R60/7 good for sidecar?

Hi: I am looking at buying an R60/7 with sidecar and am wondering about performance.
Will this motor be reasonable for most highway driving?
Will it take a load of around 400# and still keep up with traffic?

I currently am riding a 1200GS

thanks....john

John -

Welcome to the forum! My thoughts are:

1) After the /2 models, BMW didn't "authorize" sidecars for their Airheads as the frames weren't designed for them

2) The /2 models, primarily the Earles fork front ends, were designed so the suspension moved up and down when the brakes were applied. This resulted in the sidecar moving up and down with the suspension. With a standard fork on the /7, the front end will dip and the sidecar will do the same. I guess it's only disconcerting to the sidecar rider.

3) Generally, the R60/7 (and it's predecessors) is marginally powered but will certainly achieve highway speeds. It had a rear drive ratio to help with the lack of grunt of the engine. On top of that, the 600cc bikes were running to peak performance to get the most out of the engine. The cams where considered mild such that the engine tended to ping if the timing wasn't spot on. This can be helped with compression ratio reducing gaskets and/or electronic ignitions which delayed the advance curve.

All considered, I think it's a stretch to put a sidecar on an R60/7. It's like you're carrying a passenger all the time. Putting an actual passenger in there would make things worse.

You can put a sidecar on most any bike. Whether you should or not is another question. I agree with Kurt and his response. My experience with R60/5, /6 & /7, is that they're marginal at highway speed as solo bikes. Add a sidecar, loaded, with weight and wind resistance, 60 mph would be pretty tough to maintain. The R60's were/are great bikes. There are just better /7's to build a hack out of. The frame issues can be overcome. The R75, R80 or R100 would be a better choice with the right rear gearing, and would be able to keep up with traffic. Good luck with your search.

Gary -

You have a pretty good pedigree there with your bikes...I was just speaking out the side of my mouth! I see a "Dirt Hack" and the "EML". I suspect the KRS with the EML setup must be pretty sweet.

There are some much smarter folks on the forum than I. I'm pretty much a hack with hacks. Between the two I've got somewhere just shy of two hundred thousand miles. I built the dirt hack in '84 and it now has in excess of 165,000. It's a total blast in the dirt but will run all day long at 80 mph plus on the highway. The KRS has been a hack since in had 600 miles on the clock and now has right at 90,000. It has a racing pedigree, from the '87 La Carrera road race in Mexico. The boat was removed and replaced with a road racing setup, and it was raced by Ozzie Auer and his son. As a road racer, on a road racing hack competing in the same race said, "They passed us like a land rocket!" The Auers won the sidecar class and finished in the top ten overall including some ninety solo bikes. I'm the third owner and have added the last 30,000. It drives like a sportscar and handles like a Porsche. It will easily do the ton and probably all day long. The only issue with traffic is looking for a place to pass it.

Don't do it.

Charlie

Thanks for the replies.

The R60 that I am considering already has a car mounted.
I have not yet seen it other than in the add.


I started on a 250cc bike back in the 50s (500cc was considered a large bike) so 600cc should be not tooo much different.
I do have the R1200 to do the high speed highway runs so probably would just use the hack for rural road exploring etc.

john

Doug Bingham (RIP) built his first rig on a /2, but it was never subjected to "Interstate" cruising. By comparison, new 750cc EFI Ural performance is still only marginal at 55 mph, and pushing them much past 60 mph is a death sentence.

If your dream is packin' Momma and all the camping gear down the road at anything approaching 70 mph, you'll want 1000cc at least. On the other had, if you just intend to putter around town, take the grandkids for ice cream on Sunday afternoons, and such, the R60 will be just fine.

How big is the sidecar? You can get by with the 600cc if all you're doing is putting around town and the sidecar is very light. Note the term "get by" . It would be much better even with a light sidecar something in line with a Velorex to consider a 750 or larger. Even with that, you'd be pressing it unless you went for a set of gears (rear drive) from an R60, R50 or R65. The tall gears may mean more clutch slipping to get started and extra load on the driveline. If this bike has a Ural or Dneper sidecar attached then you're really underpowered. Even just putting around town you need some power tokeep up with traffic.