We have categorized the things that have happened to the bike in the table below. You will find supporting text below the table if there is more detail for the item. Information specific to the maintenance activities on the bike can be found on the 2005 Sidecar Maintenance Schedule page.

After taking delivery of the bike Jim spent two months working on the bike adding brackets for GPS, radios, etc., etc.

One thing to keep in mind about our travels this year. This is the inaugural “shake down” cruise for our new machine. We expect to have problems. We know that much of what has been done in the construction of the machine to accommodate our needs is new and untested. With this in mind we have set off but we know that we will encounter problems that we will have to sort out on the road. Our goal is discover these problems on this trip and then make the necessary changes so we do not have them again.

In the course of our travels in 2005 we will put the initial miles on the bike. This is added to the 84,000 miles we have ridden before this year on our two BMW R1150GS’s.

The first two services for the bike have been very routine. We are learning about the machine as we go along and one of the things we have learned is that a 550 kilogram (1,212 pounds) sidecar requires a lot more use of the rear brake than a motorcycle. The sidecar also has a brake that is actuated when the rear brake is applied.

ITEM DATE 600 Mile Service June (Germany) 5,000 Mile Service - Also replaced brake pads on rear wheel August (Sicily) Broken sidecar brake caliper retaining rod replaced August (Italy and Greece) Broken rear wheel hub; destroyed rear wheel bearings and axle September (Turkey)

The pads on the sidecar and the front wheel are worn approximately half way through. So, it looks like we will be changing the rear wheel brake pads as a part of our routine maintenance every 5,000 miles.

We are also learning that tire pressure is as important on a sidecar as it is on a motorcycle. We may have reduced the mileage we will get from our current rear tire by having it under inflated for the past several weeks.

Broken sidecar brake caliper retaining rod:

The front wheel and the sidecar when each have a brake caliper that has its forward and rearward motion restricted by a steel rod. One end of the rod is connected to the plate that the brake caliper is mounted on and the other is connected to the front fork or frame of the sidecar.

The forces placed on these rods when breaking are somewhat severe but the force is placed on the rod such that it is pulling the rod forward when the vehicle is going forward. This force is easy for the rod to deal with as it just pulls the rod as the brake is applied.

When the brake is applied the brake caliper wants to move in the direction that the wheel is turning. Going forward this stress is easy for the rod to deal with.

When we roll backward with the machine the forces placed on the rod when the brakes are applied are different. The rod now wants to bend, rather than just prevent the brake caliper from moving because the wheel is pushing the brake caliper in the opposite direction.

The result of numerous stops when rolling the machine backwards led to the bending of the rod which is attached to the sidecar brake caliper - see photo at left. The gap at the left end of the rod shows the break clearly. In the picture below right you can see a close up where the threaded portion of the rod broke.

We were able to make a temporary repair with a piece of threaded rod that we purchased at a local hardware store in Bari, Italy, when we discovered the problem. But, the threaded rod was not strong enough to deal with the forces of breaking. The first time we applied the brakes when the bike was on a slight incline and rolling backwards the rod bent severely.

The next large city we arrived in was Thessaloniki, Greece. We needed a stainless steel rod to replace the original and this meant it would be easier to find on in a sea coast city. We found a marine supply house and they indeed had the required rod. They were also able to make the arrangements for the rod to be machined and the threads cut in each end.

After discussing the problem with Horst Ullrich (the maker of our sidecar) we decided we would upgrade the size of the rod. We have gone from a 10mm rod to a 16mm diameter rod. This is the first brake that Horst is aware of and we both think it is due to all the weight we are carrying. We will try the 16mm rod and see how it performs. If it too has problems we have an idea for an upgrade to the brake caliper carrier and the rod but we will see if the larger rod is sufficient before we go to all that work.

And it did indeed have problems. It turns out that the rod has been hitting the nut that is on the second bolt which holds the sidecar brake caliper to its carrier. You can see the area on the nut where it has been flattened by the two rods that have been banging against it for more than 7,000 miles.

We had a slightly longer bolt with us that we installed to see if it would move the rode out away from the brake caliper carrier so it would miss the nut. The bolt was too short. So, Jim improvised and made a new rod using a piece of the threaded rod we purchased in Bari, Italy to make the first temporary repair.

The picture at left shows one of the rods we had made in Thessaloniki. You can see the rod hitting the nut. This is when the sidecar suspension is very compressed.

In the photo above right, you can see the new threaded rod attached to the rear mounting point for the brake caliper with the sidecar suspension very compressed.

We have purchased a longer bolt that we will use to install the longer rod.

Broken rear wheel hub; destroyed rear wheel bearings and axle. We paid a very costly price for the extremely rough roads in Turkey. The rear wheel hub that the wheel is mounted to cracked in the area of the outside wheel bearings in two places. The axle was also severely damaged.

There are four wheel bearings in the hub. The axle passes through them and is locked in place by a clamp in the swing arm and a bolt on the end of the axle shaft. Unfortunately the axle is not locked in place inside the wheel hub. It has only a bolt and washer that keeps it tight against the wheel bearings. We believe this is a problem.

We think that the axle is actually moving independently from the wheel hub on very rough roads because it is not bolted firmly to the wheel hub. We do not believe that the axle and hub will move in exactly the same motion on very rough roads if they are not bolted together. We suspect that the axle has been moving up and down just slightly out of sync with the wheel hub and that this motion, over time, has caused the metal to fatigue and crack.

Also, the bearings for the rear wheel are ball bearings and they cannot withstand the treatment they are receiving from the rough roads. Ball bearings are one of the worst type of bearings to use in applications such as wheel bearings.

We also think that the aluminum hub has had too much metal removed in the area of the cracks. The metal has been removed so the hub can be bolted to the final drive. The holes are used for the wheel lugs to screw onto the studs that have been installed in the final drive. The wheel with the tire is then bolted onto this hub using different bolts.

We do not think this design can do anything but fail when on very rough roads.

Horst is sending us a new wheel hub and axle with roller bearings in place of the ball bearings. We think this will help but we believe that the design must be changed. Only time will tell but we think the new wheel hub will also fail before we are out of Turkey or back in Germany later in the year.

The good news part of this story is the help we received on the highway from two local men. They were driving by on an ATV and stopped to see if we needed help. By this time Jim had the wheel and wheel hub off the bike and was just removing all the loose ball bearings from the inside of the hub.

Fortunately we have extra wheel bearings with us. These two wonderfully kind gentlemen took our wheel hub back the 23.5 kilometers to the town we had just left to have the old bearings removed and the new ones installed. When they returned they brought us Coke’s and candy bars and a clamp that we put around the area of the wheel hub where the cracks are to help strengthen it a bit. We tried to get them to accept payment for what they had done and they would not do so. It is encounters like this that make our journey that much more enjoyable. There are some wonderful people in this world. Did we mention that neither of them speaks any English and we managed to communicate with a bit of hand signs, etc.

To give you an idea about the condition of the roads, the 23.5 km journey takes one hour to travel. They were back three hours later with the new bearings in the wheel hub and we were able to ride the 75 kilometers to the next town that they suggested we go - Inebolu.

We were able to get a hotel room and make contact with Horst by email and discuss the problem. This happened on a Friday and while this will cost us two days it actually worked out OK. Horst had to modify a wheel hub to accept roller bearings before he could ship it so he was able to do that over the week end and the hub went out Monday.

And then came September 22, 2005. This is when the mini bus ran into the back of the sidecar just west of Göle, Turkey, flipping it over as we were moving down the road. The machine is scheduled to be repaired and back on the road in early June , 2006.

Top of Table

If you find typographical errors or have any other problems when looking at the site please contact the Webmaster describing the problem and the page involved.

Copyright © 2000-2009 Jim Seavey and Verna Norris

All Rights Reserved