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2018 Honda Africa Twin w/DCT, and Ural steel tub/chassis sidecar rig...99.99% finished

FlyingMonkeys · 2026-05-13T23:04:18Z

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...

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Last Post by sheath 3 weeks ago

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FlyingMonkeys

(@miles-ladue)

Posts: 1608

Famed Member

Topic starter

Posted by: @scott-h

↑

Having been the proud owner of a Ural (for two whole weeks), i have to write he has a pretty cool Gear Up rig there with some great mods.

That wrote, the step up to an Africa Twin Custom Built Adventure Rig by C & M Fabrication Specialists must have him giddy with excitement. 😎

Scott, I have to admit that the buyer's 2021 Ural Gear Up, named the Sonoran Slowpoke, was actually pretty well kitted out.

He changed the oil and filter whilst here, and tried to adjust his valves, but.....less than 2,000 miles ago he had a new flywheel installed, and when the installer did the work they did not clearly mark the location of TDC on the flywheel, typically with a white or yellow painted mark, so it is easier to SEE the TDC mark, so....we turned this engine over 314 times, slowly, looking for a distinct TDC mark, and not being able to clearly discern where the TDC mark was, he had to give up on adjusting his valves.

A "professional" mechanic would have clearly marked that flywheel, prior to installation, so that it would be easy to see the TDC mark.

What kind of motorcycle has to have the flywheel replace in less than 10,000 miles......oh, that's right...a URAL.

It's certainly not a Honda

The "yellow" smiley face is just for Scott, as he loves yellow.

This post was modified 4 weeks ago by FlyingMonkeys

Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort

Posted : May 25, 2026 8:39 am

sheath reacted

FlyingMonkeys

(@miles-ladue)

Posts: 1608

Famed Member

Topic starter

Finished it up early this morning by installing the 2nd RotoPax fuel canister... onto the left rear side of the Ural steel tub.

These RotoPax fuel canisters are both 2.2 gallons capacity...each...and I only fill them with exactly 2 gallons, so room for expansion.

With the almost 5 gallons capacity of the bike fuel tank, that gives a usable capacity of 8.5 gallons, and still have something left in the tank.

These RotoPax fuel canisters also LOCK in place, simply as a deterant for nefarious fuel thieves

Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort

Posted : May 25, 2026 12:13 pm

sheath, Thane Lewis, Brstr and 1 people reacted

Brstr

(@brstr)

Posts: 600

Noble Member

8.5 Gee here we goer's equals 38.64176 leekers.

Useful.

Overall a rig to be proud of.

Nicely done Miles.

Posted : May 25, 2026 5:50 pm

sheath, Thane Lewis and FlyingMonkeys reacted

FlyingMonkeys

(@miles-ladue)

Posts: 1608

Famed Member

Topic starter

As the saying goes... Elvis has left the building.

Or, in this case, the Africa Twin sidecar rig has left my ranch, and now on its way back to Chuck's shop.

The new owner will collect it in about 3 weeks.

Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort

Posted : May 28, 2026 2:22 pm

sheath, MJ, Cory Kaseman and 4 people reacted

Brstr

(@brstr)

Posts: 600

Noble Member

It wasn't easy come easy go.

Posted : May 28, 2026 7:58 pm

sheath, FlyingMonkeys, Thane Lewis and 1 people reacted

Cory Kaseman

(@ckaseman)

Posts: 18

Trusted Member

Miles, I just want to take a moment to thank you again for this rig. I’m really looking forward to riding the absolute hell out of it, through the other 40 states I have planned for this year, and to Alaska next year. I’m also going to try and hit all of the BDRs and the TAT at some point.

If anyone ever has the opportunity to buy a rig from Miles, rest assured that you will be getting nothing but the best. He went through the damn thing with a fine comb and a microscope. Every single nut, bolt, wire, plug, etc., was checked, dressed, capped off and put in order. It looked like it just rolled out of a factory.

This post was modified 3 weeks ago by Cory Kaseman

Posted : May 29, 2026 5:10 pm

BannerGuy, Ben Franklin, sheath and 7 people reacted