The adventures of the Smiling Swordfish

Hi all,
GS hacks are not so often here in France, yet we're a bunch of fanatics decided to promote them, and also we have a few sidecar manufacturers who think interesting solutions to create GS sidecars. So I'll review GS hacks here in France and also in Europe, and try to show you the different technical solutions.
Firstly here we go with the first pics of my new hack
Sorry for the poor quality, they were taken with a mobile at the EML distributor in northern France. I still haven't seen it "in real", I'm going to bring it back home next week, 800 km drive and I'll post better pics with the cases and all accessories.
It's an EML roadster with a 1200 GS Adventure. I left the bike on 10 december, so it took 4 months to do the job, due to roadster kit's availability, and that was a very long time waiting ! Still it's there now, ready for it's new life
His name is the Smiling Swordfish, due to it's ressemblance with that fast fish, and happy to carry its passengers around Europe and Africa !
First trip will be GS days in southern France in 3 weeks, then small rides in the Alps, this summer the BMW days in Garmisch Partenkirschen, then the Euro Gespann Treffen (EGT) in Luxemburg, Popham meeting in the UK in september, and a trip to Germany in October. In 2013 scheduled the Dragon rally and a trip to Marocco later in October.
I Hope to see some of you soon and look forward riding together
Ride safe and take care !

[/url][/IMG]
[/url][/IMG]
[/url][/IMG]
[/url][/IMG]
[/url][/IMG]
[/url][/IMG]
[/url][/IMG]
[/url][/IMG]

What is the front end???? More info please!!!

Wow! very nice! Congrats on your new ride.

Yes please, more info!

I think those front forks cost more $$ than my last 2 rigs combined !!!!!!

Thanks ! Sorry for the delay, just rode back from northern France 800 km, that was great even if the weather was awful. The steering is super accurate thanks to the EML extensodive fork. The sidecar itself is very light, so up it goes easily in right curves. With a passenger it'll be more easy to drive thanks to the extra weight. Fuel consumption is very satisfactory, more or less + 1 l/100km with that extra 100kg on the right side. The bike's aluminium swingarm has been changed by an EML steel swingarm, more robust. Other than that, the hand brake still controls front and rear motorbike brakes (ABS is still in use), while foot brake controls bike's rear and sidecar brakes.
A little issue is that with a 175mm large rear wheel, on wet roads a lot of shit spreads on the saddle and on the cases even if the bike has already a mudsling, gotta find a solution :eek1. Also, as the tyre pressure sensors have been withdrawn due to the change of wheels, the on board computer thinks the sensors are still there, so it warns of a tyre pressure problem . That needs to be corrected by BMW dealer.
So the Smiling swordfish is born ! First trip will be the GS days here in southern France in the town of Orange in 2 weeks time. Report will follow
Take care and enjoy riding !
Jean-Marc

Very nice rig.

Just awesome!!!! Congrats!

I love the modern take on the U Boat decals!

Beautiful outfit.

Yep - they do look a wee bit costly.
But sooooooo sweeeeeeet.
Cheers.

Outstanding!

Is it a dual-wheel drive?

Thanks !

No, but I hope one day... My dream is fitting a MOBEC haldex duodrive system like the red hack below... The day when I win at the lottery
GS1200 are not frequently fitted with sidecars here in France, but we're a bunch of guys willing to change things
One of them is having his GS fitted with a sidebike Megacométe by DJ side-car french manufacturer, and another one with a RDS Neptune... For the first one, it's not easy due to the width of the bike and of the pannier, it's very close to the 2meters maximum width authorized by legislation... (the pics show integration test with an old megacométe pannier that will not be used). I'll post pics as soon as they come in

Just a FYI here.

Rode my rig back from Pittsburg on Sunday.
It was raining pretty good.
Ran into a rather deep puddle at speed.
The front wheel went right through it, but the back wheel hydroplaned, reved the engine and then caught traction.
It didn't cause a problem and we continued to ride without incident.
Just want to let you know, because with the car tire on the front of your rig, you may experience the same thing.
Could really be a sucky day if you loose front traction in a turn.
Cheers.

Tres bel attelage!! A peu pres la taille d'un Kangol?

The Sworfish was modified this winter by french sidecar manufacturer DJ in the Alps. A few accesories were added as you can see... Then we participated early february to the 1st "white pass sidecar rallye" in the french Alps near Annecy. Great fun, with 35 hacks out of which 4 GS ADV
Next big change will be the mounting of a 2 wheel drive system in September by another french sidecar manufacturer, Choda. We've got a bunch of sidecar wizards here in France

Quel incroyable motocyclette a panier adjacent! Merci de nous faire partager tes aventures et tes projets. Ici aux US ( ou je reside depuis deja 15 ans) le side est encore quelque peu basique, avec tres peu de constructeur, mais j'espere qu'en voyant les photos de ton side, ca va en faire reflechir certain.

Merci twintwin, j’espère aussi ! Vous avez un pays fabuleux, mon rêve serait de le traverser en side-car... Mais c'est très cher d'envoyer un side-car à travers l'Atlantique !

Thanks Twintwin, I hope too ! You have a wonderful country, my dream would be to cross it in side-car... But it's terribly expensive to send a sidecar across the atlantic ocean ! So it's more "easy" for us in Europe to travel North (Scandinavia) or east (Russia), because there's no ocean to cross...

Her are pics of a Choda 2WD GS hack, so with the system that's gonna be mounted on my sidecar. The system is quite basic, it works with belts and is non permanent. It's not sophisticated like the german Mobec duodrive / Haldex systems for example, but it's much cheaper. It's rather made to be used only when crossing difficult obstacles.
You can see the belt system on the last pics, it's other hacks with this time a 3WD system. The 2WD has the same system but only goes to the sidecar wheel. I't quite clever and works real great
The Choda 2 and 3WD hacks also have the sidecar wheel turning
Choda is in fact one only guy who has incredible ideas. Whe're lucky in Europe to have a few of these crazy manufacturers who manage to build fantastic hacks

krikey, you guys don't mess around when you build a hack.
Hats off
Jim

Here is the very first GS1200 hack made by Héchard sidecar company near Poitiers. They fixed their "Serval" sidecar to a brand new 12GS Adv this winter. Before I got my sidecar, I went to see Héchard and hesitated on fixing a Serval or Saphir sidecar to my GSAdv. Finally I didn't because of the costs and also the philosophy of those sidecars. Indeed I love the colors of this hack, and the quality is fantastic, but I find that a Serval is a bit too "racing" to be connected to a GS.... The ground clearance is low, and I don't imagine this hack wondering around in bad terrain. But all tastes are in the nature... and it's a new GS hack here
A soon as I see it in real, I'll give you more details.

That is the most impressive series of hack pictures that I've ever seen. :eek1