Looks like Dauntless has seriously beefed up their lower mounts!! What was your build date? Melrone could have benefited from this one. :-( Did you work with Barrry or Jay? Or Doug?
Doesn’t look like it to me. As I recall, Melrone’s was a Ural frame/tub with a forward mount on the end of a curved tube. Melrone’s eye-bolt sheared off, probably helped by the angle of the curved tube. Drone’s one looks like the same M72D frame/mounts as what I got from DMC almost 3 years ago. I’ve since switched mine to clevis/eye and added a front mount to the bike and tub. I did this because, like Drone’s rig, the two mounts on the sidecar frame are very close to each other toward the rear and provide little support on the tub nose. On mine the front of the tub flexed down a lot. Eventually (less than 10K miles) the center mount snapped out of my sidecar frame along with a hunk of the frame tube (click). So the spot I’d keep an eye on isn’t the lower mounts, but where the front strut attaches to the sidecar frame.
In Post #1 I said, "I got this rig last fall" but I failed to say where I got it from. I believe the build date was October 2007. The tub, frame and subframe were shipped to the PO, along with the DMC steering part, and the PO then put it together. I bought it from him last Fall as a barebones outfit. The only sidecar mods it had was the steering part. Other than that, the sidecar was pretty much plain jane. After I bought it, I took it to Jay for the car pusher conversion and the electric tilt. Doug did the work and also remounted the struts and did the alignment. So I didn't have to do any of that stuff. Credit for the easy steering and straight running is all DMC's. As for the bike, the PO did the canisterectomy, removed the ABS modulator, installed the Y-pipe, and he was the one who figured out the cool double-relay configuration for the offroad lights.
I have to agree with iHop-- I think I have to keep a close eye on the upper struts where they mount to the sidecar frame. Right now they're fine--no cracks. If one breaks, well then at that point I'll look at other options. I also wonder if because my rig runs so straight and true, with no wobble or shake, if maybe my struts won't develop metal fatigue as quickly as some other rigs where the stresses and strains are more or less constant. It's kinda nice living only 30 miles away from the DMC shop. If I have any troubles, it's not a big deal to get the rig looked at. I might even take it in there next month to brainstorm with those fellas. The problem with the 1150 is that there's no good place to attach a strut forward of the cylinder head. It can be done, but it would involve so many extenders and angles and joints that I'm not sure how much good it would do. Edit--Yeah, it did break, in June of 2012 after maybe another 10,000 miles, many of them on dirt and gravel. This rig has not been babied! Here's a pic-- But the struts are pretty robust. I had no trouble driving another 300 miles with the broken strut to Enumclaw where DMC was able to fabricate Jay's retrofit solution for this problem. Sorry for the bad pic-- Basically, they weld a collar around the frame then drill it and weld in a solid mounting post that's welded on the top and bottom of the frame. Much stronger than before. In defense of the DMC design, I must mention that the P.O. had mounted the car totally wrong (both lower struts upside down) and the frame got 4500 miles of abuse before that situation got fixed. Jay told me that the upside down strut mounting put extra strain on the upper front strut, and he warned me to keep a close eye on it six months before iHop mentioned it in the post above.
Drone, You might PM Mr. Cob, and see how he's addressing this on his 1150GS Dauntless build. He's been pretty tight-lipped about it on the board, but he might open up in a PM. Don't know, but worth a try.
I can be done, and well done, speak with Claude. Dauntless subframe and mounts bought new in 2005. Went then with Claude (picture taken before powder coating), cannot be more please with the result. No further comments necessary when you compare the 2 subframes and mounts, and for the same price!
Drone Nice finish work your taste is excellent ! What's the name of that dark German sitting in it and is he or she a standard or a giant ? A real question, Does the gearing with the 15" wheel seem low enough ? DB
Bear in mind that my 1150 is an Adventure model with a lower gear ratio for 1st gear. And the car wheel/tire combo I'm using works out to the same outside diameter as the stock BMW wheel/tire combo. So I have plenty of grunt for the kinds of roads I go on. Which is to say, paved roads and dirt roads. I don't go on trails or tracks (my name's not Cob) and I'm not trying to out-Ural the Urals. Hell, I'm not even trying to out-Ural the KLR's! I just like getting out into the backcountry. Oh, and he's a giant, but the runt of his litter.
In Post #25, I said-- In reply, twintwin posted up this pic of his 1100GS -- I can see how this is a solution, though it's not what I would call an "elegant" solution. Inside the circle there you see three different brackets supporting a straight strut that's attached to a curved strut that's attached to the tub frame. That's a lot of joints. I'd like to emphasize that my mounting system is working fine. I subscribe to the old "if it ain't broke" adage so I have no plans to make any changes here. I'm happy with it just the way it is! If any cracks appear, then I'll cross that bridge.
You have a great looking outfit, congrats... Double congrats on sourcing some very interesting, great looking farkles!
Ah, sourcing . . . With internet search engines and online stores we have wonderful opportunities to farkle our bikes unlike even 10 years ago! From Germany I have brake discs, luggage, and horns; from England, China, Germany and Japan I have lighting components; tires from the Netherlands and Germany; suspension from Sweden; two of the crossbar pads came from Bulgaria of all places; graphics from England; and of course lots of parts new and used from all over the U.S. and some from Canada. Not to mention the advent of forums like this one that are crammed full of great info . . . For an old guy like me, it's really wonderful. I remember when you had to spend days and weeks pawing through those tiny little ads in the back pages of motorcycle magazines, then writing letters to suppliers (yes, twenty-somethings, letters on paper that you gave to the mailman) to see if they had what you wanted. For me, this is like the Golden Age of Farkling. I mean, I just ordered a set of custom-made top-loading red cordura liners for my Happy-Trail panniers with "WUMPA" embroidered in white letters from some gal in Georgia (click here) for $109 shipped! That's crazy! I love it! Thanks, drbike, for the reminder. And for the compliments.
Thank you Claude! Some of the online pics here in Hacks showing CSM builds definitely influenced my decisions, especially the Nicklin build.
Added two more mods over the weekend. Now for you novice farklers--don't try this at home--these mods are definitely high tech and should be attempted only by advanced professionals!!! First, I made a plywood floor for the tub to be used when DOG is my co-pilot. This required a saw, a measuring tape, a pencil, a drill, some glue and 4 screws. Optional equipment--a sander. You can also see in this pic the passenger grab bar that I installed. Just something for the monkee to hang onto. The round rugs I'm using there are 100% wool, pretty thick and cushy, and only cost $10 each at IKEA. I might leave them round, or I might one of these days cut them to size and staple them down. Haven't decided yet. A platform like this let's DOG sit or stand about 3" lower down than on the seat cushion, and also let's him curl up and lie down when he wants to. When camping, I can put the tonneau cover on, leave the "door" unsnapped, and he can use the tub as his crate. The 2nd farkle is a new garage door opener. This one required some Velcro and a wire tie. And, of course, a garage door clicker. This pic also shows the 2-way momentary switch for the electric tilt mounted inside the handguard. I used a steel bracket I found in my garage and some 3M double-sided foam tape. The switch and the waterproof cover I got on eBay. The location is very handy for the index finger. I don't constantly change the tilt, but like for instance this weekend I did a little 150-mile round trip to Woodinville to buy some wine, and I probably adjusted the tilt 6 or 7 times. The amount of tilt I like on the superslab (I-5) is definitely not what I want on something like the high-crowned Carnation Farm Road. You can also see in this pic a small rocker switch installed above the light switch on the left grip. That's the switch that turns the off-road LED's on and off.
Its a very niuce rig.But I'm wondering why there is no front mount.After last summers fun.I'm now quite happy with my rig I've broke just about evrything Jay built.The steerimg mod works great,I bought a heel-toe shifter from them,works good.But I am putting on a VW steering dampner on later this summer.I have a small low speed wobble on my rig.Stroker is building me a bracket to mount the dampner.Drone you did a hell of a job rebuilding your rig my congrates.May the hacking gods smile on you good luck this summer and ride the hell out of it,thats what I'm doing right now....
