Saluki Siderider

I got one too, though I dont use it anymore. It was handy to shut the kid's inside knowing that they could fall asleep safely when I went on rallies. The thing to do with Saluki's is to put them on a Watsonian chassis, this lower's the sidecar and get's rid of that horrible front fitting point which you have to keep an eye on cause they come loose on the bonded bit to the sidecar body. Also when it's on a chassis you can cut away the side piece's inside the body and make alot more room. You can then widen the roof opening and make it a side by side rider. Most of all have fun with it, I did with mine.
Safe riding Karl

Karl,Thanks for that. I guess your rig had the Watsonian chassis then. Do you have any pictures of this mod, fittings etc? Also of the chop of the inside?

Saddo - I never got round to doing it, but I went to see one that had been done on a Goldwing 1100 and it looked very smart. It was lower and a heck of alot more room inside.With there being no frame the side's form part of the structual strength, but when it's on a frame you can cut them out and widen the opening door.

Watch that front fitting, it had a reputation for comeing loose cause it's only bonded into the glassfibre. You start to see small crack's around the fitting. Another reason for putting it on a frame (there was one on flee-bay for not much money, frame that is).
Safe riding Karl

Karl,My front mount is directly on to the horizontal tube running through the wheelarch and in to the nose of the car. I don't know if this is the usual way or not. I have noticed that there are two (what look like) unused mounting holes which have a tube running back from them to the main horizontal mount. Are these the bits that give trouble or is it the whole horizontal tube that works loose?

Saddo - I cant visulize what you're meaning by 2 unused hole's? Mine had as you say a horizontal bar that ran the length of the sidecar and on this was welded the attachment bar's for fitting the strut's. If memory serve's me right, the front has a horizontal bar welded onto this for the top fitting and then it has a vertical bar that is both welded to the main bar and bonded into the sidecar, this was for the bottom fitting. It was at these front point's of bonding that had the trouble of comeing loose.

My memory is clouded now as it's been some year's since I had it on the bike and the sidecar is laid-up at someone else's house and is in a sorry state due to his kid's reeking havoc to it.

I hasten to add that I never had this problem and I put some mile's on it, but it was alway's in the back of my mind.
Safe riding Karl

Saddo - Ive looked at you're photo's and in the 2nd one, are the 2 lighter red circles where the hole's were? If so then this has been modified cause this is where the top horizontal bar was welded onto the main bar. I also think you have the early model as mine had the front light's rescesed into the front.

I'll have to go and have a look at mine tomorrow. But I'm almost sure you're front fitting point has been modified.
Safe riding Karl

Karl,I've posted a couple of photos in my album showing a close-up of the front mount. As you can see the two raised bosses which are tubed back to the main horizontal tube are unused. A past owner has butchered a hole through the side of the nose and clamped the front top mount directly on to the main horizontal. Nice and strong, but not pretty. I've a lot of fibreglass work to do before she'll look neat. I presume the two bosses are the weak point you are referring to.