The Xt400 side car (winter project)

Its a little cold here yet, but as soon as it warms up we will be riding all over im sure. He was freezing but didnt want to get out. It was awesome to see him so into it. Oh, you mean it matters what side the car goes on.............i just guessed. ;)
 
The sun was out and it looked warm.......It wasn't! So I went for a ride. This was the first time on the road with the hack. I haven't been that cold in a long time. I went about 8 miles. Just on the back road behind my house. Had the rig up to about 45mph. Nothing too dramatic to report. It definitely needs steering mods. Leading link forks are in the works. It did surprise me with how straight it went. I was even able to let go of the bars and nothing happened. The only thing that felt weird to me was when I was entering left hand turns the rear suspension on the bike would really unload giving it a very odd feeling. I got used to it, but I realize my rear suspension needs stiffening up. I also noticed how much power the extra weight asked for. The next thing I need to do is get the car break hooked up. Does anyone know the best way to plumb it? I would like to use hard line for most of it then switch to flex out at the swing arm. How can I go from the master cylinder(banjo bolt) to hardline, then back to banjo bolt (flex line). I thought about running flex the whole way, but It is a long way, and all the flex I have found is too expensive. Any thoughts??
 
I know they make "build your own" SS braided lines with female threaded ends so you can screw on whatever angle banjo bend you want. Could you use a male threaded end for the flange on your hard line...connect them that way?

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I finished the brakes today. I bought the ss flex off of ebay for $40. I made it so you can brake the rear bike wheel and the car wheel simultaneously or brake just the car wheel. I don't know how well it works yet... I will add a parking brake at some point.

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I am trying to decide what paint scheme to go with. I have blue and silver paint left from the bike that I plan on using. I am trying to decide if I should go with a matching scheme or I also thought about going with a blue and silver camo pattern or something weird. I also thought about just painting the tub all silver so that If I ever mounted it on a different bike it would have a good chance of not clashing. Any thoughts?
 
I'd suggest matching the bike. You're making the sidecar for this bike. There is no point in trying to guess what the future may bring, and it could be repainted if required. Camo has been over done in the past 20 years, you can find everything and anything with a camo pattern these days.

That is my $0.02 opinion.
 
That is just the type of advice I am looking for. Thank you!

I'd suggest matching the bike. You're making the sidecar for this bike. There is no point in trying to guess what the future may bring, and it could be repainted if required. Camo has been over done in the past 20 years, you can find everything and anything with a camo pattern these days.

That is my $0.02 opinion.
 
No, Thank You! I don't know if I'd have considered changing the rear suspension on my Maxim if it hadn't been for builds like yours and others I've seen on ADVrider.
 
Well here she is in all her glory..haha. I rode it a little last night but it needs some adjustments. I don't know what i did when I put it back together after paint but now it pulls to the right and has a bad wobble. It didn't do that before so I must have not put it back together with the same setup. I think I need to play with the lean out and toe in.












 
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