished and installed November 1st, 2004.
Photo 7: Shows the sidecar swingarm clamp assembly, mounted on sidecar swingarm brake caliper mount location. Clamp assembly is made up of a 1/4" inner mount plate, and a 1/8" outter mount plate with spacers. The 1/2" Hiem joint linkage is setup adjustable, but not infinitely adjustable like the motorcycle side, due to the limited accessability of the linkage once the sidecar body is in place. Component finished and installed November 1st, 2004.
Photo 8: Shows the motorcycle-side pillow block bearing mount from the left hand side of the bike, installed onto a welded-on added structure to the centerstand subframe mount. Clearance between the mount and the ground isn't great at 3" when suspension is fully compressed, i'll need to be careful around speed bumps and the like, but it was basically the only mount solution i have available. The pillow-block bearing mount differs from the norm in usual sidecar swaybar setups, in that it supports the swaybar outboard of the swaybar arm, rather than inboard. Also, the pillow block bearing mount is located on the motorcycle, rather than the sidecar frame, which means the sidecar mount geometry can not be changed from the existing mount geometry to any appreciable degree. Component finished and installed November 11th, 2004.
Photo 9: Shows an overall view of the swaybar setup as it is installed.
Photo 1: Shows the sidecar brake slave cylinder assembly. This assembly is mounted to the sidecar frame next to the brake levers, and is actuated by cable connection. Assembly completed and installed on January 8th, 2005.
Photo 2: Shows the sidecar brake slave cylinder assembly and the brake pedal assembly mounted to the bike.
Photo 3: Shows another view of the sidecar brake slave cylinder assembly and the brake pedal assembly mounted to the bike.
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Photo 1: Shows the beginnings of the auxilliary saddle tank, the filler nozzle to mount the Suzuki filler assembly to. Filler assembly was cut out of plate aluminium with a low speed drill, hacksaw, and lots of filing in three separate layers to mimic the mounting method of the Suzuki filler assembly on a motorcycle tank, and then was welded into it's final configuration with an aluminum sheet wrap surrounding it to form the filler nozzle. Project on hold, pending design inspiration.
Click on the above photo for full sized image of completed front end project.
Overall Project Progress Listing
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