A Look at a Sidecar Rig on Craigslist

Some of you are probably familiar with the online classified services provided by Craigslist.com. You can post ads for free and they're searchable of course.

A couple of days ago, I spotted this ad for a 1979 Honda CB750 Motorcycle with sidecar for $1300. The price got my attention, the picture used by the owner was not that great and my knowledge of Honda CB750s was nil.

I asked John, aka Sanoke, if he'd come along and take a look at the motorcycle from a mechanic's point of view since he is quite the wrencher and used to be an aircraft engine mechanic.

We met at the guy's house in Littleton, CO this morning, at 11:30 and we looked the rig over. Initial impressions were that it had some amount of surface rust where you'd expect it. The sidecar needed to have its paint removed and redone, the interior was "ok" and the seat would need some work as it had a tear in it.

Here's some pictures of the sidecar and what we assumed are mounting points from a "universal kit".

The sidecar itself had minor scratches and flaking of the red paint areas

Front Mounts

Interesting "universal" brackets, this is the topmost rear mount

Bottom rear mount

As you can see above, not exactly "concours" level condition in terms of appearance but then again, the price was pretty accurate according to Sanoke. He pointed out I could buy the rig, sell the motorcycle and keep the side car for eventual mounting on Brigitta, my 1987 R80 Beemer.

Front attachment point for the frame under the "tub"

A view of the bottom rear of the sidecar's tub and frame

After we were done looking at the rig, we were chatting by my motorcycle and an older gentleman drove up to look at the rig too.

We'd found out, from documentation provided by the seller's wife, that the sidecar was an American Brand sidecar. I'd inquired about these sidecars before via email to Dauntless Motors who specialize in sidecars and their mounts. They mentioned that the early American sidecars with torsion bars suspensions (which this one had) were known for "issues". That and the fact that parts are no longer made led me to decide to pass on this sidecar. Hopefully someone buys her, although we did not get a chance to ride her to see how her engine worked, it would not take too much work to make it a good looking rig.

I said my goodbyes to John and headed in to work to get some stuff done. He headed off for a ride, destination unknown. Lucky.

On the way back to US285 from the seller's house, I saw a large lake to the East and stopped to take this picture:

Marston Lake

So, the search for a decent sidecar continues, the need for one is non-existent...it's just a "want". Oh well.

Relearning a Lesson: Remember the Straps!

Just a short entry today.

I had to go to Denver International Airport today to finish a survey of communication closets owned by UAL. The weather was in the high 30s to low 40s and sunny so riding my motorcycle was the obvious choice.

Great ride in, a bit windy as I approached DIA but no big deal. A bit of a hassle going through the TSA security checkpoints since I'd forgotten about the metal clasps on my suspenders which held my waterproof liners for my riding pants. I had gone through the metal detectors before on other trips and the riding gear itself is fine.

Now I have to figure out some way to wear cold weather liners and NOT have to strip off all the riding gear before I get to a storage location at work when working at DIA.

Anyways, to get back to the title of the posting. I found out, once we started working, that I would have to pick up a print job from Kinko's along with a mailing tube. No problem I said, assuming my straps were in my system cases.

Well, I get to Kinko's and no straps. A bit of fast thinking and I took off the suspenders which had given me such problems at airport security. Using them I was able to secure the mailing tube and get it home in brisk riding conditions with no problems.


Who needs a cage when having to transport awkwardly shaped packages? Now if only I remember to transfer the cargo straps between one motorcycle and the other!

Book Review: Obsessions Die Hard

I just finished reading Ed Culberson's short but well written book on his obsession to motorcycle his way across the Darien's Gap. An 80 mile stretch of jungle terrain between Panama and Columbia.

Source: Google

He followed the projected path of the Pan American Highway, a system of roads that stretches from Alaska to the Southern Tip of Argentina. The Darien Gap is where finances, loss of political interest and will, and tree huggers contributed to the road building effort to stop.

The book details the many reasons involved with the gap's existence and the lack of roads through it and how it became the author's obsession to be the first person to traverse it on a motorcycle. In his case, he did it with a 1981 BMW R80 G/S! This book resonated with me as Culberson's motorcycle was basically the same motorcycle in terms of engine/frame specifications as my own 1987 R80, Brigitta.

The G/S however had better suspension and offroad wheels of course and still it was an epic struggle on the part of Culberson and the indian guides he hired to help him along the way. He had to deal with crooked cops, scam artists, accidents and near-death experiences along the way and his writing style keeps you turning the pages to see how he gets out of the situations he finds himself in.

Just picture yourself doing this: Using hand winches/pulleys to lift a 500 lb motorcycle up hills and down ravines in the middle of thick jungle terrain. Employing the local natives to hack a path for your motorcycle along barely discernible remants of trails and past failed expeditions by other types of vehicles!

This book should be available to you from your local library system as it was for me. I may actually have to buy my own copy as reference and inspiration as Culberson did stuff in his mid-50s that I would never even dream of now. Unfortunately for me, I'll never get a chance to meet Ed Culberson as Lou Gehrig's disease took him in 1995, truly a legend in BMW and motorcycling circles.

ISBN: 1-884313-06. Get it, read it, then try and keep it in mind when encountering some tough stretch of road.

Me? I know I'll wimp out and bypass the gap if I ever get the urge/time/wherewithal to ride the length of the Pan American Highway.

A Break in the Clouds

We in the Denver Metro area woke to heavily overcast skies with a few openings in the clouds letting the bright sun through.

I was wandering about the neighborhoods SW of my home neighborhood. Basically centered on the intersection of Parker Rd and Arapahoe Road. I spotted one large opening in the overcast covering the city, located right on the mountains of the front range:


Being on the east side of the Denver Metro area and not having more than a couple of hours of riding time due to family commitments, the above view is the closest I could get using my camera.

I meandered through the Town of Foxfield, which is really a neighborhood built on ranch land. The houses have decent amount of land around them for the most part. The town is on land that is slightly higher than Parker Road itself and so it afforded me some semi-decent locations upon which to pose Brigitta.

That's Pike's Peak, way off in the distance

As you can see in the shots, we've got some incoming weather moving in. Looked like rain clouds beginning to dump some rain maybe snow as well.

Got home a bit after 11AM, my heated grips working fine once again and an afternoon of reading Ed Culberson's "Obsessions Die Hard" book ahead of me. The book is about his traversing the infamous Darien's Gap on the Pan American Highway. I believe he was the first motorcyclist to do so by the way.