Got the new issue of the Sidecarist and read it in about a half hour. The travel stories are interesting but how about some "How I made my own mounts/subframe/rig hookup or something for us gearheads? I am always interested to see how someone else approched his/ her hookup problems. I think you can always learn something new by seeing how someone else approched their rig's setup. Does anyone else feel this way, or in this age of let the "experts" do the job do most folks farm it out? I have always felt knowing more about the "nuts&bolts end of it" makes for a better more informed sidecarist. So what do you think?? HD Hank
HD Hank - The magazine publishes items sent in by the readers. If someone wrote such an article it would be published. My suggestion to help you is to go to the beginning of this website and click on the books area. This lists "back issues of The Sidecarist". When you click on this you'll have access to decades of the magazine and with a bit more searching will find many articles on the subject. Additionally, old entries in this forum will have descriptions on what people have done in their particular situations.
Hope this helps.
HANK,
I agree that it is beneficial for all sidecarists to learn what does what as far as setup goes. The so called experts may hit a setup pretty close if they do the initial setup but that DOES NOT mean it cannot be improved upon. To be able to understand setup even if just enough to tweak a rig here and there (and get back to the starting point if necesary) is a good thing.
Excellent post about the asrchives! 🙂
Gotta' agree that The Sidecarist's content is what you make of it... How's about writing an article, Hank, and getting the ball rollin'?
I bought my rig "ready made" (and already well used!) but wanted to see something about winter riding, so wrote a short article for a regional event here in WA State - kinda' sharing the wealth, so to speak.
I think you're right - you can learn by comparing different technique and processes, but it takes some effort to write a comprehensive article; and some of "the 'experts'" might not have the time to develop a write-up AND sustain their work:quality-of-life ratio. There's LOT's of stuff already out there, in the internet, by these same folk.
Try these:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56 (HACKS)
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/SCT/
http://www.vimeo.com/997615?pg=embed&sec=997615
http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/rigsale.htm
Only one back issue there, unless I was doing something wrong!
A list of articles, like an index, would be helpful, then - if somebody was interested in a particular issue, they could order it.
Searching the forum, though, is always a good idea!
Currently the back issues of The Sidecarist are not available on line. The Board has been discussing ways to establish a "members only area" here. One thing we would like to have in the members only area would be all of the back issues. We have the web space available and have been actively looking for some web help to get the ball rolling. I'm glad that others think it is a good idea too.
I think it would be a good 'value added' as there are probably some technical articles which us newer members would like, as well as browsing other folks trip reports to help plan for rallies and such.
Sorry though - no web page expertise here!
Hello Tony,
You say :>I think you're right - you can learn by comparing different >technique and processes, but it takes some effort to write a comprehensive >article; and some of "the 'experts'" might not have the time to develop a >write-up AND sustain their work:quality-of-life ratio. There's LOT's of >stuff already out there, in the internet, by these same folk.
May I say that I myself rebuilt machinery for years until I hurt my back too bad. All these years I had the idea to make up comprehensive "How to do- articles" (example rebuild and adjust mills, lathes, steel band saws...because most things come down to fairly common basics although there is a vast amount of different types on the market.
Well once I hit myself on the type board and made a booklet of 35 pages about "Maintenance and Philosophy". I have no Idea how many hundreds of hours it took and the best of all wives (nor myself) never got satisfied with the result ("you cannot hand that over to serious people - you'll loose your clients" => upps, it seems she was right with the last one - many people I handed it over to never came back as clients and the vast majority never read more then 5 pages.)
So what I try to say is its a hard work to make up a technical book, you need to have many additional skills that surpass your mechanical knowledge for to make up a readable book. To make up a book that will bring you income is damn low the change.(would at most become a one timer effort like "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance") And most of all you have to work to feed your family. So most who have the mechanical skills prefer to work, because that's where they make their living with. Those who have the writing ability earn their money with other kind of books like: those foolish "How to become rich in 10 days" that you buy a dozen for a buck at the supermarket"(and each new one more senseless then the first ones)
And those few like the knowledgeable men who wrote those books about rig riding in the download section of our Forum possibly never earned much more then a warm "thank you" from all us for thousands of hard working hours. (That they possibly would have preferred to ride themselves.)
What I definitely am sure of is that they will have a very big sense of satisfaction when they come(came) close to the end of their lives, and each time they see riding people in a safe manner.
That were my 2 cent worth just 2 cent.
...
If somebody likes I have the text "Maintenance and Philosophy" available in german and spanish... just hit me an email to: peter.sven@gmail.com
Best regards
Sven Peter
