Things have been revolving around motorcycles as usual here in my world. The sidecar is cut into ribbons currently. The first steps after stripping the engine and radiator were to get the frame on a bench to get things straight.

As I´ve said before, the frame has been bent since I flipped the bike over in turn 4 at Portland Raceway in June. The bend was in the middle between the rear and chair wheels, causing all three wheels to camber inward way too far. Without the money or time to repair it, I just kept it to myself and raced hard. It caused the bike to be unstable while braking, often locking the chair wheel, but it also made the tires sit flat in left turns while the chair was floating in the air.

Now that the 1000cc engine is going in, there is good reason to change things. Since we are moving the engine location forward to get more weight up front (better steering response), we cut the back bone of the frame. The photo shows just how bent the frame was; with the frame cut in half it ¨sprung¨ back to its relaxed position.

Here you can see just how bowed in the tires are when sitting on the ground. The rear tire´s wear shows how less than half of it was contacting the road.

Here the frame sits after having the backbone removed…

Outside of the sidecar I treated my daily rider to some new tires. This old dog is beat to hell, but stubbornly continues to run. Since I take it through dirt roads and trails on my commute home, it seemed smart to put dual sport rubber on there. At $60 for a set, I was sold.

I also cut off the old chain and sprockets. A lot of age and abuse were hiding behind the old stuff.

But with new rubber and drive gears I was ready to take on the world!!!

The weather responded in a glorious way. The weatherman said ¨biblical proportions¨ when describing the coming rains. A little dramatic, but either way I had a great time slamming through the mud, sand, streams, and debris while heading home from work. I actually turned around at one point to go through it again! The bike handles great, but the design is based on a dirt bike originally. The tires had so much traction that I managed to lean far enough to dig the kickstand into the sand and nearly wipe out. I cant wait to go to work tomorrow just so I can ride home again!

UNTIL NEXT TIME!!!!

-Johnny