der_nanno
Faster!
By the 9th of September this project will actually have gone a full year. The original plan looked somewhat differently, i.e. build an XS750 rig with a Dnepr sidecar and then sell my old and trusty (everyday) SR500 sidecar. Now almost a year on it looks a lot more promising that I'll be done in about a month. But why don't we start at the beginning?
It all started six years ago, when I sold an XS750 with a Dnepr sidecar. I had the sidecar fitted by a company and even though it wasn't done too badly youthful tendencies towards "spirited riding" and some deficiencies in the engineering of said subframe lead to multiple times cracking the frame. I tried a few other sidecars in the meantime and even though they all were nice (well the Jawa 350 a little less so, but on the contrary the afforementioned SR500 with a Velorex was even nicer), I wanted a sidecar that was usable as a full-blown car-replacement with a hefty engine and a subframe that was so overbuilt that I wouldn't have to worry about breaking the frame (again).
My friend Mr. K. had a lovely XS750 sitting in his garage, which he bought basically, because I told thim that this is the sweetest sounding 4-stroke triple from Japan I've ever heard (and a few others said the same). Unfortunately he had a lot of bad luck with spares and dealers and in the end got fed up with it and offered it to me for a very decent price.
Getting a good SOVIET sidecar proved to be a bit more tricky, mainly because the simple rule is: The older the sidecar the better steel and the less parts have been simplified. So I was aiming to find a 1960ies or 1970ies sidecar at the youngest as these already had all the features, but still used the heaviest gauge steel and still had the split-ping swingarm. Luckily I ran into a guy from Hungary, who was trying to import Soviet-era sidecars to Austria, not knowing that registering them with the papers he was able to provide was near on impossible. As soon as he found out, he got a bit desperate as he could only break them for spares, which in its own right proved tricky as the bikes didn't have many good parts on them... Long story short after a while he got rather desperate and was selling everything off cheaply to cut his losses and I got the sidecar for a very decent price. (Even considering the condition it was in!)
(Yes, that's a tow hook. They don't use those sidecars solely for recreation, but as mini-tractors and everything...)
With the sidecar spare wheel removed it became apparent, that his sidecar was well cared for and I only found one or two holes that needed patching up.
It all started six years ago, when I sold an XS750 with a Dnepr sidecar. I had the sidecar fitted by a company and even though it wasn't done too badly youthful tendencies towards "spirited riding" and some deficiencies in the engineering of said subframe lead to multiple times cracking the frame. I tried a few other sidecars in the meantime and even though they all were nice (well the Jawa 350 a little less so, but on the contrary the afforementioned SR500 with a Velorex was even nicer), I wanted a sidecar that was usable as a full-blown car-replacement with a hefty engine and a subframe that was so overbuilt that I wouldn't have to worry about breaking the frame (again).
My friend Mr. K. had a lovely XS750 sitting in his garage, which he bought basically, because I told thim that this is the sweetest sounding 4-stroke triple from Japan I've ever heard (and a few others said the same). Unfortunately he had a lot of bad luck with spares and dealers and in the end got fed up with it and offered it to me for a very decent price.
Getting a good SOVIET sidecar proved to be a bit more tricky, mainly because the simple rule is: The older the sidecar the better steel and the less parts have been simplified. So I was aiming to find a 1960ies or 1970ies sidecar at the youngest as these already had all the features, but still used the heaviest gauge steel and still had the split-ping swingarm. Luckily I ran into a guy from Hungary, who was trying to import Soviet-era sidecars to Austria, not knowing that registering them with the papers he was able to provide was near on impossible. As soon as he found out, he got a bit desperate as he could only break them for spares, which in its own right proved tricky as the bikes didn't have many good parts on them... Long story short after a while he got rather desperate and was selling everything off cheaply to cut his losses and I got the sidecar for a very decent price. (Even considering the condition it was in!)
(Yes, that's a tow hook. They don't use those sidecars solely for recreation, but as mini-tractors and everything...)
With the sidecar spare wheel removed it became apparent, that his sidecar was well cared for and I only found one or two holes that needed patching up.
