It can't be true, but in 10 years and 30,000 miles plus years of USCA magazine, I have never seen another Roger Spaulding sidecar. It's a commin on winter; a good time to do a major overhaul, but before I take it all apart, again, I would love to be able to talk to others who have modified or otherwise improved their SECO sidecars.
I hope to hear from some of the 587 other Spaulding sidecar owners soon. We can compare notes.
thank you for this Forum Bill
As promised I am up dating, with photos, this my last major project on the SECO sidecar. I know that this is not THE only seco, it's just that we've never seen another. That said: The current project started with a flat tire. Morphed into a repaint and new wheels and tires. A total rebuild of the engine, trans and clutch, swing arm bushings, motor mounts deserve new wheels and tires. The big issue is when can we get the parts. Should be no problem, right. We'll see. Mean time, every thing gets cleaned. I'm almost embarrassed to say how many loose nuts and bolts I found. With new wheels and tires, all the nuts and bolts tightened, a fresh engine, well the paint will have to wait. That's a monumental task. Thanks for reading. More latter.
Bill, tell us about your tug/bike. What year, 5 speed or upgraded to 6 speed, reverse added ???
Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort
Thanks for the interest in my little project. Charlie, ref: Sidecarist Nov/Dec 2013, is a twin cam 88 with new pistons, cylinders, bearings, bushings, seals, gaskets. All rebalanced. I'm pretty good with a Dumore grinder that I used for porting the heads. Combined with a mild cam and head work, mid range power is very much improved. Ninty mph with the wife and camp gear, on a long straight stretch, and still pullin. Oh yea, there is some electrical magic going on with the EFI that I don't have a clue about. But I know a guy who does . I believe 99 was the first year for EFI to the public; 98 for police. Charile is still a 5 speed. I added a Champion mechanical reverse but I now wish I had the electrical shift model. Sometimes I must turn off the engine, find neutral, shift into reverse and then start. Gota be a clutch issue. But I'm still glad I've got reverse.
Roger Spalding, Spalding Sidecar Co. Lubbock, Tx. , married Desire to Charlie with HD stock blue and gray colors. Not long after the paint changed to the red that you see. My father loved to pinstripe; the car, the kitchen cabinets and all the neighbor kids bicycles, everything. He was good. And so the red pinstriped sidecar. I showed Roger his sidecar in red. I know I hurt Rogers feelings with the red. This whole project really started with the desire to repaint to Harleys blue and gray and fix a flat.
I'm going to work on the forks while I wait on new wheels and tires.
more soon
I hope that you can see the difference between 24 years and 30,000 miles and an hours labor with scotch pad and rubbing compound. Much better I think but I'm only half done.
Next to be addressed...brakes. stay tuned
Bill, you noted that '99 was the first year of EFI for the public....on H-D bikes.
I was actually the test rider in 1989 running EFI on my '89 FLHTC-U, years before the EFI system was handed off to H-D
Billy Budd, in San Leandro, CA.... about 7 blocks away from Arlen Ness, invented the EFI, he installed it on my '89 FLHTC-U, I rode it around the country for 100,000 miles that year, they did tweaking here and there, and eventually sold the EFI system to Accel. Over the next years Accel tweaked it here and there, then sold it to H-D.
At the '90 Sturgis Rally, Mikuni tried to give me a set of 40mm flat-side carbs, installed, in exchange for the EFI system I was testing for Billy Budd.
Heck no.....was the polite answer.
Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort
