well... i just watched the video to install the chain and i'm reminded of one big fact... the last time i LIVED in "snow" country, i was 9 years old...
Thanks Drone! I'll get reading so I don't clutter your thread up. Thanks for taking the time to put that together for me
Nice rig! I'm doing research on building a new rig with a GSA as the tug (I have yet to buy the new GSA or sidecar). Is the wheel on your sidecar the former rear wheel on the tug? The reason I'm asking is like my Ural I would like to have a spare that I can use on the tug & the sidecar. I will be going with with a car tire on my tug and I like the looks of the centerline wheel, so the question is; if I bought 3 centerlines would they be interchangeable?
We are now making all of our car wheel convertions for the R1100/1150 and 1200GS 5 lug and have a nicer looking wheel for them. They will interchange and as a bonus, The hub on the sidecar has a second bolt pattern that the stock BMW R1200GS rear wheel will fit. As the GS rear wheel has a different off set we have made our fender bolt on from one side so a person can space the fender over the 1/2 inch or so required to run the GS rear wheel instead of the car tire. The nice thing about this car wheel set up is that what we are doing is bolting an adapter to the rear of the bike that then you bolt on a standard off the shelf wheel and tire on it. So if you damage a rim some time, all you need do is buy another in expensive wheel. Another advantage to building it this way is that when you build a custom wheel for the bike for an automotive tire, Car tire shops do not want to mount the tire as it is a motorcycle wheel and motorcycle shops do not want to mount the tire as it is an automotive tire, with our set up, unbolt the wheel and take it to an automotive tire shop. They need not know it is going on a bike. We now make a different rear rack as an option, our "heavy" duty rack is strong enough to carry a spare tire on should you want as it is supported on the body and not the trunk lid. My own Demo bike will be in Hood River this weekend being used by Adventure sidecar for the sidecar class. It may not have the automotive wheels on it as we are still building the rig and running out of time. The bike is a 2006 R1200GSA with our new wider version of the M72D sidecar the M72DX. These are on sale as a package deal which can be seen on our home page www.mysidecar.com If you wanted us to build your GS rig for you, our local dealer South Sound BMW http://www.southsoundbmw.com/ will sell you the bike and deliver it to us to mount a sidecar to. We just did an F800GS a little while back that they delivered new to us. Jay G DMC sidecars www.dmcsidecars.com 866-638-1793
The trunk latch is a bit inadequate for the wheel & tire. The rack seems to be holding up just fine. I did install much larger washers under the lid and under the feet of the rack to spread out the load somewhat. Plus I have a strap that runs from the rack to the Harley turn signal to hold it down. The new heavy duty rack looks pretty substantial. I like the way it's supported on the sides of the car. I've been thinking about a spare wheel mount. Maybe a piece of flat steel welded on the rack that has threaded holes to secure long bolts to hold down the spare wheel.
We are out about 7 weeks right now on these. Our Demo bike a 2006 R1200GSA will be ridable today however it will not have the racks, bumper or automotive wheel on the rear until next week. It is for sale $27,000 You could fly up or take the train and take the demo bike out for a test ride as you have ridden sidecar before, this way you will get an idea of what all you are getting and we can work out any specifics you may need or want on your sidecar. Or of course you could buy the demo rig in which case I will be checking the flea market for another GS (thank you Mark for selling me this bike in the flea market) if you do buy a bike local to us, we may be able to deliver it to you as we have to make a run some time in July to pick up some bikes, at this point we are only going as far south as central California. There are some sales tax advantages to us delivering the bike. If you were to ride up and have us install as sidecar figure on 2-3 days, of course this is after the 7 week lead time. If you want a sidecar for this summer and know that you are going with an R1200GS you could order the sidecar now, 2 weeks before it is time to install the sidecar we will need to know the year of the bike as 2005 bikes take different mounts then 2006 and up. 2 week ahead of time we will also need to know the color of the bike if you are going to have us paint it otherwise ordering now gets your sidecar in the que to be built. Jay G DMC sidecars www.dmcsidecars.com 866-638-1793
Just got back from the Hells Canyon Rally. Pics posted in the Hells Canyon thread HERE. Got some cleanin' up to do--
Hey Elmer! Do you think the Florida guys are going to get their rigs looking like that? Great pictures in Hell's Canyon, Drone. Looks like fun.
I already got nuked by someone in Canberra for not riding the damn thing in the FL shower the first day I got it. Seems that mud and dirt reign big on ADVRIDER. In GSpot if you show a bike that's clean usually a raging debate starts and eventually you forget what the original thread is all about. I didn't ride in the rain the first day had nothing to do really with rain but didn't want to compound my inexperience with wet roads and lousy FL cagers. Ok, I put my stake in the ground and am ready to go to battle: I'm a clean freak on my bikes. I certainly don't mind getting them dirty but I do clean them once back home. Rarely do any cleaning on a trip tho' but I am fanatical about a clean windscreen.
When we came down from the high country on our Day 2 tour, we found ourselves heading back to town on an easy flat gravel road that ran alongside a creek. Good spot for some quick videos. We didn't have a camcorder, so we used our digital cameras. Nothing exciting here, but it's only one minute long if you want to watch. At least the SOUND came out OK! You can't see Kirby, but he's riding shotgun. Hard to judge the speeds by watching, but I can tell from the sound that I'm running around 4-5000rpm in 3rd, so these shots are somewhere around 40mph.
Drone, Friday's ride goes down in the history books as one of my best days ever. Thanks to you, Doug, and Gabe.
Back at ya, BT. Sometimes it's tough to find good riding buddies. I think I lucked out. And when you think about how we met, it really was serendipity. Doug is good people too. BTW, I bought an HD camcorder today. Next time we'll have better quality vids. 720i, 60 frames per second, electronic image stabilization, remote control -- the works!
