A fifteen dollar and a bunch of scrap sidecar roller by Richard Cook
I know I can’t beat Dan for a price on making a roller for your sidecar because I think he made one out of a skateboard.

I’ve been thinking about making this for about a year and I knew the day would come for a major service on my red bike and I’d have to do it. The day has finally come and here is the result.

I needed it adjustable because I currently have two outfits of different sizes, and plan to get a third.

This meant that the basic roller had to be lower than any unit I planned to work with, and then I could raise it up and down with spacers. I also wanted it easy to install with a maximum of two bolts and easy to use for one guy. It also needs to be able to sit outdoors without rusting.

This dictated a few things like it would need a maximum of two wheels and they should be casters mounted far apart, but the near the center of a wide, self stabilizing mount. If you have two casters on a sidecar outfit roller you can stand by the car wheel and rock it back and forth to easily separate the units. With straight wheels (like a skateboard) this would be more difficult, and if wheels are close together the car can want to fall one way or the other. On the plus side it can be fairly lightly built because it does not roll fast or far, and the car is not that heavy. To use it a couple times a year meant it was not worth making it out of metal and putting a hydraulic lift on it.
I picked up two casters at a forced IKEA trip with my wife that were rubber tired and plastic so they would not corrode. They were about six bucks. I bought two pipe hangers at the hardware store, these are two inch and one is open and one closed. The rest of the stuff was wood, screws, and bolts I had around. I used a shelf that was a 1X12 and cut it to 40 inches.

Once the shelf was cut into two 40 inch pieces and one piece about 15 inches I mounted the castors on the shelf by drilling a 3/8 inch hole near the center of each end. If you use IKEA castors you’ll need a nut and washer.

Then I placed it under my bike, the final version really should be measured with the bike on the center stand since that helps while separating.

I found that two short lengths of pressure treated four by four (fence posts) and one layer of 1X12 would give me my lower layer. If you are only going to use it on one bike just make it to the height you need. At this point I blocked it up and measured where I wanted my rear clamp. Put the four by four spacers in at least ten inches so as not to get in the way of the clamps.

On the front my lower setting is just a piece of 1X4.

For the stand as it goes on my red bike with the center stand down I needed to raise the rear with a layer of 2 x 3s and one more flat layer of 1X12. Check your bike as it may be different than mine. The front just has a piece of 2X4 sitting under the car mount held down by the two bolts on the clamp.

When the job is finally complete and I’m done this service I’ll give it a complete coat of weather proof black.