I bought this ride back in December 2011, after a bit of cyber searching I picked up a 92 BMW r100 GS PD with a side car in Adelaide ( 2700 kms from home ) . I asked 3 LEGS ( never met him ) to check out the ride and give a verdict. His reply was to go ahead, made an offer to the seller and the ride was mine. I grabbed a 1 way ticket to Adelaide and was off, having never ridden a sidecar, an adventure was certain. my wife has a bit if arthritis in her hips ( operation done) and this year (2012) has had a knee replacement done, so asking her to climb up as pillion is a hard task, hence the need for a rig !!! here is the bike as purchased, complete with 3legs consideration the ride home has been documented elsewhere http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=749559 So since having the GSPD I've had the front end re- configured by changing the sinle sided disc to a twin disc with new Brembo calipers to stop the beast also included in the mods were a new master cylinder off a K1100 and braided brake lines. I had previously contacted a fabricator used my Eaglebeak and used him to make my new body. Barry used ali to fabricate the shell, I can only say that he is an artisan and a perfectionist . At all times during the build I was kept informed of progess and regular meetings took place. Once Barry had a shell to work with we placed it on the chassis a couple of weeks later and Barry declare dthat the tub was ready for fitting. Now let me backpeddle a bit, this rig was built back in 09 in South Australia by Leigh Hollamby ( leighSA on ADV ), I'm a new comer to sidecars, but this rig handles so well that a newby like me had no difficulty riding it. the workmanship in the chassis building and attachment to the bike is second to none, the leading link is an absolute work of art. the new brakes have intergrated with Leigh's LLs very well After all the mods I was ready for Barry to fit the tub, I stripped off the pod that was fitted, repainted the chassis and fitted some rubber to the mounting points ready to fit up the tub. The big day arrived and I rode the PD with the chassis out to Barry's, about 25kms, what an exercise, after being used to a bit of weight on the chair for all the time, with no weight i couldn't keep the wheelcshair on the black stuff. Lot's of fun !!! bring on the tub. Placed on the chassis note the screen brackets, Madstad brackets for a 650 V-Strom, fully adjustable ( Waspworks were out of stock ). Means that the screen is fully adjustable. before we could bolt the tub down we had to fit the water containers then bolted it dow and turned our attentiom to the screen, as luck would have it I had an old screen in my shed from my K1200 LT, which when turned upside down matched the curveof the tub body, pure arse, but what the. Trimmed it to length and screwed it in place. The passenger foot plate was next with a few cross brace welded into place a tread plate was made up I'm sure that ther will be some other photo's emerge over the next few weeks, ther were many others taken after we had completed the seats, some with my sons in the chair and some of Guzzimike and Steve having a play,.. Still got the decals to go and the cover to have made, so watch this space. special thanks to, in no particular order................3Legs Eaglebeak Barry Faulds Guzzimike Vince WA Alex and Nick ( my 2 sons) but most of all my loving wife, for sharing the journey. more to come
She loves it and can't wait to go for a ride, a couple more weeks and she should be able to get in it.
Excellent work! It's really looking great, and your idea of the 'upside-down' screen may have just solved a small problem I'm having with my own rig. Only one thing I noted - You need to check your bolts and locknuts for correct 'safety'. This one shows a nyloc nut that is not 'safe'. They need 1-3 threads minimum showing clear of the nut to fully engage the nylock insert and ensure that the usually rounded/tapered end-thread of the bolt is fully clear of the nut. And is there a washer under the nut? Yeah, I'm being picky. That was one of my (many) issues with my builder. It's a fine looking rig though. Happy travels. Mick.
Well done Bully. That looks great. Really suits the bike. Now you need to give it a good test. See you at the OCR? 3legs
Hi MXIR, Yep, there is a stainless steel washer under that nut and that pivot bolt is specially machined and has a square end and from memory it was also "Loctited", but I do get what you mean. It also has the eccentric adjuster in that whole setup. Also the body on your GSA/sidecar originally came from my workshop! I always thought it might look good on a GSA1150 or GS and I like the look of your outfit
Hi Bully1, Looks great, Believe it or not, when I built up this outfit for the original owner I thought someone might want to do just what you have done. The body looks great and suits the GS, Keep on enjoying sidecarring
Looks like a team effort done well here Bully. Hope to see you around sometime. I am in Perth. Though I need to get mine back together again some time soon. How did you get on with the rego transfer? Any issues with a park brake? I had mine on the road then straight away pulled it apart till I got a few bits together (and the usual sort of interuptions life throws at you) Ordered a brake for the chair recently so hope to take it over the pits soon to get it sidecar approved. Then to start with the mods seriously. Cheers Bruce.
no OCR for me Alex , with the amount of work I've got, the major run for the year will more than likely be the border run.
I have a friend that is an inspector so that probably helped, however as he pointed out there is no actual licensing classification in WA for a bike that has had a sidecar added to it, a Ural is different as they are a manufactured rig, so the bike is registered and the sidecar is permitted ( go figure ). as it is a motorbike it doesn't require a handbrake, but you may fit one if you like. PM me and I'll give you my contacts name and inspection centre.
Hi Bully. It looks great ! Funny I only dropped in on Barry last week as I was riding my outfit past his workplace. He showed me some photo's of your tub (unpainted). Back when I licensed mine as a sidecar, ~3 years ago, the Suzuki was already licensed in WA but they insisted I fit a handbrake which I did (mechanical, on the chair wheel.) It has it's uses but sometimes the fixed side calipar squeaks and pisses me off. CRC sprayed on one side of the disc helps but I'm still in two minds whether to remove it altogether. After riding yours I'm going to make a slight adjustment to mine and lean it out a touch more. See if I can get it to pull left a bit less. (If that doesn't work I'll be utilising the occy strap technique on longer trips. ) Andrew.
Andrew give me a couple of weeks and I'll give you a call and come around so you can ride it, got it handling even better by putting a bit more preload on the sidecar shock.
Mate, since removing that giant lunch-box and bolting something a bit more stylish onto the chassis, this is looking like the ducks nuts !!!
