G'day I've always had an idea in my head for what I would want in a sidecar built for the harsh Australian outback. In Australia it's bloody easy to get lost or break down 100's km's from the nearest town and even in this day and age people still die in the remote areas from thirst or heat or both after they have broken down. In a lot of cases needlessly because they usually break the golden rule of leaving their vehicle. I was going to build it after 2010 OCR but Gad sort of challenged me to do it (he didn't really but he did describe it as a wet dream so bugga it I took it as a challenge). So I'm going to try and get it finished before the 2010 OCR. It's only the body and chassis I will be building and I will attach it to my K1100 (swap it for my camper outfit). I will probably turn a BMW R100 into a chookchaser and attach it to that at a later date. The design brief was simple. It must be as light as possible but strong. It must carry the normal stuff as well as emergency equipment, recovery gear and enough fuel to cover at least 600 kms and water for at least a week. It will have back systems eg: It will carry a PLB (epirb) as well as a SAT phone. It will have 2 suspension systems in case one fails. It will have swingarm/shock suspension as well a 300kg flexitor (torsion bar) suspension system which will be the back up. It will also have an air compressor as well as a hand pump for punctures. It will have a dual battery setup so I can run my fridge (got to have a cold beer at the end of the day) and be able to use my welding setup. Will also have an invertor/ power convertor or what ever they are called so I can run a drill or angle grinder. The fuel will be carried in 10L jerry cans rather than 1 fuel tank mainly because I've holed a 10L jerry can on the Birdsville track and had it been a 20L can I might have been in trouble. If one is holed at least I will have others with fuel in it. It won't be pretty (just like most of the inmates here, except me of course ) but it will be functional. Every inch of space will be utilised. It will have a twin jet gas stove (as well as my barby plate,cant go anywhere without that). Also enough tools to tear the motor down and rebuild it if I wanted too. Here's a some photo's...... The metal for the chassis and frame. It will be covered in Ali sheet. Believe it or not this lot will fit inside or outside the chair. It looks a lot and it is but most of the stuff is faily compact when packed properly. This is the welding setup that I can run off a dual battery. This is the PLB (epirb) A pair of traction mats. A winch which will be mounted up front on the main chassis rail. The 20L water can. It has a 12v pump inside and a tap will be at the back. Im a lazy bastard and at a push of a button I will get water rather than lifting the bloody thing out for a cuppa. So there you have it. I was going to start on the chassis today but it's 41 degrees and 43 degrees the next 2 days. Too bloody hot to be in a shed. So I probably wont start until next weekend. At each stage I will take photo's. Im open to any suggestions of what you would like to see incorporated in a sidecar. I'm not a professional builder so don't expect perfection. It will be rough but it will work and it will be strong (i've made others in the past and they have never broken on me) so if a weld looks like crap please dont give me a hard time otherwise I will have to take it out on my body and consume copius amounts of alcohol to relieve my stress. 3legs Ps. TD and Clancy....the race begins
mate love what you are envisaging to do and carry , first thought , throw away that pile of tube you intend to make it out of, go buy some round chrome moly tubing , strong,light and round, round tube equals strength square tube isn't for things that flex ,actually it looks like a pile of racking steel to me ?, i appreciate you say your welds have never broken ,it isn't the welds breaking that are a problem (welds can be re welded) its the tubing's integrity , PS the weight of the square tube to chrome moly x strength would be a fair difference, and i have got a slime unit have a look at their website ,there is an Australian agent in each state or repco i think it is , their bike unit is great small very good compressor with slime and all the stuff needed to fix a puncture on the outback roads and i fit the lot into the tool box on my Suzuki vl 1500 well worth for space and weight .
Hi Brian Your'e right about the round moly and I did think about using it but I deliberately wanted to use square because it's easier to mount things to and weld (and I've only got an arc welder, no mig or tig and it keeps the costs down) and I dont want to have to have round shapes to form sheet metal/ali around. I'm a huge believer in this K.I.S.S principle. I hadn't thought about the slime. Must check that out. Thanks for the input. Keep it coming. Cheers 3legs
Sounds exactly like the outfit I'll built when I have the time, the money and the skill I'm totally with you on the steel box section. Every mine workshop, truck stop and general fabrication place in most of the world has a couple of lengths they might part with to help a traveller out and the means to weld it. Show them moly coated tube and you get offered scaffolding pole! I'd want to make as much as I could interchangeable. Use three shocks all the same, use the same electrical connectors as on the bike and so on so if something falls off you can bodge together a repair doing as little damage as possible even if you've already raided the parts strore. Nuts and bolts wise I'd even go so far as to buy a bucket of two sizes and not use anything else. Can't wait to see the result. Andy
reminds me of the quote , (slightly altered) Give a man a prawn and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to catch prawns, and he will sit in the boat and drink beer all day
Oh to true brian but in the 25 years I have known Alex, I have allways cooked extra food for him! He did try and cook for us once but boiled the pot (camp oven) dry ! The only thing you can teach a 9 mile sniper is to shoot things and give the carcus to us tucker fu##ers snayle
Hey fella, if I were to put a winch on my sidecar I might make it so I could take it off the front and mount it on the back as well if needed. Cheers A2
G'day Andrew Good idea Andrew. Hadn't thought of that one. Might have to do some drawings to figure out a quick release mechanism to do that very job. Snayle the only reason why I cooked the camp oven dry was you lead me astray and got me horribly pissed and we BOTH forgot about it, mind you that seems to happen a lot when we get together. 3legs
Watching with interest Alex So far, you got all my ideas covered That's a good idea of Andrew's too. I was going to suggest it but he beat me to it What wheels? I'm going to have the rear bike wheel and the sidecar wheel the same. And you'll probably still finish before me
The only time I've ridden with scray, was when I saw the need for the ability to mount the winch to the rear too. This looks like an interesting project.
