Today we continue with a few more photos that were taken at the Morning Tea break during the Sidecar Circus 2012 Rally.
This beautifully restored 1936 Harley Davidson is fitted with a genuine HD factory chair.I just had to take a picture of that beautiful 1340cc (80cubic inch) side-valve motor, since I owned three bikes of this exact same model many, many years ago when I was still young and single.A nice 1947 Ariel 550cc twin-port single soaks up the sunshine.This neat Panther Sloper was fitted with a Dusting sidecar that had almost-perfect original pin-striping – the first such striping I had set eyes on since I pin-striped my last Dusting in 1969This Triumph is fitted with a genuine Dusting chassis, wheel and mudguard, but what the body is, is a bit of a mystery. I am familiar with very many models made by Dusting, but this one I don’t recognise at all. The body shape is very vaguely similar to that of a Dusting, but in so many points it is also radically different.
I took photos all day until my camera memory filled up, but I had better not post the rest of them here for fear of boring everybody.
Despite my own bike breaking down, it was a very enjoyable day’s ride.
Now, having mentioned that my bike broke down, how did I get it home after the rally?
Fellow Chang Jiang rider Chris Davey must have been a good boy scout when he was a boy, because he not only carried some good strong rope with him; he also knew exactly how to use it!
Look at all that rope! And there is a lot more of it in the sidecar under the tarp.
Firstly we pulled the sidecar inwards to its correct position next to the bike. Then we turned the clamp upside down so the good half-fitting cup was above the ball mounted on the frame of the bike. Then Chris very skilfully tied the rope each side of the joint in such a manner that it could not pull apart.
Looking more closely at the rope job, you can see the broken clamp behind the crossed part of the rope.The rope between the sidecar frame and the bike frame needed to be crossed so that it would be clear of the hot exhaust pipe. To have had any part of the rope touching the exhaust would have resulted in the rope burning through during the ride home.After completing the main binding to hold the broken clamp together, we thought to “use up” the extra rope by looping it around the two front downtubes of the bike frame. However, that looked like too much work which was going to be too difficult to do, mainly because it was just plain awkward crawling around on the ground under the bike.
I rode my bike home while Chris followed me in case anything went amiss on the way.
He must have tied some truly excellent knots, because nothing moved even the slightest amount on the way home.
A few weeks later some new sidecar mountings arrived in the post, but that is another story.
