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greg_in_london

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Everything posted by greg_in_london

  1. greg_in_london
    Well, back from the rally and there was someone who had picked up a cheap velorex chair to nail onto a honda 400 - something the right size for it. http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/sidecar%20rally/DSCF2045.jpg The first thing to say is that he had done exactly what I said with the lower rear fitting. Holding the sidecar and the backof the bike it was easy to move the fitting a quarter of an inch or so. Not the end of the world on a lightweight outfit, but potentially enough to make much more movement over time and maybe snap one of the eyebolts. http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/sidecar%20rally/DSCF2053.jpg He had made most of his own fittings, which were basic and crude, but should be strong enough. http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/sidecar%20rally/DSCF2054.jpg The second thing is that it let me take a couple of pictures of the sidecar wheel. It really is only strong enough for light use. Here's a picture from the side http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/sidecar%20rally/DSCF2046.jpg And here's one from under the sidecar. http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/sidecar%20rally/DSCF2047.jpg Even on a bike that weighs less than 400lbs he needed ballast in the chair.
  2. greg_in_london
    Hey - I didn't say that it can't be securely attached, just that if you try to copy the original fittings, it is easy to get it wrong - and I've seen a few. If you have a choice, ie before you fit it, and can choose between a lightweight chair that you must add 100lbs weight to and a heavier, more substantial, sidecar that needs no weight, I would recommend the stronger sidecar. Please do keep an eye on the sidecar wheel spigot, though. Some early velorex models had a 10" wheel and I would suspect quite a strong spigot. The later, more common, 562 models had a 16" wheel and a 14mm diameter wheel spindle/spigot. As this is supported only on one side, enthusiastic cornering, especially while braking, can very easily bend it. In fact it is so weak, that you can straighten it by hammering it back through the housing. Yes, I bent one when it was attached to a 350, cornering in the snow when I slid into a kerb and another on a GS550 when spinning it around in a car park, checking I was happy with the fittings. Maybe you'll be fine as long as you don't let me have a go..... Right, now I'm off to the London Sidecar Club rally. TTFN until after the weekend.
  3. greg_in_london
    There seem to be two sizes of gasket available. There may be two types of collector box. I don't know for sure. I do know that when I bought my bike the silencers were such a tight fit on the collector box stub I had to work them back and forth to remove or replace them, even after removing the clamp. The result was that the collector box stubs broke off prematurely. I replaced the collector box and had a choice between gaskets that were (to me) far too tight a fit, or not tight enough. I've suffered a loose fit ever since, rather than risk ripping off another stub.
  4. greg_in_london
    The preferred car tyre of choice many years ago on 15" rims was a Citroen 2CV tyre. I have one on my old Suzi GT550 outfit (long story). It was not low profile, so the overall diameter may be similar to the VR wheel. I ned to go to my other lock up and measure it. lack of ground clearance is a problem on my bike, but I am planning to fit a stronger spring to lift it up again and I had my shock made 1/2" longer than standard which will compensate. BJ Pennetelpel, I did try a Kenda tyre a few years back, but it was worn out in under a thousand miles. That's no use for me when I'm planning a touring holiday. Squeeze, it's the cornering loads that are important on a bike and sidecar. If there is a published figure, it would be good to know, but the manufacturers don't tend to want to endorse any uses they didn't design for. I have a feeling that they don't recommend fitting sidecars at all to any of their bikes. Thebighop, my Venture has a large sidecar attached, so I have no concerns about leaning through corners - the bike stays fairly flat. There really aren't many tyres at all with a suitable load rating. Avon SM tyres take quite a high loading, but that's when you're thinking of older, lighter bikes. (I have SM11s front and back on my XJ750 sidecar, for which they are great.) The change will have negligible effect on the rake and trail on the front, in any case.
  5. greg_in_london
    I find that it's not too bad in the twisties so long as I can drive at my own speed, rolling on and off the throttle to relieve the effort of steering. It becomes a nightmare when you get stuck behind someone crawling along as you find yourself braking when you should be accelerating and your shoulders get no relief. The worst time (on very long journeys) is long downhill curves on motorways when you don't want to go any faster. You have to ease off the throttle and the whole rig wants to go right, but you have to keep haulng left. (It would be the otherway round for you.)
  6. greg_in_london
    I hope having sidecars added to the forum title is welcome - the styling choices and motivations of trikers and sidecarists may be different, but lots of the technical challenges will be similar. There aren't a lot of kits available to fit sidecars to ventures, so unless you make your own subchassis, you have to hunt around a bit for places to mount to, not least because the seat and panniers attach to a bolt-on sub frame which is quite narrow tubing. I didn't think it suitable for attaching fittings to. (Unlike bikes which have twin shocks, where the tubing around the top has to be more substantial.) Either way, I took some pictures for someone who asked how I sorted my sidecar fittings and would be interested in knowing how other people achieved the same aims. Bear in mind that I'm in the UK, so the sidecar is fitted on the left. Also I fitted it several years ago, so excuse the grotty paintwork. This is a view of the fittings between my 1983 VR and Squire QM1 sidecar: http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/frontview.jpg I was a little worried about the stiffness of having all the mounts so far forward, so used three fittings at the back, but it was also because I could double triangulate across from the sidecars two chassis rails. Here you can see the bottom two fittings: http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/triangulatedrearlowermount.jpg And here they are again from above http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/rearmountsfromabove.jpg I used a box clamp on the sidecar frame to have some forwards/backwards rigidity. I felt that I needed a good strong fitting on the left of the bike that would prevent there being any movement / flex when cornering, so I replaced the footrest hanger with a steel plate I could weld two eyebolts to. http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/footrestplate.jpg There was a couple of inches of tube that I could squeeze a clamp onto, so that sorted the rear top mount on the bike. At the front I had the conventional two fittings. I couldn't manage a clamp on the lower front bike fitting, so I used a female eyebolt onto an engine mounting bolt. I used an extra plate to spread the load, but in retrospect I'm not sure it makes much difference. http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/frontbottombike.jpg At the top there is even less space so I had to make up a frame clamp - an eyebolt welded to a piece of plate, with holes drilled to accept U-shaped exhaust clamps. They never fail to amaze me just how durable these clamps are - much stronger than we have any right to expect. http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/fronttopbike.jpg The mounts to the sidecar are not unusual on the front, but the bottom is the box clamp and gives some rigidity, the other is only there to stop the bike flexing towards the sidecar. http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/venture/frontmountssidecar.jpg There's another fitting at the back, which to be honest I mainly put on because I liked the way it swept around the pannier, so I've not shown it. Not necessarily the best way of doing it, but it has worked for me for several years and twenty thousand miles, mostly pulling either a camping trailer or a trailer tent, usually with luggage. Hope it's of some interest.
  7. greg_in_london
    Hmmm - a Velorex 562 sidecar designed to go onto a Czech two stroke motorcycle weighing less than 400lbs and producing twenty something horsepower on a (very) good day and put it onto a 750lb motorcycle producing 97hp according to the book. Assuming the models are the same as in the UK - it's way too light. Besides which, the rear lower fitting is designed to go clear through the motorcycle (a 12 or 14mm diameter bar as I recall). Most people who use these sidecars try to replace this with a short bar attached by an eye bolt to the motorcycle, which provides no rigidity. Anything is possible if you want to do it right (including making the outfit as wide as possible) but be aware that apart from fittings flexing, you are likely to bend the sidecar wheel spindle/stub axle the first time you corner enthusiastically. I've had these sidecars on a few Jawas, a GT380 and a GS550. It was too lightweight for the GS550, but okay for the others.
  8. greg_in_london
    Hi Squeeze, There's a few V-Max outfits about and I haven't heard of them having trouble with the wheels. The weight is a little less, but the power's a lot more, so the side loads in cornering could well be more. Do you think they go straight on ?
  9. greg_in_london
    I nearly started another thread, but this one covers the topic. Is it possible to use a V-Max back wheel so that a car tyre can be fitted on a first gen VR ? Has anyone done it ?
  10. greg_in_london
    Hi Tessa C2 But do you know which model you have so I can add you to the table ?
  11. greg_in_london
    I play traditional (English, Irish and Scottish, depending on venue) music on the fiddle, check out www.greentrad.org.uk or www.thetirnanog.co.uk I also play the bagpipes - see www.pipinginlondon.co.uk I post on a bagpipe forum www.rmartin.proboards23.com and don't really think that I'd want to find another forum. I occasionally post on a couple of trad sites, but again, I'd rather be spannering, riding or playing. Go ahead with a group if you like, but riders of twenty five year old Yamaha touring motorcycles is a specialised enough group, without restricting it to those that also play music. Just my thoughts
  12. greg_in_london
    The idea is good, but you need to list the model specs, not (just) the year. Some years you had three or four current models in just one market, so the TK, TDK, L, DL and maybe a couple more models came out the same year - a 'standard' model, one with CLASS, one with cruise control, one with something else (maybe different carb?) but I don't know what. Then there may be differences for different markets, but people can tell you those. Other differences for markets include no CB (and different housing), different frequencies/wavelengths on the radio tuner, speedo and maybe a little light to say when you're over 55mph. Go for it, Condor, but sorry if it's more detail than you expected (as I found with the carbs...)
  13. greg_in_london
    We just bumped into a happy yank at the bus stop coming back from the pub. She'd been celebrating a successful rebellion a couple of hundred years ago or so. Apparently it's a national holiday over her side of the pond, but she found it a bit odd celebrating it here in London/the UK. There's no accounting for some folks, but if you're that way inclined, I hope you've had/are having a nice day .
  14. greg_in_london
    I'd go for a funky synthetic oil any time, but don't seem to have much choice around here on gearbox oils, so I've had to settle for semi-synthetic. My old oil has come out clean, though, and it's been so long I don't remember what it was, except it was good quality. Sorry, not very helpful I know.
  15. greg_in_london
    Oops - I've just entered CBMEL for the second time - worked all day, parent's evening, then pub quiz and now friends back to help with the rum I got on my birthday. CAZCOM - what model did you buy from bigin ??????????
  16. greg_in_london
    You use varnish ? I wax mine with tallow.
  17. greg_in_london
    Many years ago I was a professional rider / courier in London, working out of a base in the East End in the middle of the busy Wentworth Street market (well, it was busy twenty years or so ago). Some time mid morning I came out of the office with a list of jobs to pick up and jumped on to my trusty GS250T (great little bikes if you looked after them and good on petrol...). I was parked in a confined space, so once I had thumbed the starter buton had to turn it 180' on full lock (feet up, of course, I was a professional rider before accelerating off up the road.... Except those old bikes had a separate steering lock on the bottom yoke (triple tree to you, my colonial friends) which was still engaged. There were of course several people watching. Laugh - they nearly cried. Mind you, we all laughed at another friend who used to ride around London on a 1000 Guzzi wearing steel toe capped boots. No problem you might say, until the time a mini pulled up next to him at the lights and parked on his foot. Because of the boots he didn't notice. Well not until the traffic lights changed and he dropped the clutch and shot across, well shot partly - a very small part of the way across the junction.
  18. greg_in_london
    code:year:very low:low:medium:good:very good:excellent: 28-35mpg (UK)33-40mpg (UK)37-45mpg (UK)42-50mpg (UK)>48mpg (UK) 23-29 mpg (US)27-33mpg (US)31-38mpg (US)35-42 mpg(US)>40mpg (US) >9.4l / 100km:10.2-8.1l / 100km8.6-7.1l / 100km7.6-6.3l / 100km:6.7-5.6l / 100km XVZ12TK26H00*1983 - Oldgold CYCLE mag XVZTDK Has CLASS 31M00*DA1983- XVZ12L V Royal 41R00*EA1983- XVZ12DL41V00*EA1983-greg_in_london XVZ12KC247R00*DA1984 ?- XVZ12DKC247T00*DA1984 ?- XVZ12DN59J ??1985 XVZ131986-7 XVZ13DS1NL00*GA1986-7esaffley cbmel cbmel XVS13DSC1UN00*GA XVZ13DTC: California eec 1UN00*HA1986-7Gearhead XVZ13DU1NLEO*JA1988-89 XVZ13DUC1UNCO*JA" XVZ13U2LWEO*JA" XVZ13UC2LXCO*JA" XVZ13DA1NLEO*LA1990-93 XVZ13DAC1UNCO*LA“Jimbob5 XVZ13DW1NL or 1UMCO?1988-?BJBssparks905Pappa Bear XVZ13DA (Canada) 1UMNO*LA“ XVZ13 Germany 3JT1993Squeeze A spate of DW models here, except apparently with different engine numbers. All with good mpg, but Pappa Bear with the best. Where is everyone with the awful mileage - it's not juet me, but maybe with the cost of petrol at the moment they've mothballed their bikes ???
  19. greg_in_london
    I'm going to look out some of my towing pictures...
  20. greg_in_london
    I've had mixed results with Plastex, which has an isomeric powder and a liquid activator - it reacts to form a new polymer. On some plastics it has worked wonders (ie on the fairing), on other plastics (the filler cap on a DR400) it didn't. It might be worth trying out if you don't have success with a heat welder. Kits start at £15-25 and you can bulk it up for strength.
  21. greg_in_london
    I just ground off the end of a mortice lock key and made it into a screwdriver. It's a good fit and I can see how much the head turns much better than I would be able to see the screw.
  22. greg_in_london
    On some older bikes the key number was stamped on the baffle plate on the lock itself. Maybe not the ignition switch, but maybe one of the other locks. If you have to take a lock off, the ignition has only two screws, but may be anti tamper - you either have the right bit or you don't. I suspect that taking the helmet lock off will be easiest, though, and if the locksmith damages it, who uses it anyway. If you find a number on any of the locks, though, the Yamaha dealer should be able to get the key cut easily.
  23. greg_in_london
    Speak of the devil ..... I'd certainly be interested in the results, but I certainly wouldn't go upsetting the carburettor gremlins without good reason. I'd ONLY try it if I could take out the carbs I was happy with, get a set of second hand carbs that I'd cleaned up, run them to try them out and then make changes to the spare/second hand set, before trying them out again. There just seem to be too many variables and it's so easy to make things worse, even when setting everything according to spec. Hold on to your old carbs and do nothing to them so you can go back - that way the replacements are bound to be an improvement ! Yamaha seem to bend over backwards to make life awkward - the first gens have the same main jet in each carb, as well as the same nozzle and jet, but change those across each model (sometimes mdels in the same year) but have the same part number regardless of the model's spec. Go figure. If you do get carbs off another model, there may be nothing on the carbs to tell you what they're from, so the information would probably be interesting, but academic - ie no practical use. Only bother if you get different plug colours and want to fix it. [Mind you, carb changes get pretty quick with practise ....)
  24. greg_in_london
    XVZ13DW DW??? that's another model - I wondered when you said 1UM*C01689 but hoped it would be the same. At this rate it seems that every one of us has a completely individual model... I'll change your entry when I've got a couple more to add because whenever I make a change the script adds lts of spaces that I then have to edit out, so I'm going to try and wait until I have two or three to add at a time.
  25. greg_in_london
    Some people have also reported that the electronic ignition location makes it vulnerable to moisture when the rain either becomes hard, or when moisture levels rise upwards from ground level. Those people have resited their black boxes on top of the airboxes with good effect. I haven't done that, as my only problem has been poor starting after parking in cold damp weather, particularly when camping, but an Odysey battery has largely solved that problem (although it has sometimes been a close call).
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