There were sidecars of all varieties at the BMW MOA Rally in Salem, OR. Here is a but a small sampling. This one was placed in the vintage display and is a racing model based on a BMW airhead. The monkey has to really hang out past the wheel on right hand turns as the car could be lifted with one hand. The owner was available to answer questions and demonstrated why so many hand holds were needed. The pilot kneels down on the two half pipe shaped platforms behind the carburator with his chest on the top of the engine. Rear brakes and shifting is as normal though stirrups are fitted on both levers so your boots wouldn't slip out.
This is a more modern and colorful version. It is a DMC M72DX attached to a R1200GS. A very popular tug for sidecar installation by DMC. It is a beautiful paint job and I'm told runs as good as it looks.
This is an old chassis and Steib sidecar with a more modern airhead engine transplanted in. This is the body style copied by my Cozy sidecar but it sits much lower to the ground. I've read that the additional ride height is so it could travel on rough roads.
Boxer Metal made this as a support vehicle for motocross races. It has a pump and 9 gallons of gas with a fill hose. There is a scooter for running around the pit on the rear as well as a cappuccino machine in the upper aluminum box behind the seat. The wheels and frame is made by EML which, I believe, is a Dutch company that produced high end sidecars.
I will close with this old Ural. At least the frame and sidecar is from a Ural. The engine and transmission is from a late 70's BMW airhead. The owner was quite a character as you can imagine from this setup. But then again, so were most of the people in attendance including myself.
The rally is now history and this afternoon, I returned to Portland to pick up a couple of large, heavy pieces of luggage from my cousin's home in Portland before heading south to Corvallis. I will be here for a couple of days before heading back to Portland for a family reunion.
Posted with Blogsy
Quite the selection. I like the Boxer Metal setup with the included roustabout. :) I'm sure that you had a great time chatting with everyone on setups and farkles. hehe
ReplyDeleteIt was great to meet other sidecarists and the lecture and demonstrations by David Hough were very informative. The Boxer Metal constructed car was pretty interesting as well as his own sidecar rig at the rally. I don't have a picture but it is an old Steib on what I think was a /2 frame with a newer driveline and a bunch of additional functional mods. Including an ice chest for a sidecase.
DeleteWow, what a variety of side car designs. Has it given you ideas for variations on your own?
ReplyDeleteThe variety of side car designs is a lot larger than I ever thought it would be. At one of the three-wheel sessions they mentioned that in the early 20th century, 80% of the motorcycles had sidecars due to the rough roads.
DeleteThanks for sharing more variety in sidecars than I knew existed. Now that I'm in "the club", there were tentative plans to attend the rally but I decided to stay east. Very good that you were able to get down for the rally!
ReplyDeleteThis is the third MOA rally that I've been to and I've enjoyed the content. One of these days I'l like to actually ride to one. The variety of sidecars is pretty large though the favorite combination seems to be the R1xyzGS with either a Ural or DMC sidecar. More of those than I could count.
DeleteI never realized there were so many sidecars at the rally. I didn't know it was that popular to put them on BMWs.
ReplyDeleteI think that sidecars are getting more popular as the BMW population ages. There were more sidecars than trikes. Also more than a few Can-Am Soyders as well.
DeleteGood set of pics Richard, thanks. I also liked the Boxer Metal sidecar rig...quite the utility vehicle. Got any more pics of the small scooter in the back perhaps?
ReplyDeletedom
This is but a sampling of the rigs at the rally. Quite a few were heading to a sidecar rally in British Columbia sometime in the next week or so. I will add a photo of the little scooter (with BMW badges added on) in the next post.
DeleteCool! That would have been a fun rally to check out. It's got to be a little odd seeing so many sidecar rigs all in one place.
ReplyDeleteThe MOA rallies are about the only ones I've ever attended so I don't have anything to compare it to. Originally, I was wondering if it would even be worth attending without a bike but I got a lot of responses saying that it really didn't matter. Many people ride a long way to get there and prefer to sit around and visit. This has been my experience.
DeleteI never really noticed all the sidecar rigs before but this time I was looking for them. More than a few had to choose from several rigs to ride to the rally. One gentleman from Australia had recently dropped from nine to five when he retired.
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteThis is Chris from Boxer Metal. My /2 conversion has a 76 R90 motor, transmission and rear drive in it. The rear wheel and sidecar are 15" with car tires. The Stieb is an original paint and upholstery 1954 S501.
There are a lot of pictures of both rigs on my Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/boxermetal.
Cheers everyone,
Chris
Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I really like the work that you've done and had at the rally. And have been following one of your threads on advrider.com once I've found it.
DeleteHi Richard,
ReplyDeleteThis is Chris from Boxer Metal. My /2 conversion is 1967 R60 powered by a 1976 R90/6 motor and trans. There are a ton of pictures of it and the Boxer Metal R1150GS sidecar at www.facebook.com/boxermetal.
Cheers,
Chris