Globe GS200 on a BMW R60/2

Globe GS200 Sidecar

The Globe GS200 sidecar was made in India in the 1960s as a contemporaneous licensed copy of the Steib LS200. The small size allows a torquey BMW R60/2 to pull it smartly with the solo final drive ratio. This saves considerable cost and allows the bike to be ridden as a solo bike by merely dropping the sidecar.

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Features of the Globe GS200

The GS200 is quite a small sidecar, weighing about 135 lbs and having a small frontal area. My R60/2 with the solo 25/8 final drive ratio and 3.50 tire pulled the empty sidecar as if it were not there. Then when I changed to a 4.00 Block K tire, I spent a few minutes swapping the 27/8 final drive from my R69US to compensate for the larger tire. The sidecar is so light that I carry about 80 lbs of ballast hidden in the trunk in the form of bags of pea gravel and lead shot. With the windshield laid back under the tonneau cover, top speed is limited by wind-resistance to just over 65 mph or about 4500 rpm, which can be maintained all day, while 55 mph is an effortless part-throttle cruising speed.

The sidecar frame is suspended from the wheel by a swinging arm on a rubber cylinder, and the body is suspended from the frame by four rubber bands. The seat back removes to access a locked trunk. The sidecar has room for an average sized adult, but my 200 lbs and 6'-2" is very cramped. The windshield folds forward for entry, and can also lay back under the tonneau cover. There is a chrome luggage rack to which I sometimes attach a Craven topcase. The previous owner used an18" Yamaha cast wheel in his restoration, but then I laced new Steib hub to a refurbished 16" alloy rim. This looks better and also allows removal of the wheel just by swinging the fender up, as originally designed.

Mounting the Globe GS200

The Globe was designed to be mounted on the various motorcycles in India in the mid-1960s, using universal mounts that clamped on their frames. Unlike the Steibs, it was not designed for the /2 BMW. I bought all the mounting hardware for my /2 from Dauntless Motors, a Ural dealer on the West Coast. I used them because they were in the USA for quick shipping, and I needed personal advice on the telephone. Starting with nothing, it was hard to tell what pieces were needed and how long they should be. I ordered a ball to screw on the end of the motor mount, two claw clamp arms a foot long, two threaded struts of lengths that I estimated would be needed, and two eye bolts. The struts turned out to be used Ural parts that needed a machine shop to free up the rusted threads, and the eye bolt shanks had to be shortened to fit with the horn and battery, but they were cheaper than new Steib parts. The claw clamp arms need to be cut and welded -- the front one needs a nut welded into it, and the rear one needs an adapter box to bolt to the sidecar frame.

I researched other people's efforts at mounting Globe sidecars on /2 BMWs, and it seemed the most critical point was the lower rear attachment to the sidecar frame. The Globe does not use sliding clamps on its frame, like the Steibs, which make the arms and struts rigid. Instead, the Globe uses a threaded rod at the lower front, and the other three points use reinforced holes in the frame to carry eye bolts to which the arms and struts are attached. Fore and aft rigidity seemed a problem with these attachments. The lower front threaded rod is not totally rigid because it can swivel around its ball, and the lower rear attachment can swivel both at the hole in the sidecar frame and at the ball on the bike frame. I devised a lower rear shackle attachment to the sidecar that had a plate against the frame to rigidly lock the arm against any movement. My effort is pictured in "Outfit 3":

	Front Overall	Front Low	Rear Overall	Rear Low
Outfit 1
Outfit 2
Outfit 3

 

Attaching the Sidecar

Attaching the sidecar began with the cutting and welding of the two lower mounting arms. To fabricate these arms, I first needed a way to hold the bike upright on its wheels, and a way to hold the sidecar beside it, so that accurate measurements and trial-fitting could be done. To hold the bike up, I used a wooden wheel holder that I made in 1990 to hold bikes in my truck. To hold the sidecar up, I made a dolly out of a 2x4 and caster wheels.

I made the lower front arm as straight as possible, with as little offset as possible, to reduce the tendency to swivel and hang down off the ball. I made the lower rear arm as rigid as possible, so it would be the main force pulling the sidecar, and not transfer any fore and aft strain to the other three mounts. I made the lower rear arm to go across to the bike both straight and level when viewed from the top and the rear, and I made the shackle raise the the sidecar frame so it appeared level when viewed from the rear. The straight and level appearance of the lower mounting arms versus the frame can be seen in this photo:

 

Installing and Removing a Sidecar

There is a strict sequence in installing and removing a sidecar. If the alignment is OK, you can just put the bike on the center stand and attach the lower mounts, then roll the bike off the stand and let the sidecar hold it up while you attach the upper mounts.

To intall, the sequence is always attach lower rear, then lower front, then upper rear, then upper front. To remove, reverse the sequence. For adjusting the alignment, begin as if removing and go to the place you want to adjust, then back out the same way you got in.

For instance, the sequence for partial removal for aligning would be:

1. Detach upper front strut at bike.

2. Detach upper rear strut at bike. The sidecar will hold the bike up. To adjust lean-out, do it with the rear strut now and re-assemble in same order.

3. Loosen lower rear claw very slightly.

4. Loosen lower front claw and swing front of sidecar out just enough to detach the claw from the ball. Sidecar will continue to hold the bike up by rear ball, but precariously. To adjust toe-in, screw the claw arm in or out, and re-assemble in same order.

Aligning the Sidecar

Factors in the alignment are lead, toe-in and lean-out.

• The lead is the amount that the sidecar wheel is ahead of the rear wheel. On the Globe, this distance is determined by a hole in the frame rather than by a sliding clamp like a Steib. The amount of lead is less than ideal, but cannot be changed.

• Toe-in is the amount that the sidecar wheel points inward, is adjusted by screwing the lower front arm in and out of the sidecar frame while the rear arm is attached, and is measured by putting two straight edges agains the wheels and comparing the distance between them in front of the bike and behind the bike. I use two square aluminum tubes that nest one inside the other for storage - the outer tube is 1" with a thin wall, the inner tube is 3/4" with a thick wall.. The same dolly that is used to carry the sidecar supports the smaller, weaker tube against the sidecar tire, while clamps hold the larger tube against the bike's tires:

• Lean-out is the amount the bike leans away from the sidecar, is adjusted by the upper rear strut after removing the upper front strut, and is measured by putting a large carpenter square against the front swing arm and measuring to the upper and lower rims:

• The initial settings in both the BMW Instruction Manual and the Workshop Manual, are 1.2-1.6 inch for toe-in and 3/8-7/16 inch for leanout. However, they usually need fine-tuning for each bike and sidecar combination, and for varying loads, and they may also change over time as the tires wear or the mounts move. And toe-in figure may not apply very well to the Globe because its lead is less than a Steib's lead. For more information on the effect of settings on sidecar operation, see the Sidecar Dynamics document.