I ran into this video of this Jay Leno's Garage featuring Cozy sidecars mounted on Royal Enfield Bullets. I found the link in the hack forum within ADVrider. They even make a point out the same address oddity on the name plate.
Not much activity on the sidecar front. I arrived back in town from Iowa City at 2:00AM Wednesday morning. Later on in the day I had an out patient appointment to get a portable heart monitor affixed for a couple of days. It gets removed later today (Friday) and on Saturday morning I head up to Barrow for the first time in months to set up a new network authentication system. I did add a right turn signal on the rear of the sidecar and it is as bright as the stock turn signal. I removed the bulb from the stock right turn signal and for now, I think I'm done. I still need to replace the old battery in the trunk with some other form of ballast at least while I'm still learning to pilot the rig and maybe pick up some split loom to protect the wiring. I don't want acid from the old battery eating through the paint and causing the floor of the trunk to start rusting. But given my rather anemic charging system, maybe I should install the car battery in a case and wire it in...
The big thing with using a battery for ballast is to make sure the darn thing doesn't shift on you. If you decide to wire a car battery to your bike, don't forget to take the moto battery out of the charging loop!
ReplyDeleteOR, get a deep cycle battery instead of a car battery, heavier and holds more amps....
dom
The trunk in the Cozy is much smaller than the Ural at only 3 cubic feet but I'm not sure I'd want to use it for a battery. Even the smallest car battery would still use up a lot of space. The tub is suspended from the frame so I would need to fabricate some sort of mount on the frame which doesn't touch the tub.
DeleteJust thinking out loud.
Kind of hard to suggest something without actually seeing the tub....I personally would hate to lose the lockable storage space of the Cozy's trunk with a battery in there.
DeleteYou could always, if ballast is the goal, have steel plates welded onto the subframe under the tub....
The anemic alternator can be replaced with more modern alternatives that actually put out better amperage as you know, it's just money at that point.
Whatever you do, don't affix the battery onto an ammo can, then mount the can on something not as solid as you thought it might be....I found out the hard way that oscillation/vibration will break metal mounts. Then again, it was russian steel so perhaps the Cozy has better metallurgy in its crafting.
I've been told by many that the Cozy is on the light side so running some ballast is recommended. If I'm going to carry weight, I'd rather have it at least a little functional. The frame is accessible all the way around and I was debating welding a mount on the frame between the fender and the tub just behind the axle. I think that there is room for one of the smaller car batteries there.
DeleteBird shot in PVC tubes are probably my solution for now. I don't know if the steel in India is any better than what's used in Russia.
Re the proposed mount point, yep, that might work.
DeleteThe tub is steel or fiberglass? Either way, consider perhaps a spare 2.5gal gas can, mounted on the tub's right rear quarter, properly reinforced, it's weight that's functional.
The tub is steel and according to the specs, the whole rig is ~200 lbs. This is well over 1/3 of the weight of the bike so it seems about the right.
DeleteI did pick up a 1 1/2 gallon plastic gas can but haven't quite figured out where to mount it. It is the same one that you have, I believe.
Right-rear is the same area that I was thinking of for the battery.
The weight ratio seems right, have you found the car comes up pretty easy on the tight right-handers?
DeleteI have the Kolpin plastic gas can, holds about 1.5 gallons and I mounted it here. So far, it's caused no issues in terms of mounts or shifting. I am debating getting a second one for the other side of the tub.
In order to get the sidecar to lift while I was practicing, I had to remove the ballast from the sidecar and even then it was a balance between turning fast enough and sliding on the snow. I figure I'll need a lot more practice once things dry out.
DeleteI had ordered the Koplin Jr. as well as it was free shipping from Amazon. The RotopaX was over double the cost when you factored in shipping.
The portable heart monitor was for your hack, right?
ReplyDeleteI hope all is well with you.
I feel fine, thank you. I think the only concern is because I'm type 2 diabetic.
DeleteNice signal light ... and hoping the heart monitor says your battery is just fine!
ReplyDeleteIt was harder than I thought to find a suitable rear turn signal. I like the LED lights but all the ones I've seen wouldn't work.
DeleteHome and already gone to Barrow - you sir get around.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Sonja and Karen - hope the monitor is just routine and you are fit as a fiddle. Of course with all the walking you do I am sure you are.
How cold is it in Barrow.....off to check weather
Barrow is well into the negative double digits and I hear, windy. Hopefully it'll improve as the week wears on.
DeleteAnd more trips coming up...
Thank you all for your concern. The monitor was a 48-hour Holter monitor due to an irregular heart beat. I was told that it is generally benign but they were being paranoid. Of course I won't find out anything for weeks...
ReplyDeleteIowa City, Barrow.... Where is Paris, London, Rome, etc. in this list?
Good to hear its just precautionary monitoring....
ReplyDeleteNow, when do we get to see video of you riding down the road in that rig? :)
No handy video camera. I have an old Flip standard def camera around somewhere but never put in a way to mount it. Many more mounting options with the sidecar though...
DeletePlus, too many trips...
I'll join my voice to the chorus hoping you are correct that the monitoring thing is simply a crossing the "T's" sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly seems you get a lot done.
~Keith