Hi I am thinking of building a sidecar already have the bike I was wondering if anyone knows of some dealers that sell just the sidecar in australia Regards ausguy
Well, there is the Ural at imz-ural.com.au if you are wanting the retro look with tall wheel on the sidecar. Can't help with the total number in Oz. But I do notice that there is one less Ural dealer in Victoria, unfortunately. (The mob in Bendigo seem to have dropped off the Ural dealer list at imz-ural.) Does anyone know the story there?
G'day Ausguy where abouts are you in Oz ??? If your in Victoria I'd suggest Phyllis on here. Does a fantastic job.
We have developed some of our sidecar stuff for left side mount and are working on a left side mount sidecar similar to our M72 type sidecars. And of course things like steering modifications and wheels it does not matter if the sidecar is left or right side mount. Jay G DMC sidecars www.dmcsidecars.com 866-638-1793
This is not a recommendation.... just answering the question, as far as I know. Highway Sidecars, Mt Gambier SA. SRK Engineering, Bathurst NSW. I think everyone else is folded, absorbed, passed away. having typed that.... +1 for Phyllis. NB - sidecars are not cheap. You'll get what you pay for. Unless of course you are a skilled fabricator? And you're arguably not paying for the 'pretty', you should be paying for the engineering. IMHO. I read someone's sigline the other day. Something like, "If you think professionals are expensive, try paying for an amateur".
Eurobrit Motorbikes in Greensborough Vic, import at least three different styles of Inder sidecar - retail at around $2500 from memory - and appear very stoutly made and a far cry from the Cozi-can crap. Alternatively, I have a Flexit for sale... PM for details!
Just to let you all know ever since my hip replacement I have lost all confidence in putting my foot down whilst riding in the bush this is why I am looking at a sidecar. I have been eyeing off a ural (sigh I wish we could the 2WD ones) although a bit slow fairly sturdy and simple (just like me LOL) Ausguy
I annoyed the heck out of Jon and co at Ural Oz, before settling on hacking my GSA. While you know you are getting a slow (but generally reliable) item with the Ural these days, I was persuaded (and convinced myself) that doing the GSA was the way to go. I already owned the bike. However, the trials and tribulations that went with a purpose built outfit conspired heavily against me ever wanting to do this again. There is no doubt that I have a fairly capable machine (now). There is no doubt it will travel at (GPS) 110 kph (and faster) all day, as evidenced by my Iron Butt ride with it. However, the reality is that if I want it to last a long a time, and if I want sensible fuel economy, and if I want reasonable tyre wear, and if I want to prevent things from breaking, then I need to travel at under 100 kph, smell the flowers (and dead roos), and generally enjoy the countryside. The journey is a lot of fun. The shed-time can be daunting. A Ural will travel comfortably at 90 kph. Yes, they will go faster, but .................. I'd suggest that you look hard at a Ural. The money spent is all you will spend. With anything else, it's a never-ending tail-chase to get it 'just-right'. Happy to chat off-line if you want. Cheers, Mick.
Thanks for that, it's great to get a view from the 'other side'. Any special throws up unexpected bumps and if you're paying someone for it it's going to be big dollars.
Was tinkering with the idea of knocking up a batch of ural style bodies, it is something I could do through my work place. 3mm Ali or 1.6mm steel. A different aproach would be to use core ten. It gets a film of rust but thats mostly it. I would most likely model them of my Chiang Jiang chair but scale it up a little. Have had a lot of different features and options in mind regards passenger and or camper utility. Any thoughts? Cheers, Bruce
..................... if you are seriously contemplating this. From what I've seen in my short time playing this game, there is a market for that style of chair. The more critical aspect from a production standpoint is to get as much standardization as you can in the body and chassis. The 'market', which is quite small here in Aus, seems to be as an adjunct to the bigger adventure bikes. A 'Ural' tub may not suit a Goldy or a GTR1400 or FJR! How do you factor all the myriad of attachment systems to cater for airhead Beemers, oilhead Beemers, and all the Tigers, Veestroms, KLRs etc? Can be done, but at a cost. Likewise, you would need to have a simple method for varying chassis height, suspension requirements, wheel types, and so on. Or you stick to a body with appropriate body options such as hatches, screens, racks, jerry-holders etc, all sitting on a standard box frame, so that the buyer has to have all the rest to suit his/her bike and just bolts the chair to the chassis. Lots of thought required with dubious returns and a high likelihood that the production will be short-lived. Not saying 'don't do it', but just think about the market first. There are many changes I would make next time. Won't happen, but I can see how a 'reasonable' product could been a 'great' product. None of it is hard, but just wasn't thought through by me or the builder. That's what happens with prototypes. Good luck with it if you go ahead.
If you do want to build bodies for left side mounting and only want to develop the bodies, We are willing to supply left side mount chassis and mounting hardware. Of course our car wheels and front end mods work for both left and right side mount. If several were ordered all at the same time they could be stacked in one crate making shipping a lot less expensive. We would go with our M72D type chassis and can develop mounts as we have bikes into the shop. Right now we only have a very few bikes that we make both left and right side mounts for. We are also looking for an importer / dealer for our sidecars. Once we have two firm orders unless we work out some other sort of deal we are planing on making our M72D type sidecars in left side mount. Jay G DMC sidecars www.dmcsidecars.com jay@dmcsidecars.com 866-638-1793
Or a rally/camper body (like some of the Aussie outfits here) to bolt onto a Ural chassis? Lots of those around, not necessarily attached to Urals...
Ok there has been some very good input here. Ausguy could do with a 3rd wheel. Getting over major ops is a challenge. I have found even reletively minor ops a challenge. What machine do you need an extra wheel for? Mixr you are correct I suppose in the need for a new thread but if it does not upset anyone I will post once more here . Or even if it does You made some very good points these showing us the benefit of your experiences so far, thanks. I would not be able to cater for all types of machines available so most likely build something I think would work for me and just offer to share some like it with a few like minded friends. Even the question of why to attempt to manufacture something for such an obscure market with such little likelyhood of significant reward? But it is much more satisfying to actually do something than to do nothing. I found this when I imported the the Chiang chairs. The experience does not have to be perfect to be a good experience. Jay's imput was very helpful also, it showed that we even with our liking for the unusual in transport, if we work together, can get the things we want. I like the idea of combining the expertise of those who build the chassis, suspensions and subframe. with locally made bodies. Even better if all a made locally but volume production makes for a better product in terms of price/quality. I would like to upgrade the chair on my VStrom and so will probably sell the Chiang chair at some stage after building a replacement with more suspension travel etc. Will just have to pull finger and make a start. It is just as easy once I get the drawings done on computer for the panels of the sidecar boat to make some extras. Current thought is for a body that tilts up from the front but looks more like a normal body. Brendan, getting enough work mate? Cheers all, Bruce
No problem Bruce, just saying that this deserves its own thread. Whatever you do, there is a lot of 'experience' here in Aus to help you figure out what works, what doesn't work, and what the market is. Some is 'build' experience, some is 'making it fit' experience, and some is 'living with it' experience. My 2 cents says that it is critical to have a high degree of flexibility based on a common body/chassis/frame. A huge problem I came across was that every thing I looked at was 'different' in far too many ways. That means every chair is 'unique'. Damned nuisance in some respects. The uniqueness should come from what you add or subtract, not from the basic frame and body, particularly if you are catering to a focused market. The flexibility needs to be in the bolt-ons, not in the base structure. Jay (DMC) has some good points about that. I look forward to seeing where you take this. Cheers, Mick.
G'day Bruce I have been working of sorts !!!! In regards as to what has been said so far about manufacturing sidecars, I believe there is a market for it but a somewhat limited one due to our smallish 21+ million population with a good percentage of our biking community probably thinking that outfits are for weirdos or for people who can't handle having 2 wheels. In what Rosco has mentioned there may be a demand for alternate bodies for Ural outfits but cost would be expensive depending on what the end user specifies. Maybe a modular design would be better suited if one was to manufacture rally/camper bodies. Mounting hardware is a different story as each customers requirements i.e. bike/chair combo would be different, so custom made subframes may be the norm. I am in the belief that a well (over) engineered subframe is the go, especially with our crappy roads. I have had the luxury of being shown what is well engineered and what isn't and I do get a bit horrified as to what I see sometimes. If we are to make sidecars more popular here in Oz again I think price and quality construction are a major concern and to make it appealing to the broader community. As the old saying goes - once bitten twice shy. As to what Jay has already mentioned they are looking for an agent so maybe its time someone stood up and grabbed the bull by the horns so to speak and took it on. I would imagine that Claude Stanley would also be more than happy to export and manufacture his chairs to left hand fitment as well providing he gets enough orders to suffice retooling.
