Custom from "Mad Max "

[Tbone]

Took some pics a while ago of this sweet custom trike/hack. Looks to be CB750 powered. The one pic shows the guy reaching down/hitting switch to lower the bubble

[High Country Herb]

Was that in the movie, or were the actors visiting a bike show in costume to promote the movie?

[Tbone]

Originally Posted by High Country Herb

Was that in the movie, or were the actors visiting a bike show in costume to promote the movie?

That was in the movie. Very beginning if I remember.

[BeeMaa]

Wonder how far you get with a tank that size.
Then again, it's all about the looks for a movie...

[madeouttaglass]

Is that a mobile hair dryer from a salon? Talk about a women not wanting helmet hair. I bet she get's voted "Best Hair" at any biker event.

[vortexau]

Actors shown in second pic: Mal Gibson speaking with rider, and Steve Bisley chatting to passenger. Steve plays the secondary character "Goose" who, after cracking-up on Police Pursuit Kawasaki KZ 1000 and leaving hospital care, gets aboard a Kawasaki Two-stroke Triple with one leg in cast.

Mad Max 1979 The Goose learns to fly



(While many performance machines were specially constructed for the movie, other 'bit-players' were existing customs roped in to set the future period that the movie is set in.)

Information on the three-wheeler:
Mad Max Cars
Cyclotron / Bubble Trike

The trike was originally constructed by Lance Seadon of Cycle Gear in Collingwood. The scrolling on the body was done in 24ct gold leaf by John Leach - Lance and John were both members of the Barbarians Motorcycle Club at the time. Features of the trike included a tube running from the dome to the rider, so that you could enjoy a smoke...

And the good news is... the trike still lives! The trike is still in Australia, and the pictures below were taken by Scott Page at the Street Machine Mad Max / Mad Max 2 screening in Blacktown in late 2001.

[High Country Herb]

I have the movie on disc (and the rest of the Max movies), so I watched it again last night.

Originally Posted by vortexau

after cracking-up on Police Pursuit Kawasaki KZ 1000 and leaving hospital care, gets aboard a Kawasaki Two-stroke Triple with one leg in cast.

I always liked that part of the movie. It almost looks like he had the starter connected to the shift lever, because it engages right when he shifts. He really lets the rubber fly, too! There is another part where he (or the stuntman?) takes off in a blaze of tires, and just makes it through a gap between parking barriers. Good stuff.

Here's another vote to hear the story behind finding the custom sidecar setup.

[3legs]

G'day

Seeing as you asked I will give you the story of how I found it.
Ever since the movie first came out I was always blown away by the outfit and said to whoever wanted to listen that I would love to get my hands on it.

Then I moved to Queensland (from South Australia) and one day while I was back in SA visiting the parents I noticed it coming towards me on one our major city roads. Unfortunately I was in a mates car and he was driving and by the time we turned around to chase it (as I was going to make an offer on it) he had disappeared into the distance and never got a chance to ask the owner.

That was in 1981 or 82.

Anyway I returned permanently to SA in 1984 and was living at Port Adelaide and around 1988 I was sitiing in my local pub having a beer with a fellow bike rider (I had a Z1R in those days) and we got talking about bikes (as you do) and I mentioned that I would love to find the "Mad Max" outfit to which he said "my old mate owns that". Unfortunately he hadn't seen his mate for years and the last time he saw him he had recently moved to Broome in WA. So close yet so far.

Bugga.

Anyway then in 1992 my next door neighbour was an old fellow and we often drank together at the local pub and he knew I was into sidecars and one day he knocked on my door and said that the son of a friend of his wants to sell his outfit. To be honest I wasn't interested in buying another bike as I already had a shed full but as he went out of his way to ask me I asked what it was and he said he's not sure (he wasn't into bikes) but he thinks it's a Honda with a sidecar and apparently it was in a movie.

Well f@#k me. I knew instantly it had to be THAT outfit. I could not drag him into my car quick enough. Well sure enough when we got to the place and there it was and it took every bit of energy I had to contain my excitement.

I would have bought it at any price but I had to make it look good so I haggled a bit, saying the condition of it was pretty bad but I bought it and I told no one about until the cheque cleared as I didn't want any bastard making a better offer.

Anyway, you are not going to believe this, but guess where it was. The next bloody suburb. After all these years of trying to find it, it was in bloody garden shed virtually just around the corner.

And what's even weirdier was that the owner was a mate of my then girlfriend's ex husband.

It was like I was meant to have it but I was made to sweat before I could have it.

Ok got it home and completely stripped but not before giving to a painter to get the right scheme. It was originally done in that really large metalflake that they use to use back in the 70's but no one did that any more so I had to compromise and the flake wasn't as large.

It was actually very well built and with some really neat touches like home made footpegs turned on a lathe but looked really cool. There were 2 chrome cylinders attached to the rear of the sidecar which were fuel tanks and fuel was pumped to the small gravity tank. All the electrics were in the space behind the riders seat and the there was a starter button there as well.

The rear wheel hub was custom made to take the wide wheel which incidently the tyres are the originals from the movie. The gear change was another hand made item much like a harley forward controls. The original did have a electic aerial that was used to raise the dome but it was missing and I didn't bother replacing it. The 4 exhausts ran under the chair and exited in front of the sidecar whee. Andrew got it right about the tail lights, they are from a xp ford.

The engine was a Honda 750/4 however when I first started it oil came pissing out the front of the engine where the cam chain runs between the cylinders and that's exactly what the problem was. The previous owner never adjusted the cam chain and it wore a hole right through. Thankfully I already had a honda 750 F2 however it would fit the the outfit frame (I can't exactly remember why) so I had to swap the barrel from the good one to the original motor. Anyway it all came together and it rode really nice. Brakes were an issue but shit happens.

I took it to a few shows but got sick of everyone saying " is that the bike from Mad Max".

If I can find more photo's I will scan them and post them here but remember this was 18 years ago and I have moved a few times since then so I may not have a lot.

Later

3legs

[Andrew2]

Originally Posted by Tbone

Tail lights from a '65 Ford Falcon???

[Bucho]

I wonder how that thing handles with the side car wheel having no lead over the pusher wheel.

Love that movie!

[3legs]

Hi Guys.

That's my old bike. I bought it back in 1992 and restored it back to close as possible original condition. Stripped it back to bare metal and replaced everything.
I was the 3rd owner and sold it through Sothebys Auction house in 1994. How you see it on the back of the truck is how I sold it.

It actually rode quite well considering the sidecar wheel is directly in line with the rear wheel and sounded really nice. The original carby tops and float bowls where actually gold plated but I didn't go that far in the resto.

I have some photo's that I'm trying to attach but my computer skills are hopeless. They are on my pictures file but I have no idea how to attach them to this thread.

I will keep trying.

3legs

[3legs]

Yee Ha, I figured out how to attach the photo's to photobucket, so here they are. One shows how I found the bike (which is a story in itself) and it was in a pretty bad state and missing the whole original front end. The original front end was a girder but when I bought it it had the spinger front end on it. The other photo's are of a photo shoot at a quarry here in Adelaide not long after it was finished (yes that's a much younger me on the bike).







The last photo also shows the article from the local newspaper when it was sold. It was a great fun build and I really regret selling it but it was either sell the bike or lose my house. I'm actually seriously considering building a replica in the future.

Enjoy.

3legs

[madeouttaglass]

I, and I'm sure others, would love to hear the story. That machine looks like someone spent a lot of time on it.

[Unstable Rider]

Damn, wonderous story and photos. How cool is all that.

+1 ( for one of a kind! )

Did anyone say what the motor was based on?

If it's obvious and i missed it, apologies advanced.

[Steve In Ireland]

Originally Posted by Unstable Rider

Damn, wonderous story and photos. How cool is all that.

+1 ( for one of a kind! )

Did anyone say what the motor was based on?

If it's obvious and i missed it, apologies advanced.

Clearly an old CB750 Honda