Fitting a sidecar to a Big-4 Assistance requested.

Hi Peter,

   I think you will be best to put a wanted advert in the Roadholder or the Old Bike Mart etc. for the rear ball joint. Check your engine sprocket which should be 17 teeth for sidecar work. I have attached a scan from a period maintenace book with some general setting up info, but the acid test is the outfit should hold a straight line with-out having to use too much effort.

to see if they are for solo or sidecar.  You need minimal trail for a sidecar machine, so that means a set of yokes with extra offset forwards

Hi Peter/Paul,

   Although the featherbed frame had the option of sidecar yokes, as far as I am aware, there was only one type of long roadholder fork yokes ( 500T excepted ) until the AMC parent company re-designed the swinging arm garden gate frame in late 1957. Until then the yokes had a built-in rake as they were designed to suit the girder frame headstock. This headstock was used until 1957 when the head angle was altered and the yokes became parallel for one season only, so that may be a possibility, if you can find any. Another option would be to use solo type short roadholder yokes, but you would have to graft the long type steering column onto the bottom yoke. Easier to try the standard yokes and see how you get on.

Thanks for comments on forks. I used the bike with sidecar for 3 years in my teens and had tremendous fun with it. It may be that I just got used to it, but never had any problems with its handling.