MURPH'S MOBEC DUO-DRIVE BMW 2WD SIDECAR CONVERSION................Part 2

Welcome to Pt II of my Mobec Duo-Drive Sidecar Conversion on my 2004 BMW 1150 GS Adventure.

If you would like to find out more of the backstory on how I arrived at this point, you can read it in Pt 1 here.

The base motorcycle that I'm using for this 2WD Sidecar Conversion is my 2004 BMW 1150 GS Adventure that I've been riding on the road on my trip full-time for the last 2 1/2 years, and its all stock internally. 
Some of the external modifications I have made to it include a Touratech 41 liter Nylon tank, it's one that I came across used that came with the fuel pump, fuel plate and it was already painted silver. I drilled out the filler neck to make it a 44 liter capacity tank, and at the end of the day it was less than half the price of buying the tank new. 
I prefer the look of this larger tank much better, I think it fills out a lot of space between the tank and the top of the cylinder heads, but it is a huge tank. When you put one of these big tanks on, you have pretty much removed the 'Dual' in this "Dual Sport" motorcycle, as it becomes just too top heavy to really take it up the side of a mountain and try to keep it upright. To be honest, the 1150 or the 1200cc motorcycles I don't really consider 'Dual Sport' anyway, even though they call them that. In reality they're an enduro styled road bike with some off road capabilities. Many will disagree, but I rode it in the 2011 NORRA Mexican 1000 and even removed the panniers and rode the 400 miles on one of the stages, 175 miles of brutal washboards, the rest pavement, so I can tell you from first hand experience that it's NOT a dual sport bike, even with a stock tank. An ideal 'Dual Sport' bike should be around 600cc, no more. Even an 800cc is really too big.

Another modifaction I made was to build a set of extension drawers underneath my Touratech Zega panniers (which I also bought used too). 
I got tired of having to remove everything in the pannier to get to the tools in the bottom, and my clothes inevitably ended up smelling of fuel or oil, so the drawers keep tools and other items away from food and clothes, and make the tools so much easier to access. There is room for tools in one side drawer and parts or camping items in the other. I estimate they're approximately 14 liter drawers, which is a 33% increase in space over the 44 liter panniers.
The pannier build can be seen on my blog here if you feel like having a go at it yourself. Email me with any questions you may have, I'll be glad to help.


I also replaced the OEM shocks after I blew the rear out at 45,000 miles with a set of Wilbers, and then the Wilbers blew the rear seal at 7,000 miles, so I sent them back and got the seal replaced under warranty. After 5,000 miles the newly replaced rear seal blew again, so thats where they are right now, blown and off the bike. I've heard other stories on the forums like this about the Wilbers shocks, so I may just go to another shock all together for the sidecar.


Ok, back to the sidecar build.

This is how you get a Stern Rox from the factory, minus the tire.


The sidecar I've chosen to use for my 2WD Sidecar Conversion is a Stern Roxster or Rox, a 1 1/2 person chair, more of a road going performance sidecar than an Overland chair, but in talking with Ad Donkers of LBS Sidecars  where I'm building the outfit, we both decided from the outset to do something different rather than follow in others footsteps. 
Again, you can refer to the backstory for the selection criterion I used in choosing this particular sidecar.


From the start I had a pretty clear picture in my mind how I wanted the outfit to look when it was completed, but since I got here to Holland and we started to dismantle the bike and fabricate the framework, the original design I had in my mind has now changed, but changed for the better. 
Some of the features we decided to incorporate into this 2WD outfit will be very unique aside from the Mobec Duo-Drive, one of them being a locking hub on the sidecar wheel scavenged from the front end of a Suzuki Vitara 4X4. 
I wanted to put in a locking hub on the sidecar wheel for a couple of reasons, first because it would be a neat piece of engineering to fabricate, and second because it will allow me to turn on and off full-time 2WD which will cut down on tire wear and also gas consumption, and for on-highway use, 1WD will be better for handling than 2WD. 

 So after a trip to a salvage yard we started out with this....

....and with steady hands of a surgeon "carefully and delicately" removed some of the excess metal with an angle grinder..... 

....trimmed it up a bit....

...put in the milling machine, and after a couple of hours this is how it looks finished and painted.

A Suzuki Vitara 4X4 right side front hub with the half shaft......
                                  

........and the locking hub.....

...which will be attached to one end of the Mobec Duo-Drive unit on the right.

Here I'm removing the ABS unit. I always turn off the ABS when I ride anyway, I just don't like ABS, I prefer riding by feel and experience, and it will free up enough space under the tank to use either 2 Oddessy Motorcycle Batteries or 1 full size car battery, we haven't decided yet. It also shaves about 12lbs of weight off too, which by the time we're finished will be added back tenfold I'm sure.

A symbolic moment for me in this transformation or conversion from motorcycle to sidecar.

I had already removed the centre stand back in the US before I shipped the bike over to Rotterdam, so removing the side stand was the final part that when removed, you know you no longer have a 2 wheel motorcycle anymore, now it's official that something is changing.

Stuff I won't need from my former 'Motorcycle', soon to be sidecar. ABS unit, a Touratech Rear Rack extension, side stand, assorted lines and the crash bars from the engine.

We are currently finishing up the sub-frame for the motorcycle and the front end leading link. The wheels I have already chosen and all 4 just arrived this week here in the shop, 3 for the outfit and 1 spare wheel and tire.

By next week we should be working on the sidecar frame and fitting the Duo-Drive underneath the sidecar.

The build or finish time has not yet been determined, the only time constraint that we have put on it is that it should be ready ready for this years EGT, 

European  Gespann (sidecar)  Treffen(rally).

Then as soon as the EGT is over, I pack up, leave Holland and I head up to Nordkapp in Norway to test out the 2WD system and also to officially start my expedition.

 I hope you all enjoyed this installment of my Mobec 2WD Sidecar build.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Have the day of your choice.......

Murph.

MOBEC DUO-DRIVE BMW 2WD SIDECAR CONVERSION................Part 1

The Stern Rox getting fitted for the WARN SDB-210  lights.

This will be the first in a series of articles I am writing on the conversion of my 2004 BMW 1150 GS Adventure to a 2WD Sidecar here at LBS Sidecars in the Netherlands. I'll be documenting all about the build, and also going into a little background on how I got to this point in the first place.


THE BACKSTORY.
I've been on the road now for nearly 2 1/2 years on my 
2004 BMW 1150 GS Adventure, mostly in the Continental U.S., Western Canada and Baja California. Before that I was a raging alcoholic and drank my way out of a successful business but a miserable and unhappy life.


And in the last 2 years on the bike, I've traveled over 60,000 miles in all types of weather conditions, from 110º in Arizona and the Bonneville Salt Flats, to 100º in Baja California when I photographed the NORRA Mexican 1000, and all the way down to -40º in Steamboat Colorado. And it was in Steamboat that my forward motion was brought to a screeching, or in this case a sliding, traction-less halt.

Christmas in Colorado, fun to play in, but not to ride in,

unless you have a sidecar.

THE REASON FOR A SIDECAR.
It was December 2010, a nice Winter snowfall was in progress, not a lot as snowfall in Steamboat goes, but after half an hour the nice fluffy white powder settling on the ground started to build up a little depth to it, and then began to get packed tight, and as the snow started to pack tighter, so my traction started to get looser and more dangerous.

As my journey progressed from 6 months into 1 year and then 1 1/2 years I found myself amassing more gear to try to make 'Long-Term' Life on the Road a little bit more comfortable, and I also upgraded my camera equipment, and all of these 'upgrades'  translated into more weight on the bike.

So as I was loosing grip and traction on the fluffy white stuff underneath me, I knew that I was going to have serious problems within the hour. Luckily I was near my destination, 20 minutes away from my hosts at the time, Pete and Heather Sloop, so problem solved, albeit temporarily for that evening. 
The next day, after a big 'ole snow dump on Steamboat, I was snowed in. Stopped by the weather and the fact that I had a motorcycle with 2 wheels. But I knew if I had a sidecar, 3 wheels, I wouldn't have a problem at all. So that moment for me was the tipping point, there began my quest in earnest, as soon as I could, to go from two wheels to three, motorcycle to sidecar.

Photo courtesy Dom Chang CO Motorcycle Travel Examiner    

THE BIKE.
I started with a 2004 BMW 1150 GS Adventure (which I bought used in November of 2009), not because it was the best choice for building a 2WD sidecar on, (in fact it's not the best choice due to it being so high), but simply because it's the only motorcycle I own. 
The BMW 1150 GS series of motorcycles gained a huge jump in popularity when Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman made the 'Long Way Round' movies, everyone wanted to be them, so lots of folks bought themselves a GS Adventure, the same as Ewan and Charlie had, some of them rode around the World on them, some of them just rode to work and back on them. 
Me, I just bought it because I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and stumbled across it for sale on Craigslist in CA and hammered out a deal not to be passed on. I only found out after I bought it that it was the "Long Way Round" bike.
Would I pick another motorcycle to build a RTW sidecar outfit on if given a selection to choose from?. Probably, but that's not a reflection of the capabilities of the BMW 1150 GS Adventure, rather more of a model choice, but that discussion is a whole other post in and of itself. 
For now, I just wanted to clarify what motorcycle I have, why I have it, and why I chose this particular motorcycle to convert to sidecar.

WHY LBS?.
Why did I end up choosing LBS?. Mainly because they were one of the only ones that I knew of to have built a 2WD Sidecar Outfit with the Mobec Duo-Drive system, a full-time 2WD, Viscous Fluid Drive coupling that attaches between the rear driven wheel on the motorcycle and the sidecar wheel. I had researched sidecar builders in the U.S., but no one there was familiar with or had built an outfit with the Mobec Duo-Drive system. Mobec will build you one in Germany, but you get it built the way they do it, you can't customize it to suit your needs.
My friend Richard in Holland has been riding with a Mobec Duo-Drive on his BMW outfit for a few years now, so I contacted him about it, and through him, was put in contact with Ad Donkers of LBS Sidecars. The Euro sidecar scene is completely different than the U.S. in many regards,. 'Family Outfits', 2 seater sidecars, have been in use for years here,taking the whole family on a weekend camping trip is pretty normal in these parts. The 2 kids go in the sidecar, wife or girlfriend on the back of the bike and off you go. Sidecars in general are not as popular in the U.S. as they seem to be here in Europe, especially France and Germany. Holland, bogged down by red tape bureaucracy, makes it very difficult and very expensive to get a motorcycle license to begin with, and that, coupled with very strict road laws and completely flat terrain, contribute to sidecars not being as popular.
My outfit, when finished, will be the 3rd Mobec Duo-Drive 2WD outfit that LBS will have built. There are not too many Mobec Duo-Drives in total in Europe, there's a good chance mine will be the first in the U.S. when I get back in 4 or 5 years from my Round the World.

THE SIDECAR
I had a lot of criterions that the sidecar I chose would have to meet, it had to be Round the World capable, it had to be able to take a passenger comfortably over distances when necessary, it also had to have a lot of space, and it had to combine all of those in a sidecar package that was also visually appealing, at least to me, as this was going to be an outfit that would be my "Home on the Road" for the next 5-7 years, and because as an old hot rodder and gear head , aesthetics and design are important factors for me in most things I build.

I did a quite a bit of research on which sidecar models people used for RTW outfits, and by and large they all seemed to use the same type of chair, either a Ural Sidecar chair, or something very similar from another manufacturer, like the EML E2000. I was the passenger in a Ural sidecar and found it to be very cramped and uncomfortable as well as visually unappealing, and the same can be said of the EML E2000, so for me neither of those 2 styles were an option.

So what does a Round the World capable sidecar really mean?.
Well, it usually means an outfit that is as tough and basic as they come with plenty of ground clearance for inhospitable or rough terrain, and designed with very little frills, like the British Land Rover or Toyota Land Cruisers of the sixties, meant to go absolutely anywhere, but not in style or comfort.
The problem I saw with most of the RTW chairs was that they weren't really visually appealing, at least to me anyway.
Since this was going to be a sidecar outfit that I was going to be using full-time, all year round and in all weather conditions for the next 5+ years straight, and also needed it to be able to carry a passenger at times, I wanted to build in or include some features into it that would last and stand the test of time, so I had to find that balance between a rough terrain RTW capable outfit with some comfort and style built in as well.


One sidecar manufacturer, STERN, seemed to appeal to me the most, visually anyway, and one model in particular, the Stern Roxster.
It seemed to have a lot of the qualities I was looking for in a sidecar, it's what they call a 1 1/2 person chair, it seats 1 adult and 1 child,so plenty of room.
It also has a huge trunk, more than enough space to be able to carry plenty of gear and equipment for long term ( 2 years or more) expeditions like this one , and it also was a really good looking chair, it has great lines, BUT, it was more of a performance road going chair than a RTW chair, mainly due to it's profile and stance. It normally sits low to the ground, and the design has the front or nose of the Roxster swooping down to the ground rather than an uplifted front. The Rox nose, which looks better, is not the optimal shape for clearing obstacles like rocks, snowdrifts or rocky and uneven terrain that I will encounter over the next 5 years on the road, so compromises will need to be made to try and adapt the Rox to my Overlanding specs and needs.

The new output shaft on my BMW Final Drive, which will connect to the viscous clutch on the MOBEC DUO-DRIVE.

MOBEC DUO-DRIVE

Why the Mobec Duo-Drive 2 Wheel Drive system?. 
While 2WD is not a necessity on a sidecar (until you get snowed in and need it that is), my decision for deciding to install the Mobec Duo-Drive 2WD system on my outfit was in part based on my trip being a long, 5-7 year Solo Expedition, there will be no RoadSide Service for me to call in most of the places I am going to, and Winter Travel will more than likely be playing a large part of the journey, as Nordkapp in Norway tends to be inhospitable even at the best of times, and then there's Russia and Siberia and the M65 otherwise known as the Road of Bones. I still haven't been to much of Alaska yet, and have a desire to ride my outfit on the Ice Roads in Alaska, as well as the Ice Roads in Scandinavia and Russia.

Zermatt, Switzerland Dec 1977, age 15.

The decision to want to go places that most people would not go to is for me pretty simple really. Why not?. The mountaineer Doug Scott, one of my hero's and the first Briton to stand on the summit of Everest said that he "Just had this natural curiosity that took him from one place to another without really planning it". Perfect.
And let's face it, I just turned 50 in January. And even though 50 is the new 40, I still know people who had a stroke at 30, a heart attack at 40 and countless friends who died before ever reaching the age of 20 from Motorcycle accidents, both on and off the race track, so I consider myself extremely fortunate to be 50, on no medications for any health related problems, and very healthy considering the amount of damage that I could have done while I was drinking.
I also feel that I squandered away many opportunities, both financial and otherwise, but most importantly the opportunities afforded a human being on this planet, the opportunity of life. Not everyone has it, and not all in equal amounts. 
There are millions of oppressed, poor, hungry, handicapped, abused, sick, dying, suffering human beings the world over, I consider myself about as fortunate as I can not to be included in any of those categories. I obviously didn't consider myself that fortunate a few years back when I feel like I abused that privilege, the gift of freedom. Not all are free and unencumbered like I am, and this time, I don't intend to waste it.


 So, when questions arise on the how's and why's of my trip, "How can you do this", "Where do you get the time"  or "How can you afford it", I always come back to Hillel the Elders quote from 60BC, "If not now, when", 
and I add "If Not Me, Who", and all makes sense. 


I stopped making excuses 3 1/2 years ago when I quit drinking. 


I don't have time for excuses anymore.

Murph.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE....Diomage Zijspanrun 2012.

I got invited by Ad Donkers of LBS Sidecars to attend and ride in the 11th Annual Diomage Sidecar Run held in the village of Gemert and put on by the Kleppenjagers Motorcycle Club, a club started in 1974 by Toon, Harold and 2 other motorcyclists.

Since the first Diomage Sidecar Run 11 years ago, each year in June the Kleppenjagers get together with 80-100 of their members with sidecars, they gather at the Diomage Home in Gemert in the Netherlands, and with the help of the Diomage and may volunteers of the town, bring about 90 handicapped people for a day long sidecar ride, stopping at Holiday Park at lunchtime, where there is a huge outdoor party for all, then finishing with the drive back to Gemert and a BBQ at the Diomage for everyone involved.

It's an event that the Kleppenjagers MC have been putting on now since 2001, and this year was the first year that it was raining for the event, but it didn't seem to dampen the sprits of the sidecarists nor their passengers alike.

Toon van Houtert, one of the founding members of the Kleppenjagers MC.

Toon was the person who started the Diomage Sidecar Run 11 years ago....they've been doing it every year since.

The members of the Kleppenjagers MC (Valve Chasers in English) used to do similar runs in Belgium and some other countries helping the handicapped, so Toon decided to try to help those closer to home. Across the street from his house was the Diomage House, so Toon went over and started discussions with them on how the Kleppenjagers could help them and the handicapped, and the Diomage Sidecar Run was born.

"Harry".

My charge and happy passenger for the day. 

Despite the cold and the rain, a smile was on her face the whole time.

They usually get about 100 sidecarists on the run each year, this year due to the weather, only about 72 were able to make it, still a good turn out I think.

Even in the rain, the route that Toon designed for the 1 1/2 hour ride to Holiday Park from Gemert was such a pretty and scenic run. I can only imagine how it would be if the weather was a little nicer.

Beautiful tree lined country roads, the foliage forming a mile long green canopy overhead, the beauty of the run took away a little of the cold and the rain.

This is not a thumbs down, it's a thumbs up for our Australian visitors.

Cold, wet and still smiling.

"Harry" again. Due to a slow loss of vision, Harry can only ride as a passenger these days.

Still, riding as a passenger is better than not riding at all. Just ask Harry.

He'll never feel the wind blowing his beard all over the place sitting at home.

 The little things we take for granted........

This was his version of a 'Thumbs Up', a very big effort.

Something so simple for most to do, that for others can be so difficult.

This Kawasaki was my one of my favorite outfits at the event.

Harry, barking orders, go left, go right, and he can't see.

Near the end of the day, and still smiling.

So, at the end of the day, and she is STILL smiling.

What did I take away from this?.

One persons rainy day is another persons sunny day.

Murph.