Hacking BLACK SUNSHINE !!!

[Hacked850]

I bought my 1982 850G to put my sidecar on,I had the sidecar on my 2007 DL1000 but found that bike to be to complicated to work on in FAR away places ( I'm build a RTW sidecar outfit ).I have been working on it for about a month now in my 12'x12' shed and I hope to hook it up to the sidecar this weekend.The first thing I did was to build the saddle bag mounts,then bought 2 50mm ammo cans for the bags,then followed that will the rear rack.I bought a fairing off a 1975 GT750 on Ebay for $10.00,and then paid $80.00 for shipping !!.The fairing got sanded,bondo-ed,sanded fiberglassed,REPEAT ( the fairing was in pretty rough shape when I got it).I built the the sidecar mounts for the bike ( they took 2 weekends) and got them painted and mounted.I bought a set of leading axle forks of a GS1100 and installed them on the 850 useing the 850 triple clamps for trail reduction ( to make steering easier with the sidecar).I messed with the forks for a whole weekend trying to get the 850 calipers to fit the 1100 forks and ended up uesing the 1100 calipers,I had NEW EBC pads for the 850 calipers and they DON'T fit the 1100's.I decided to install bed liner on the fairing to make it more "Rock chip resistant" and it turned out pretty well,I'm going to do the whole sidecar this summer.So all I have left to do is install the fairing,figure out a front fender and hook it up to the car,after that comes the fun part..ADJUSTING !!!.Here are some pics of it so far,also here is the link to the complete build of both bikes on ADVrider.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=657673&page=26








Here's the sidecar on my Vstrom

[Tim Tom]

Good choice of ride! I'm in the process of gathering parts to convert my '82 850G into an Alaska worthy adventour-er. Simple is good. You need a bike that you can fix on the side of the road and a swiss army knife (I've had to do that before ). I noticed on tha ADV build, that you mentioned a trip to Dead Horse summer of 2012. When were you planning on doing this? My goal is to hit Alaska around the middle of July or so, it would be cool to share some miles together on our sturdy reliable old steeds.

The ammo cans look pretty good! I plan on doing something similar but with Mermite cans. I suppose with the hack you'll have a good deal more carry space than me though. What are your plans for extra provisions, spare gasoline and all that good stuff.

If you don't want to clog up your build thread with the semi-hijack feel free to PM me, I'd enjoy the chance to pick your brain a bit. This is my first real moto adventure and I'm trying to prepare as much as possible.

I'm watching this build closely!

[240punk]

Dead horse, where adventurers go to adventure.
Gnarly man. Good luck.

[DrunkenChekhov]

Question.


Since you're eliminating the rear seat with the brackets/cans, you can still only carry 1 passenger... So why not just have them ride on the back like normal?

[Hacked850]

The rack fits just behind me and I MIGHT add a backrest to it at some point.I think for now I will put a piece of diamond plate aluminum on the rack and maybe add a a top box down the road.All the adjusting points ( toe in/lean in and out etc) are on the sidecar it's self.I'm planning on Deadhorse sometime in June OR July not sure yet and I would love some company on the trip.My wife sold her Katana so I could build this rig,she got tired of riding her own and LOVES to relax in the sidecar.As far carrying extra fuel I built the saddlebad racks to fit a 5 gallon fuel can instead of 1 of the saddle bags ( OR 2 fuel cans if need be !! ).The way I see it there are 2 ways of thinking on this new VS old subject. 1..New bike that doesn't break down much BUT is REALLY hard to fix yourself say in AFRICA !!. 2..Old bike that might break down more BUT can be repaired pretty much ANYWHERE,I went with number 1 and now I'm going with number 2 !!.

Oh and the MAIN reason I built it is that I LOVE to go off and camp,and with the hack I can carry ALOT of stuff and be COMFY while I camp ( I have a bad back and can't sleep on the ground,so I carry a REALLY nice cot !!)...

[Hacked850]

Made some progress today.I got the rack done ( diamond plate installed),got the windshield cut out and will finish it tomorrow.Tomorrow I have to REmount the old worn out shocks so I can move the bike outside and mount up the sidecar.I bought new shocks but they won't be here till Tuesday and I NEED to get the bike and sidecar put together ASAP.I also need to build a steering dampner mount on the forks,fab up a front fender and mount the fairing,I told my wife that I'm NOT comming in tomorrow till it's all together !!.PICS to follow tomorrow night !!!.

[Hacked850]

My seat use's the key behind the seat ( above the tail light) and the whole seat just lifts off.I made sure that I left enough room to turn the key and left the back up about 2-3 inches and slide the seat forward and out/off.

So I went out to the shed today and was making good progress and was on schedule to get it hooked up to the sidecar when I got a phone call.A good friend/co-worker who I look up to as one of the best fab/mechanic had a massive heart attack and there not sure if he's gonna make it.He is in his mid 30's,doesn't smoke,drink and takes good care of himself,he was walking his dog and just dropped !!.Well I'm almost 50,fat,bald,don't smoke and drink very little and DON'T take very good care of myself !!.Needless to say this hit me hard and I spent the day informing others about his condition,and I stayed out in the shed and TRIED to work on the bike,and did some work but spent most of the time thinking about my life and such.What I did do was to build a steering damp mount for the forks,and made the winshield and got it mounted.I also cut and mounted the luggage rack plate.I started to mount the fairing but when I put the headlight back in the bucket I blew the headlight fuse so I shorted it out in there and thought that was a good place to stop !!.

[chef1366]

Sounds like a hit of acid I took in the eighties.

[Hacked850]

Maybe Rob Zombie was taking the same stuff when he wrote the song !!!

[Hacked850]

After about 2 months in the shed,BLACK SUNSHINE finally emerged.

[Hacked850]

Here are some pics of the sidecar and bike together.You might notice that there is a tad bit to much lean IN.I have decided to redo the bottom mounts on the sidecar next week to solve this problem.

[mike-s]

You're right, i think you need about half as much lean as you've got, which looks like about 5 degrees. One maybe two ought to be enough, it'd start feeling weird constantly leaning

[Hacked850]

So it's been awhile since I posted anything and alot has happened.I'm able to ride the rig now but I'm going to take the sidecar down to a bare frame and rebuild it to fit this bike better.I built it for my Vstrom ( DL1000 ) so it sits very high.I'm going to lower it about 6" and do a few other things.Here are some pics of it as it is now.

[john82q]

The Diamond plates scares me a bit.

Me 2 , sharp corners inchs from yer back.

But Im sure youve thought about it some, and have a reason for it.
Maybe its further back than it looks, and you cant hit when you use the body languge in the twistys, or hit large bumps , etc.


Cheers John

[Redneck]

Do you intend to paint the tank to match the fairing and ammo cans you have for bags. I think that would help bring the whole look together. Other than that I will definitely say it is an interesting look. I would however put penny rounds on the corners of the diamond plate and then wrap it in the black rubber door trim.

Just my $.02.

Paul