Honda Africa Twin-DCT based Cargo sidecar rig build...

FlyingMonkeys · 2025-08-15T20:47:07Z

I'll go ahead and plant this seed, or start this thread, as it will be a 5 to 6 month build, and whilst things have already started rolling along, I will be in Europe for 3 of these upcoming months, however...the build will continue to progress even while I am gone. After seeing Jan @CCjon do his thing, and ride his Red Dog sidecar rig from Houston to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, then down to Key West, Florida, so that he could set the new record for the Eldest rider to complete the Ultimate Coast to Coast, it pushed certain buttons of mine and made me kick it into gear that I needed an Alaska sidecar rig, not to do the UCC from Alaska to Florida, but to simply CLAW my way through most of the roads of Alaska, on a sidecar rig that will be build to handle that kind of terrain, and make it home in one piece. I have been to Alaska many times on 2 wheeled motorcycles, have been up to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, Alaska on 5 separate trips, and four of those were to go from Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, Alaska down to Tierra del Fuego/Ushuaia, Argentina, and back. But those trips were years ago, when I was younger, more fit, and I never stopped to smell the roses, or the grizzly bear scat. Now I want to build a sidecar rig to travel around Alaska, as a Cargo Box style rig, on a bike that can easily do this, whilst I stop to smell a few roses, kick around the grizzly bear scat, and avoid the State Bird...the Mosquito. Whilst Jan Daub was on his record setting ride, I purchased a 2018 Honda Africa Twin DCT that had been sitting on my local dealers showroom floor for close to a year. This bike had been used by a Washington State local, along with his wife's Africa Twin, to ride all around South America for a couple years, until HER bike got butchered by so many different wanna-be mechanics down in South America, that they were forced to abandon her Africa Twin, and had his shipped back to Washington. Lesson learned was....you cannot have wanna-be mechanics use coconut shells and banana peels to fix a Honda Africa Twin. {blue}:scared: This 2018 Africa Twin DCT was gone over by my local Honda dealer, and made certain that everything was in excellent condition, before they put it on the showroom floor, but...because of the mileage on it, and all the added accessories, most buyers shied away from buying this bike, as they either wanted a blank canvas to build themselves, or wanted a bike with a lot less, or no, miles on it. Because I have stared at this bike for the past year, because I know this dealership, and their mechanics/technicians, and because I have pawed this bike myself for the past year, I knew what I was buying. 2018 Honda Africa Twin DCT....loaded with top of the line accessories, even a Garmin Zumo XT GPS and mount, upgraded RaceTech suspension front and rear, Bumot panniers and mounts, Cyclops LED driving lights, Koura throttlemeister, Heated Grips, and on, and on, and on. I just received the Pelican BX255 cargo box that will be used for this build, and already have lined up the Ural cT chassis that will be used. In less than 3 weeks I take the bike down to Russell Day Long seats to have my 19th RDL seat built for me, then on the way home I drop this bike, and the Pelican box off at my metal fabrication expert in Oregon, and he does his "thang" whilst I jet off to Europe for a few months. This completed rig should be done around mid-February, and will be BUILT with the intention of driving it up to the ferry in Bellingham, Washington, taking the Alaska Marine Highway ferry up to Whittier, Alaska, then driving this rig around Alaska, and up to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, and back down to Whittier, for a ferry ride back down to Washington State. Plan is to do this in 2026, 2027, and 2028...then sell it to one of you younger folks....so that you too can see The Last Frontier Having done most of the roads of Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories, I am used to the gravel, the rain, and worst of all, the Calcium Chloride that they lay down to make the roads as slippery and sticky as whale snot. This rig will be built with that in mind, to go where other bikes or sidecar rigs cannot go, to carry-on when others say No Mas, and to clean up easier than most so that 6 months later we are not digging out dried on Calcium Chloride that dries like cement. And yes, Scott, all three wheels will be tubeless, so tubeless tires all around. ALL forward lights will be YELLOW colored LED lights, even the Givi windshield in covered with a YELLOW tint, to protect it. And No, Scott, there will NOT be a sidecar brake on the sidecar. There will be a custom built Leading Link front end on the bike, and...all shocks on the Leading Link and on the sidecar swingarm will be 2Win shocks. Oh, and YES, Scott, I have already installed one of your company's ScottOiler's onto this bike, and it works perfectly, as usual.

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Last Post by sheath 26 minutes ago

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sheath

(@scott-h)

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Simple, clean and tidy appearance. Will be a big help to wash all the grime off when you're back home. Nice ground clearance too. 😎

Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃

Posted : October 26, 2025 1:18 pm

FlyingMonkeys reacted

FlyingMonkeys

(@miles-ladue)

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Posted by: @scott-h

↑

Simple, clean and tidy appearance. Will be a big help to wash all the grime off when you're back home. Nice ground clearance too. 😎

Oh, Scott.....wait 'til you see the finished project. My plans are to wrap the underside with aluminum diamondplate, to keep most of the debris off the upperside.

And, given my experience with the Alaska roads, and their use of Calcium Chloride, I know what to spray the entire bike and sidecar with so that the Calcium Chloride won't stick to 93.14159 % of this rig, and the remaining 6.85841% can easily be washed down.

I am not kidding when I say that "Squatch" will be battle ready for the planned rides.

Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort

Posted : October 26, 2025 3:34 pm

sheath reacted

sheath

(@scott-h)

Posts: 1285

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When I raced in muddy conditions I used Pam cooking spray. Worked great for a single race. Well, except in the state of California where I'm sure it caused cancer. 😉 But that was just simple mud. Not man made ice melting, metal eating, wire corroding Nastiness.

Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃

Posted : October 26, 2025 5:34 pm

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