Before I hand this rig off to the new owner, as he will shortly be on his way West, then North, from Arid Zona to the Great Pacific Northwest, I wanted to share a myriad of pictures of the rig, now that it is 99.99 & finished....as far as my work goes. The ONE remaining thing I have left to do to this rig is mount the 2nd RotoPax 2.2 gallon fuel canister, and the mounting location will need to have input from the buyer. Once he is here, sees the rig, makes a decision as to exactly where he wants the 2nd RotoPax 2.2 gallon fuel canister to be mounted, then it will take me less than 30 minutes, and my work will then be 100% done.
There are a LOT of pictures....make sure you hit the bathroom first, grab a cuppa...maybe a few Stroopwaffles, and enjoy the views.
As a "short" explanation, for the uninformed...I purchased this 2018 Honda Africa Twin w/DCT trans from my local dealer, as a used bike, that had been ridden extensively throughout most of South America, and my intent was to build a rig that could handle attacking Alaska. Whilst I have been up to and throughout Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories many times, I wanted to do it a few more time, but now on a sidecar rig, and one that was BUILT to withstand the weather and terrain up there.
As many of us know, health gets in the way, at the most inopportune times, so....I put this rig up for sale, and several people jumped to buy it.
A lot of the fabrication was done by Chuck @54vintage, as he builds the structural parts, the Leading Link, the sidecar mounts, the bike subframe, etc.
After that, it came to my shop, wherein I did all the wiring on the bike and sidecar, and all the lighting on the sidecar...then...I set about making every finite inch of this rig correct, true, and as solid is as humanly possible.
Fortunately, this 2018 Africa twin does not have the CanBus system on it, so wiring to the bike was relatively easy using all connectors and harnesses from Eastern beaver, so the OEM wiring harness from Honda is 100% intact. All the lighting on the sidecar are all HyperLites, so all are LED lights, as are all the lights on the bike, all LED lights. I went over and above in how I did the wiring, and all connectors for these lights, running a 5 stand 18 gauge wire loom from the bike, all around the sidecar, and all in ONE continuous harness, with no breaks in the 5 strands of 18 gauge wires.
Lastly, take a look at every exposed nut or bolt, and see the rubber caps I put on every nut or bolt that I could...on the bike and on the sidecar. I plugged up every hole that WAS on the Ural steel tub, and on the Ural steel fender, as I wanted NO open holes anywhere. I wanted no exposed threads, so that If/WHEN the new owner had a need to touch a bolt or nut, he could simply twist off the rubber caps on any bolt or nut, and find clean threads that had not been corroded or damaged.
Enough talking, let's see the pictures...
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
I agree with Bruce, and Scott and MJ...there are never enough pictures, so let's continue...
You will notice that the mounted 2.2 gallon RotoPax fuel canister on the right rear side of the Ural steel tub does NOT hang lower than the steel tub or tubed chassis.
AND, both of the 2.2 Gallon RotoPax fuel canisters can LOCK in place, so no one can steal you aux fuel...yes YOU, you KTM pilots that are always running out of fuel.
Notice that even the bike rear axle, that typically has a hole all the way through it, is plugged on both ends with rubber plugs, to avoid water penetration creating rust inside the axle.
Yes, some of us are that OCD, or....in alphabetical order...CDO.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
There are NO lights, or wiring for lights going out to, and attached to the sidecar FENDER. This was done on purpose.
IMO, a serious off-road sidecar rig should never have wiring and/or lights out to the sidecar fender, because that is the most vulnerable part of the rig, when traversing rocky terrain, through trees, through bushes, escaping the long arms of an attacking Grizzly Bear.
I wanted this sidecar fender to be stout, mounted as firmly as possible, as we have seen...far too often...sidecar rigs with their fender dangling due to poor mounts, bad welds, etc.
ALL lighting on this sidecar is attached to the Ural steel tub body, with as little of actual WIRE outside the steel tub, and 99% of the wiring is INSIDE the steel tub.
This bike, with a new Russell Day Long seat...with new Electronic version of the ScottOiler...with a Garmin Zumo 365 GPS, with Cyclops driving lights, and...ALL 3 newly added shocks (2 on the new Leading Link front end, and 1 on the new sidecar) are all 2WIN shocks, fully adjustable. The bike's rear shock has a RaceTech HD spring.
I have test piloted (see Bruce, I used "piloted", as you Aussies request)...this rig to 90 mph, and it tracks straight and true.
There is NO brake at all on the Warp 9 sidecar wheel. Yes this rig stops straight, with very good brakes.
Finally, I knew I needed to add weight to the Ural tub, and have tested it with 90 lbs of added weight, then 240 lbs, then down to 150 lbs of added weight. It really liked the 240 lbs of added weight in the tub....3 sand tubes of 50 lbs each, and 3 concrete blocks of 30 lbs each.
Engine on this bike has more than enough power to scare the heck out of you, so the added weight did not tame this beast.
Oh, once the buyer comes up here in his Ural Gear-Up rig to see his new purchase...we are handing this back to Chuck @54vintage to fabricate a Locking Lid for the Ural steel tub, so all the owners personal belongings will be safe.
QUESTIONS ?????
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort