I've had this idea to build a rig that would travel easily in a smaller Toy Hauler travel trailer. Something smaller, lighter and "zippy". With enough oomph to run 65-ish through the mountain roads, while not being afraid of gentle forest service roads.
Was able to pick up a smoking good deal on a '79 Motorvation Spyder T1, and an almost new Triumph Speed 400. The Spyder is a restoration from a member on ADVRider. Here is the thread where he did all the great work: https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/salvaged-spyder-of-neglect.1663561/ Really excited to pick this up. 🤩
Not sure how this will work out. Please keep your paws crossed for success. The bike is small, and the Spyder is about the max weight and size. But if it does the pairing should look pretty great. Proper design for the setup will be critical. The subframe is going to take some real thought as the Triumph uses a hybrid chassis.
The enticement for the bike is all the reviewers stating it is "... under-geared, with great mid range power." Also the reviewers like the quick easy turn in with the 17" wheels. The sidecar was a choice between this Spyder or a California Friendship 1. The CF-1 is about 40lbs lighter, and may have been an easier mating. But the Spyder is sexy, with the link suspension and a slightly smaller body that matches the size off the bike better.
There is a whole lot that has to be done to both, and the goal is to be done by next spring.
Info on the Motorvation Sidecar company including the Spyder T1: https://florida-sidecar-products.com/pages/motorvation-sidecar-history
Thought this was a pretty balanced review of the bike:
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
OK I see what was said about gearing.
Sidecar perfect 1st gear?
Please disregard my comments about the 660 triple.
If a 125cc Honda can pull anything in Asia then a 400cc trailer queen should be a great ride.
I'm in. Will there be cookies and tea, and a bathroom break occasionally ?
Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort
OK I see what was said about gearing.
Sidecar perfect 1st gear?
Please disregard my comments about the 660 triple.
If a 125cc Honda can pull anything in Asia then a 400cc trailer queen should be a great ride.
I like your comment about a 660 triple. That would be a very cool and fitting combination. As would the Royal Enfield Shotgun 650. 🤩
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
I'm in. Will there be cookies and tea, and a bathroom break occasionally ?
Definitely cookies and tea. Along with Arnold Palmers and Doritos (during the engineering phase).
Going to start with removing the onboard fuel tank filller neck nacelle. It appears that Motorvation built the onboard fuel tank into the fiberglass. They had issues with leaking, and by the time this rig was built had decided to block off the filler (boat style aluminum flip cap), so that customers would not try and fill the tanks.
I'm going to cut the top off the tank, and use that area for the air pump and an auxiliary battery. There is no need for the nacelle, and would clean up that side of the tub.
Fuel Filler Nacelle that will be removed:
Inside of the nacelle:
Fuel tank built into the floor of the tub:
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Is audience participation allowed?
Ya know....that fuel tank filler opening would be great as a....cup holder....beer can holder....umbrella holder....bag of black licorice whips holder.
I'll bet we could come up with 3,141,592.6 things that could be placed in that hole.
Ahem, the .6 item was a day old pretzel that I had laying around, but almost half of it was eaten, so only .6 was left.
Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort
Is audience participation allowed?
Ya know....that fuel tank filler opening would be great as a....cup holder....beer can holder....umbrella holder....bag of black licorice whips holder.
I'll bet we could come up with 3,141,592.6 things that could be placed in that hole.
Ahem, the .6 item was a day old pretzel that I had laying around, but almost half of it was eaten, so only .6 was left.
Audience participation is sincerely appreciated! 🍻
I was thinking of getting a new boat fuel cap, then cap off the bottom. Put one of those fake snakes with the spring inside, like this:
But it would probably be me who had a heart attack. lol
You've given me an idea that has merit though. Maybe install an air coupler under the cap, to fill tires, etc.. Since there will be an air compressor in the old fuel tank, it would be pretty easy to do. Much easier than removing the nacelle, and the required fiberglass & body work to smooth things out.
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Looks like fun, to me!
I consider a smaller chair for my little 535 Virago, from time to time. It is proving to be reliable for the occasional use that it gets, so maybe will happen when I run out of things to work on with Black Betty (that sweet girl.)
Looks like fun, to me!
I consider a smaller chair for my little 535 Virago, from time to time. It is proving to be reliable for the occasional use that it gets, so maybe will happen when I run out of things to work on with Black Betty (that sweet girl.)
That would make a sexy looking tug for the right sidecar. 🤩
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Went out for a good ride on Speedy. What a hoot. The more I ride it the more in agreement I am with the video review posted above.
Feeling more hopeful Speedy will meet the 65 mph back roads cruise goal.
Tomorrow will be a good day to see if the odometer is accurate. The speedometer is about 10% optimistic. Not sure how that plays into all the fuel mileage calculations the dash will display. So that is the goal to find out.
Was having so much fun I forgot to stop for pictures. 😯 Found a great use for the Wolfman Tail bag. Also moved the Ram phone mount from SYZ to Speedy. Will use the Garmin GPS for SYZ, and the phone for GPS on Speedy (which has a USB-C charging port next to the key switch 😎 ). Keep things less cluttered for both.
Picture of the tail bag and phone mount on Speedy:
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Today's big ride for the ultimate lunch comprised of a Grilled Cheese sandwich and soup. All up about 6 hours, and a bit over 225 miles.
The route to Heber Valley Artisan Cheese factory was pretty much all country roads, and SR-35 over the mountains (about 9K' elevation). Back home was SR191 and UT40. So speeds going out was in the 50-60mph range, where coming back it was pretty much all 65mph speed limit. No real winds to speak of.
Heber Artisan Cheese is in a little town called Midway. About 30 minutes south of Park City. To make the dairy profitable enough they opened a grill and ice cream parlor in the store where they also sell other local goods, like jams, trinkets, etc.. Absolutely the best Grilled Cheese and Soups around. 🤩 They also serve their own made ice cream of different flavors. Well worth a 6 hour ride. 👍
This is the view of the Wasatch Back I enjoyed while stopped for lunch. The view over the picnic table is aimed towards SLC. There is a beautiful pass, that will get covered later this summer. The second picture is aimed more towards Draper, and has another really beautiful pass, that will also get traversed later this summer.
Coming up SR 35, the road signs kept saying the pass was closed. I passed quite a few big plows that were coming down the mountain. Road was in great shape. Just warm enough that there was minimal ice at the top of the pass. I'm guessing they just got it opened up, as there were only a couple of other vehicles on the route.
That was all the pictures I managed to take. Was a great trip, that I was lucky to make this early in the spring. Very much enjoyed the ride on Speedy. The more I ride this bike, the better I like it. Definitely a pleasant surprise. 😊
The odometer is 4% optimistic. Hand figuring the gas mileage, with a correction for the 4% error of the odometer, on the trip out was 89.61mpg. On the trip back it was 68mpg. That is crazy fuel mileage. Even cut in half with the addition of the Spyder sidecar it would be pretty respectable.
Next trip I plan to duplicate with SYZ just to get a feeling for the difference between a full sized rig, and a pint sized "wanna-be".
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Friday Fun:
Roosevelt, UT to Flaming Gorge Dam, with a stop for lunch at the Flaming Gorge Resort. 
First stop, the Megatropolis of Lapoint, UT. It seems people drive in to the bus stop, and then never come back...
I've been struggling to get the industrial foam earplugs to seal correctly. Already have tinitus, and don't want it to get any worse, so I stopped at the Harley dealership in Vernal (Beers Harley Davidson) and bought a set of Motosafe earplugs. I like these. Easy to get a good seal. Although not as quiet as the foamies when they seal. But quiet enough that it doesn't seem to negatively impact what is left of my hearing.
With hearing protection handled, it was time to head up the dinosaur highway to Flaming Gorge. This area is both a budding geologist's, and a budding paleontologists dream land.
Looking south back into the eastern area of the Uinta Basin.
A "Right turn Clyde" from 191 onto 44 drops down to the Flaming Gorge Dam. This road was just repaved last year, and is a pretty ride with lots of twisties.
Reservoir is pretty full, and the water is crystal clear. They pull a lot of beautiful trout out of this reservoir. I've seen some big German Browns come out amongst other species. Cold water means good, firm, lean meat.
People fish the outlet side of the dam, and there is a nice paved road all the way to the bottom where there is a boat launch for little boats.
If you are ever headed west on I-80 between Laramie and Evanston, a great diversion would be to catch 191 south. Turn right at Dutch John, to go over the dam. Keep on going on 44, and stop for a meal at the Flaming Gorge Resort. Then carry on to Manila before turning left on 43 and heading back up to I-80. It's a big detour, but worth the effort.
Since I was near the resort at lunch time, it seemed appropriate to order up a Utah Club Sandwich and an Arnold Palmer in a frosted mug.
That was my Friday ride. Next week I plan to do a bigger ride up through this area. Stay tuned!
In the mean time I hope you all enjoy an epic weekend of rides. 
Almost forgot; Just a tad shy of 65mpg with about 3,000' climb/descend. Oh, yeah! 
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Meanwhill, back in the Spyder Den...
It's back to work on the Spyder of Joy. Originally this unit was equipped with an auxiliary fuel tank in the trunk. But as the previous owner (elmontanero on ADVRider) mentioned in a previous post on his restoration thread, it was rusted out at the bottom.
That works perfect for me, because I'd rather have a rotopax style can. Elmontanero had the same thought, which gives extra confidence in the idea.
Here is how a 1.5 gallon Kolpin fuel container looks in the trunk. In practice it won't be able to sit quite that low because of the way the trunk slopes up. But it won't have to be much higher up.
One of the many very cool things elmontanero did during the restoration was to create a really solid seat back. He used T-nuts for fastening to the back wall of the trunk.
The back wall is very thin, and most likely would not support the Rotopax bracket. But... thanks to that really solid seat back plate, I can use T-nuts in it to through-bolt the Rotopax mounting plate. Sandwiching the trunk wall.
Fuel can Looks to be about the same thickness, but smaller height and width, than the stock tank. Perfect!
He strategically placed the seat back mounting T-nuts through the reinforced edges of the trunk backplate. A nice set of fender washers inside the trunk area for the seat back mounting bolts will supply plenty of support.
I'll just need to carefully disassemble and reassemble the seat foam/cover.
Not sure if the trunk will get a "flocking" type material sprayed on, or a thin coat of bedliner. Trying to keep the weight down as much as possible, but with a quality finished look.
More to come...
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Scott, if you use a spray on bed liner in the trunk, use a white, or light gray, so the trunk is not so dark inside.
Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort
