Yo, crazy Scott that chose his olde friends over coming to the USCA National Sidecar Rally in Topsham, Maine.....
Those cut open fiberglass holes will still CUT an air hoses, or any rubber hose that goes through it. The fiberglass is very abrasive, kinda like me, when cut like that.
Take a 6" piece of rubber hose....slice it lengthwise, to form a rubber grommet, then glue it in place around the circumference of the cut open fiberglass hole.
In other words, make yourself a Roosevelt, Utah grommet, to protect any rubber hoses that go into or through those fiberglass holes.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
Yo, crazy Scott that chose his olde friends over coming to the USCA National Sidecar Rally in Topsham, Maine.....
Those cut open fiberglass holes will still CUT an air hoses, or any rubber hose that goes through it. The fiberglass is very abrasive, kinda like me, when cut like that.
Take a 6" piece of rubber hose....slice it lengthwise, to form a rubber grommet, then glue it in place around the circumference of the cut open fiberglass hole.
In other words, make yourself a Roosevelt, Utah grommet, to protect any rubber hoses that go into or through those fiberglass holes.
Great idea Miles. 👍 The hole doesn't have a lip, but a sheath could be fashioned and fixed to that opening for sure.
Had an awesome time catching up with my friends. They are super fun couple. We don't get to meet up near enough.
That wrote, following along with the pictures and exploits of you all, the rally sounds like it was as epic as expected. 🍻
Safe travels home Amigo!
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Yo, crazy Scott that chose his olde friends over coming to the USCA National Sidecar Rally in Topsham, Maine.....
Those cut open fiberglass holes will still CUT an air hoses, or any rubber hose that goes through it. The fiberglass is very abrasive, kinda like me, when cut like that.
Take a 6" piece of rubber hose....slice it lengthwise, to form a rubber grommet, then glue it in place around the circumference of the cut open fiberglass hole.
In other words, make yourself a Roosevelt, Utah grommet, to protect any rubber hoses that go into or through those fiberglass holes.
Great idea Miles. 👍 The hole doesn't have a lip, but a sheath could be fashioned and fixed to that opening for sure.
Had an awesome time catching up with my friends. They are super fun couple. We don't get to meet up near enough.
That wrote, following along with the pictures and exploits of you all, the rally sounds like it was as epic as expected. 🍻
Safe travels home Amigo!
We...can read between the lines. "They are a super fun couple" means you had a threesome.
You shall forever and henceforth be known as...the guy that decided to forego attending the National Sidecar Rally, so that you could have a threesome.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
Yo, crazy Scott that chose his olde friends over coming to the USCA National Sidecar Rally in Topsham, Maine.....
Those cut open fiberglass holes will still CUT an air hoses, or any rubber hose that goes through it. The fiberglass is very abrasive, kinda like me, when cut like that.
Take a 6" piece of rubber hose....slice it lengthwise, to form a rubber grommet, then glue it in place around the circumference of the cut open fiberglass hole.
In other words, make yourself a Roosevelt, Utah grommet, to protect any rubber hoses that go into or through those fiberglass holes.
Great idea Miles. 👍 The hole doesn't have a lip, but a sheath could be fashioned and fixed to that opening for sure.
Had an awesome time catching up with my friends. They are super fun couple. We don't get to meet up near enough.
That wrote, following along with the pictures and exploits of you all, the rally sounds like it was as epic as expected. 🍻
Safe travels home Amigo!
We...can read between the lines. "They are a super fun couple" means you had a threesome.
You shall forever and henceforth be known as...the guy that decided to forego attending the National Sidecar Rally, so that you could have a threesome.
🤣 Yep, that was it. 🤣
Hey, I thought we had a gentleman's agreement to warn each other before making extremely humorous posts. Thankfully I read your post before taking a sip of coffee. Hot coffee out the nose is not the way to start a day. 😉
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Decided to take a work break, and go for a ride.
Four Pass Adventurous Ride:
Basic route. About 300 miles, and nine hours of fun. Crossing the Ashley National Forest, and then Wasatch Mountain range twice.
I've covered crossing the Ashley National Forest in earlier posts, so this is mostly about crossing the absolutely stunning Wasatch Mountain Range. Would make an epic ride out of the Salt Lake Valley, or from Park City. For those outside northern Utah, it would be easy to fly in to SLC and rent a bike for a fun weekend.
Heber Valley still has horse and hobby farms, but is quickly getting developed into a suburb for SLC, and for the rich to visit Park City during the ski season. The valley is book-ended by two reservoirs. The south end is Deer Creek reservoir. Great fishing, and water sports.
This view is looking southwest. The mountain in the background is Timpanogos. The ride over the southern pass for this ride goes just in front.
Looking North from the same point as above is the Heber Valley. I lived here for a year, and it was pretty epic due to all the outdoor activities available 24/7/365.
Alpine Loop Scenic Byway is the southern pass. Great resorts, as well as camping. Not sure about RV sites? Lots of hiking, and some great forest service trails through the area. I've done a few riding a Husky FE501. This is more of a narrow park road. Slow riding at 15-20mph speed limit. Great shape though. Stunning scenery.
They have kiosks at each end of this road. Not open today. So not sure if they still charge to use the road.
Lost pressure on the rear brake master cylinder coming over the pass. Decided to stop at the Triumph Dealership in South Sandy, UT to setup an appointment for repair.
https://www.triumphofutah.com/
Service writer is cool. He said that Triumph warranty isn't specific to owner (I'm the second owner). So depending on the failure cause he will work with Triumph warranty.
It goes in this Saturday. Asked him to flush both front and rear brake, as the bike is a year old, in an extreme environment.
Lots of beautiful bikes. I may have to take a test ride while there. 
Then it was off to the Bohemian Microbrewery in Midvale, UT. Great atmosphere, service and food. Worth battling traffic for.
https://www.bohemianbrewery.com/
Had one of their lunch specials. Toasted flatbread with bacon, spinach, tomato, avocado, grated cheese with drizzle of olive oil. Served with a Caesar Salad in the middle of the plate. They didn't have a fresh IPA, so the food was enjoyed with a really good Simpl Session India Munich Pale Lager. Nice hoppy flavor without all the citrus that seem popular these days.
Game 5 of the Stanley Cup third period was pretty exciting entertainment for the lunch break.
Then it was off to Big Cottonwood Canyon. Solitude, Brighton, etc. ski resorts along this route. The climb up the mountain is on very good roads with a 45mph speed limit to make the ride enjoyable.
Starts off in a more desert type canyon, before cresting in a more evergreen/aspen forest.
Once the summit is crested shortly out of Brighton, the road turns into a more park like lane-and-a-half with speed limits in the 15-20mph range. The scenery is so stunning it is worth slowing down to take in the scenery and the fresh smells. Road condition is very good.
This view is looking east into the Heber Valley, shortly after cresting the summit. Again lots of hiking and some fun forest service trails through this area.
Then it was back home through the Ashley NF (covered in an earlier post). Fun, long ride.
This bike is an absolute joy, especially on the really tight mountain roads. I did notice it ran out of steam coming up an 8% grade with a strong headwind (in the 30+mph range). Road speed was 65mph. It handled that at about 75% throttle, but adding throttle did not accelerate.
Recently installed the Brello Solutions throttle tube shims to eliminate the throttle tube play. Makes the throttle feel more premium. Nice enhancement to an already great bike.
https://brellosolutions.us/
Hope you all have plans for some epic rides! 
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Little temporary upholstery work done on the seat.
This was originally a boat seat that the previous owner modified to fit. As it sits in the Spyder the seat back is the original seat bottom of the boat seat. The seat bottom is the original boat seat back.
Shortened the bottom to fit with access to the hatch. Cover is just loosely installed. Sitting in the sidecar, the bottom is pretty comfortable, even though it is short compared to a normal seat. The back needs to have the foam thickness reversed, so there is lower lumbar support and a thinner top for a bit of lean angle.
The next goal is to make a back plate with keyhole slots, so the seat can be quickly swapped to a more Dog friendly setup. Then setup the bottom with a pinned hinge assembly for access underneath the seat.
The colors go well with the bike, and even the geometric design of the cover fits. It will be a good starting point for the local auto upholstery shop to work from.
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Another side project, while I wait for the new welding equipment to get here.
Finally found a flip top cap that fits the nacelle. All the boat versions were slightly too big. Then I started thinking; Built in Southern California... Dune Buggy Cap for the Win!
just sitting in place.
With air coupler stuffed inside to get an idea of how this is going to work. Will need the coupler to pull out so it can be coupled/uncoupled from the hose. Time to find a 3D print shop to make the adapter.
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Quick update:
Bike went to dealership for a rear brake failure that was repaired under warranty. Also had them replace the fork seals (right side started to leak).
Meanwhile, the BMW sidecar brake project is getting close to time for drawing up the lever brackets. I'll draw up the sidecar attachment brackets for Speedy at the same time, then send it all to SendCutSend for fabrication.
I'm going to have to learn a CAD program. SendCutSend doesn't work from lousy drawings on a napkin. Thinking to try OnShape. According to what I've read, and videos I've watched, it is supposedly the easiest full on CAD program to learn. https://www.onshape.com/en/ This ought to be interesting. Thankfully I don't have any more hair to pull out, so that is a time saver.
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Scott, I suggest that you install rubber gaiters on the front forks.
The upside down forks on your Triumph are slightly different for accepting fork gaiters, but it can be done.
The small cost of rubber fork gaiters is pennies compared to replacing the fork seals again and again.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
@scott-h I will be quite interested in seeing what you choose for an "easy CAD" system.
Used to do plant layout on some fairly miserable IBM package on an AS400. Did quite a bit of Autocad work on PCB stuff, but never felt like it was anywhere near intuitive.
Did a little solid modeling (ProE, Solidworks) for boxbuild, and tooling development, but never really developed any skill.
Used to like Micrographix Designer for quick and dirty stuff for tooling prototypes. Have not designed anything on CAD in more than a decade, so assume packages have gotten better and cheaper.
Your SendCutSend experiences should be highly instructional. I am starting to get a few ideas for AT subframe designs that could benefit from a couple of custom brackets under the rider footpeg mounts. 
Yep that CAD thing is a conundrum.
Mate is a fabricator operating alone.
Autocad? Want 3k a year to use their program.
So the name is correct,... CAD'S.
Seems counter productive to me.
I've had the opportunity to sit down with some pretty sharp engineers. Not only to create things with the help of a CAD program, but also look at how different stress loads would affect performance and longevity via a CAD program. So I certainly get the usefulness. It would have been handy to have that access as part of the "retirement package". 😎
From the little research I've done, it seems there are several choices. The "free version" of Onshape is totally cloud based. Everything drawn with it is available for anyone to download from the Onshape website. FreeCad is open source software. Drawings belong to the individual who drew them, and the whole thing is kept on each individuals computer. Both seem very similar to use.
Some of the different "free" CAD programs:
I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm looking forward to learning it. But I do look forward to using it. In that regard it will be worth the time and effort. Was really hoping our local Technical College offered courses. That would have been fun. Shared misery is the best. 😆
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Scott, have you checked to see if there are any local community colleges or technical colleges that have classes, or programs, wherein they would accept your drawings for the students to come up with the CAD drawings/plans, and then they see it through as an assignment, and actually produce the parts...for you ???
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
Scott, have you checked to see if there are any local community colleges or technical colleges that have classes, or programs, wherein they would accept your drawings for the students to come up with the CAD drawings/plans, and then they see it through as an assignment, and actually produce the parts...for you ???
Yes Sir! Closest school with a CAD training program is about 4 hours away (8 hours a day drive time), and the tuition is pretty high.
SendCutSend, as well as local shops will work off 2D pencil drawings, or "Cardboard Aided Design" for a fee. Towards the bottom of this webpage is SendCutSend's design services.
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
