Hey. Few weeks spent on repairing my house and trekking in mountains.
And today - I have just finished mounting other rig. Intruder 1400 with Sputnik sidecar. About a hour ago I was finishing last measurements and adjustments.
Yesterday I did some frame tunning to have it muuuch more rigid. Now the frame doesn't "bounce and flex" in turns or with fully loaded trailer. Doesn't do shimmy with heavy load. Because I earned some extra money, recently I have bought 2-piston Brembo brake with brake pump and cable from crashed Yamaha Skyline. Now my front brake really works and is suitable for sidecar.
Whole rear part of frame is now a kind of "cage", so now rear shoch absorbers don't bend frame in turns.
Back swingarm will be reinforced, but even now it's really oversized.
I will post some pix as soon as i find my card reader.
Hello Igor,
enjoy it soon Altweibersommer will come.
It must be a strange feeling working on a 1400ccm and go home to work on 125ccm.But never get impressed. You will be able to pass through the snow where the 1400ccm will not even leave the garage...
Sven
Working on 1400cc and then returning to my 125cc isn't depressing for me. I like small machines. This work was didactic.
My 125cc will be snow machine. With 3 pcs of Heidenau K41 tires and good gear everything is possible.
Haidenau is for me CNC equipment.
My first vacation with my MZ rig was new year in Bergen, Norway.
Skol
Nasdarovje
You will enjoy it and I cannot even imagine how the dogs will enjoy it.
Spikes are fabulous!!!!
Make yourself some snow/mud chains!
Sven
Peter Pan - 8/9/2011 11:53 PM
Spikes are fabulous!!!!
Can you explain?
Frame reinforcing is finished. Now I must make new rear brake pedal. Then paint and mount the bike back.
Some small subframe on sidecar, and will be mounted between passenger's and driver's peg holes. Photos should explain whole idea. (grrr. where is my card reader?)
Spikes = small hardened pines shot into the tire knobs look like stubby nail heads. Forbidden in Germany:
How I know.
05.01.1987 Kiel harbour's custoums officer:
"with spikes you will not enter into Germany!"
Try to find bike tires on first working day in January...
I got a wrong size back tire but none for the front. so I had to pull out each spike from the front tire at -5°C with an unisolated plier from the MZ's stock tool box.
The card reader will apear when you bought a new one....Murphey's law
Good luck
Sven
Oh, that spikes. In Poland spiked tires are forbidden too. I wonder if it's possible to modify car tire-chains.
just search in the achives here. there is an excellent description for how to make fast assembly chain.
UPDATE. Frame reinforcing almost ready:
http://grzegorski.net/wiki/doku.php?id=en:moto:k125-rama
Hello Igor,
allthough I am not a friend of welding onto a bike's frame. I admit you had a very good idea in closing the frame by a lower detachable double loop.
My experience with the MZ and Jawa acourding to the breaks is following. Mixing systems or styles is a pain.
Mixing hydraulic and mechanic drum breaks in the MZ was including dangerous.
Mixing bar pull and cable pull will result in differences in force and differences in travel gap.
So I am very happy with the Jawa design where both brakes ar drums and both are governed by cable. that way both have simmular gap and force transmition.
In one ocasion this simple and neat design saved my bones.
I was able in a hard lefty t crossing in upcoming trafic and with lifted backwheel to govern the brakes that well that I could circle myself through a "mouse hole" into a side street. (Mainstreet traffic comming, side street traffic waiting and ditch with a deep broken road edge made by the rain)
So my proposal is to make both back brakes with flexible cable.
Take care the day you try to enter Germany, you might meet a custoums or traffic police officer with such bad humor, as I met the day I came back from Norway.
Best wishes
Sven
I have thought about making both rear drums puled by flexible cable and the latest idea was mixing bar pull and cable pull using kind of "balancer". If it does a matter that much, I can mount cable to both swingarms using mounts dedicated for Junak or other heavier motorcycle popular in Poland. Thanks for writing about your experience.
Now everything is ready for painting and for making a subframe and sidecar.
Edit (after some thinking): What if sidecar's brake is weaker than motorcycle's rear brake? Isn't it better than sidecar without brake? Instead of balancing both brakes (rear and side) I would simply get the side brake weaker. My sicecar will have wheel from WSK that has weaker brake than my bike's rear one. Is it a big problem?
A weak sidecar break is much safer then a grippy one.
In order to get less force on the sidecar break the Jawa has the hook for the sidecar break lower on the pedal lever.
I will try to make some photos.
Anyhow later depending on the load you readjust frequently on the road!
Worst thing I had to hastle with, was that the agency had looped once the sidecar break's cable wrong and in each strong left bend suddenly the sidecar breaked of its own just because of the force diving in the sidecar wheel.
I tell you that gives you sudden adrenaline rises!!!!
Sven
http://sidecar.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=5387&posts=16&highlight=snow%20chain&highlightmode=1#M31544
http://adventuresidecar.com/hackdchains.htm
so far for the chains. I myself more then once was allready happy with just plain rope wraped arround the back tire.
But you need space betweeen swing chain and tire.
Since friday I have a source for 0.2" thick steel ropes 😀 Some company in my neighbourhood produces and services thunder grounding systems. They always throw out short fragments of roped removed from clients' installatons ("short" for them means 2 meters or so). But they can give ropes to me as I want, it doesn't matter for them where used ropes go.
It took long time but I had to do many things more important than building a sidecar.
Finally I did my own sidecar 😀 It runs, can carry some loads and is ready for cosmetic finishing.
http://grzegorski.net/wiki/doku.php?id=en:moto:sidecar_k125&#building_a_sidehack (some photos still sit in my camera's memory card)
Today i mounted it to bike, did some offroad (veeery weak road) tests and made some photos. Tomorrow I will borrow a card reader and post these pics. At the time only mechanical side is ready. Todo: mudguard, painting, some floor/pane. Lights are ready, I will put cables after painting. The last mod will be a sidewheel brake puller and pedal, as soon as my local motorcycle part seller gets proper pulling cable.
Rig runs properly on bumpy road, can do tight left turns. Didn't test it on asphalt yet. With few motorcycle wheels as a ballast I colud drive without "ejecting" effect on every bump that sidewheel meets. After few regulations I have ideal toe-in, lean-out and shock absorbers position. Eventually I will make slightly smaller lead-in (now is 200mm with 1290mm wheelbase).
Few days ago I got wheel, taillight and turn lights from identical bike like mine (engine has died), so whole rig can look as it be original "Romet sidecar" for Romet K125.
HAPPY like a child with 6-pound chocolate 😀
And homemade displays panel:
