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Also, keep in mind that Jim does 85% of the maintenance work on our sidecar - because he can. He says his desire to do the work on the bike is best explained by George Bernard Shaw’s line: “A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful, than a life spent in doing nothing”. We find that we can do the majority of work on the bike as well and usually better, than that performed by most motorcycle facilities. The only time the sidecar goes to a shop is when there is a need for specialized tools that we do not have. We carry lots of tools and requisite spare parts just so we will not be stranded in the middle of nowhere. And there is this thing that we have about being self reliant. Camping Gear:Some of our camping gear has been with us for 20 or more years. Our Western Mountaineering (San Jose, California) sleeping bags were custom made in order to provide reduced bulk with maximum insulation. As a result, we have 22 ounce down bags that can be zipped together if we desire and which stuff into two sacks 7”X14” in size. We have been using Therm-A-Rest mattresses (Cascade Designs, Seattle, Washington); currently we have the Ultralite model. In our opinion Therm-A-Rest mattresses cannot be beat. We also use silk liners which tie into the sleeping bags. These are small when packed, about the size of a large fist. By using these lingers, the sleeping bags stay clean and the need for washing the bags is reduced and the liners can be washed by hand quite easily. We have used other materials but silk packs the smallest and is easy to wash and dry. Our current tent is of Swedish manufacture - Hilleburg, the Staika model. This is the best tent we have ever owned. We use an MSR Whisper Lite stove. This stove burns multiple fuels including gasoline. Our cook kit consists of a 27mm (12 inch) pan and two pots (19mm [7.5 inches]and 17mm [6.5 inches]) and two lids. We have two stainless steel mugs, 2 plastic bowls, 2 melamine plates, salt/pepper, soap, sponge and towel inside. The cooking utensils we use are also a conglomeration of numerous items we have collected over time. We have used Swiss army knives for years and we have a large French Opinal knife; a real luxury at this time is the large Opinal knife (about 6”) which is large enough to cut just about anything easily. Luggage:All but one of the five aluminum boxes on the bike are manufactured by Roger Guhr (RMS - Rennsporttechnik Ringstrasse 17, 97270 KIST, Germany). These are all of our own design. There are four boxes on the sidecar manufactured by Roger. First is the seat box for the passenger. The seat box holds tools, spare parts, cold weather clothing, first aid supplies, and miscellaneous items we tend not to access often. This box is very well constructed in order to provide secure storage as well as a solid and stable seating platform. Behind the seat on the sidecar, and on the rack above the rear wheel of the bike, are two boxes. The one behind the seat box contains our sleeping bags, air mattresses and clothes as well as the poles for our sun/rain tarp. The box above the rear wheel holds our cooking and remaining camping equipment, except the stove and fuel bottle for the stove. We have one bag on the left side of the bike. It was specially made with no reduction in space because the normal cut out for the exhaust muffler has been removed. This gives us a full size bag to store our tent/tarp, some emergency supplies and motorcycle gloves. The stove and the fuel bottle for the stove are in the box at the front of the bike which also contains all the necessary items needed for routine maintenance, except tools. This box was not made by Roger but purchased “off the shelf”. Touratech Equipment:All of the Touratech equipment has worked fine. We did lose two screws and nuts on one of the GPS brackets which holds the antenna for the GPS. We e-mailed Touratech about the problem and they sent us some spare screws and nuts as well as a replacement piece for the bracket which holds the antenna. Great customer service. We also have a high intensity driving (HID) light made by Hella that we purchased from Touratech. It produces a great deal of light while putting a minimum load on our electrical system. The ballast on the HID light failed in 2006. We sent it in to Touratech for evaluation. They sent us a new ballast, gratis. But, the light and ballast were lost in the mail we never received them. Touratech investigated but was unable to get any information from the German post office as to the status of the package. To our utter and complete disbelief, they sent us a complete new light with ballast and wiring. We cannot say enough kind words about Touratech and their customer service. Any time we have had a problem with a product of theirs, they have gone beyond anything we expected to solve the problem. Thanks Touratech!!! Upgraded Electrical System:We upgraded our alternator to the Omega charging system from Motorrad Elektrik. The Omega produces 400 watts of power at much lower engine speeds than before. This is a complete alternator kit, comprised of rotor, stator, hi-output voltage regulator, high-capacity diode board with solid mounts, connecting wires, allen wrench and a rotor removal tool. We are very happy with this conversion - it installs easily and lives up to the sales literature. This gives us sufficient electrical power to operate the sidecar with our electric clothing fully operational and all three of the headlights running at the same time if need be. Note that Jim has done all of the electrical wiring on the bike which includes the installation of a new factory wiring harness and building the wiring harnesses and installing them in two additional BMW factory fuse boxes for use with all the accessories on the machine. Eastern Beaver Equipment:We upgraded the headlight operation on the motorcycle by adding a headlight wiring harness from Eastern Beaver Company that is an H4 Single Headlight Relay Kit (shell mount - relays go inside headlight shell) that provides two relays for the main motorcycle headlight. One relay is for the low beam and one for the high beam. This provides the maximum voltage to the headlight for maximum illumination. GPS:In 2007 we sold our GPSMap 176C and 276C and purchased a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx. We wanted this unit because it has a much better antenna than our previous GPS’s and does not require the use of an external antenna. We found that the small antenna that came with our previous Garmin GPS’s was not able to function well in large cities or when lots of tree cover was overhead. All of our GPS’s have been purchased from GPS City. When we started our travels in 2000 we were using Garmin III+ GPS’s. In 2002 we upgraded our Garmin III+ GPS’s to Garmin GPSMap 176’s. We did this because the III+ GPS had only 1.5 MB of RAM that could accept downloads of additional map data. This small amount prove to be insufficient for our needs. The GPSMap 176 uses data cards to stop downloaded map data and the card cab be as large as 128 MB. The GPS is mounted with a with a bracket from Touratech. In 2005 we upgraded our GPSMap176C to a GPSMap276c. NOTE: Our Garmin GPSMap 176 was destroyed in the September 22, 2205 accident in Turkey when a mini bus hit the sidecar and flipped the machine over. Communications Equipment:We have installed a Starcom1 Advance intercom. We also installed an inline noise filter. This is our second intercom unit. It has two things that we detest. The first is automatic volume control. The unit increases the volume automatically as the ambient noise level in the helmet increases. This is NOT a good feature for anyone who uses custom made ear plugs. To the credit of the Starcom manufacturer, Tecstar Electronics Ltd. Bramley Road, St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, PE27 3WS, they have taken the unit back and modified it to disable this feature. They do have a remote volume control unit that we wanted to use to control the volume but we discovered that it did NOT override the automatic volume control. The modification should correct this problem. The second thing we hate is the voice actuated (VOX) microphone. In all our years of motorcycling we have NEVER found a VOX system that does not transmit wind noise. The Tecstar people we have talked to insist that this is not possible when the unit is properly installed. Ours is properly installed and used just as their instructions state but it does continue to transmit wind noise any time we are going faster than 45 MPH (70KPH). Unfortunately, there is nothing they can do about this. This is the main reason we need the volume control to function properly - so we can turn off the volume when the wind noise becomes excessive. We are using custom made ear plugs made by E.A.R. Inc./Instamold West, Boulder Colorado. One set is plain - just ear plugs to bl One of Jim’s ear plugs with a speaker in it split - the ear plugs are made of silicone. We returned it to the audiologist that took the ear impressions and had them made for us and he returned it to the manufacture. It was replaced at no charge. Good customer service in our opinion 16 months later in 2002 and the black plastic covering the wires on both of Jim’s ear plugs had split and the metal sheath surrounding the wiring that is under the plastic covering was unraveling. The entire units had to be replaced. We highly recommend the use of these custom made earplugs as they are the most comfortable we have ever worn (especially for all day riding) and keep out the most wind noise of any other ear plugs we have tried. The ones with the embedded speakers provide much better sound quality than in-helmet speakers ever could at a very low volume level. On Bike Clothing:In 2006 we replaced our riding suits and helmets because our jackets, pants and helmets were destroyed in the accident in September 2005 in Turkey when a bus ran into the rear of the sidecar. We both are now wearing BMW Santiago textile jackets and pants. These jackets have a separate GoreTex® liner that can be zipped into the jacket or worn without zipping it into the jacket. We are happy with these because they come in custom sizes - longer sleeves for Jim and women’s sizing for Verna. Our electric jackets are from Warm & Safe as are the controllers for the jackets and the electrically heated hand grips on the motorcycle. These jackets fit snug and compared to the Gerbing version are superior, in our opinion. We like them better than the Widder electric vests that we used for many years as well. We are using Gerbing electrically heated gloves. We are using Hein-Gerrick summer and winter gloves with Kevlar knuckle protectors. We do not think that the Gerbing gloves offer sufficient protection for the hands, based on our experience in the accident in Turkey, and are eagerly awaiting the Warm & Safe offering currently under construction that will have Kevlar knucle protectors. We are using Gore-tex rain gloves from Aerostich Riders Warehouse. These are big and fit over just about any kind of glove. The only negative we can list about them is that they tend to be a bit slippery and this makes it difficult to prevent them from holding the throttle in a constant position. We are using Meindl Gore Tex® hiking boots while on the motorcyle/sidecar. These boots provide good protection for the foot and ankle. With the addition of soccer shin guards to our ridding pants they we have protection to the shin area of the leg. This provides us with effective footwear when on the bike and off. And, they survived the accident in Turkey very well and continue in use - we have had them since 1998. Our helmets are the C2 model from Schuberth in Germany. They are full face with a hinged chin bar which lifts up and out of the way when desired. The greatest feature of these helmets is a sun visor which flips up into the helmet when not in use much like the type used on fighter aircraft pilot helmets. This feature works extremely well because it negates the need for wearing sunglasses and allows the visor to be pushed up out of the way when traveling through tunnels or other areas of darkness without having to stop and make a change of glasses or a dark shield. Now, a bit of history about our on bike clothing (warning, this is long): We used Thurlow Leather World (San Diego, CA) Deerskin gloves with and without linings through 2005. We had used deer skin gloves for more than 20 years and recommended them because they are warmer in the cold and cooler in the heat than cattle hide (leather). They also provide a higher degree of resistance to abrasion in accidents. But, having said that, we found that our hands received severe friction burns from the glove material moving about during our accident in Turkey in 2005. We have stopped using the Thurlow gloves. Tthe deer skin Thrulow’s survived the crash but our hands were severely damaged in the knuckle areas because the gloves did not offer sufficient protection. We gave up our motorcycle specific riding boots because they were too limiting. The hiking boots can be used for so much more. We no longer carry a second pair of shoes with us—just a pair of rubber sandals that can be used for daily wear off the bike. We also have a pair of thongs for use in campground showers and rivers. From people we have talked to shoes often are the most overlooked item. Many thank they can get by with just the boots they will wear on the bike but quickly learn that they never are given the opportunity to dry and after a few weeks they do not want to put their feet into them due to mold growth. When we started our travels in 2000, both had Aerostich Riders Warehouse Darien two piece riding suits. We also had the Aerostich fleece jacket liners which are electrically heated. The Aerostich gear worked extremely well. It not only provided protection from the elements (wind, rain, etc.) but it also had excellent CE approved closed cell foam with hard plastic coverings in the appropriate places for protection should one have an accident. We wore cotton pants and long-sleeved shirts under the Aerostich suits, as per the manufacturers recommendations. We have been in week long torrential downpours and never had a problem with the suits. Always dry. While the suits were very functional, Verna was not very happy with the fit. They are sized for men (understandably as the majority of their customers are men), but as a result they do not fit those with a womanly figure. Because of her chest size, Verna had to buy the men’s medium jacket. This results in several issues:
Unfortunately the folks at Aerostich were unsympathetic to these needs at the time of purchase, but hopefully with time they will address women riders’ issues. By the end of 2002 our Aerostich jackets were showing real signs of wear on the inside where the Gore Tex® material had been worn from the fabric. This was allowing water to penetrate the jackets. The trousers were doing fine. We replaced our jackets. Vera with a Rukka Air Power jacket and Jim with a BMW Savanna II jacket. We each had a Gore Tex® liner for our jacket. In 2004 we replaced our Aerostich trousers with the companion trousers associated with each of our jackets. The seat are of the Aerostich trousers had begun to leak for the same reason the jackets did. We felt that the jacket wore a bit too quickly but that the trousers were ok. Given that we have worn these items almost every day for many hours each day for 7+ months a year the trousers did well but the jackets should have lasted longer than two years. In 2004 we also replaced our Aerostich electric fleece jackets with electric vests from Widder. We purchased much lighter weight fleece jackets that can be worn when on the bike or off. The Aerostich fleece jackets were a bit too bulky when worn with our motorcycle jackets. They also fit too loosely for the electric’s to do much good - not closed enough to the body. The electric vest and separate fleece jacket is a much better compromise. We also replaced our Widder electric vests with jackets from Warm & Safe in 2006. We used Thurlow Leather World (San Diego, CA) Deerskin gloves with and without linings through 2005. We had used deer skin gloves for more than 20 years and recommended them because they are warmer in the cold and cooler in the heat than cattle hide (leather). They also provide a higher degree of resistance to abrasion in accidents. But, having said that, we found that our hands received severe friction burns from the glove material moving about during our accident in Turkey in 2005. We have stopped using the Thurlow gloves. The deer skin Thrulow’s survived the crash but our hands were severely damaged in the knuckle areas because the gloves did not offer sufficient protection. Because the hiking boots can be used for so much more than motorcycle specific boots we no longer carry a second pair of shoes with us. Fellow travelers we have talked to say that shoes often are the most overlooked item. Many think they can get by with just the boots they will wear on the bike but quickly learn that they never are given the opportunity to dry and after a few weeks they do not want to put their feet into them due to mold growth. Ugh! Off Bike Clothing:Our clothing is quite simple. Lightweight and mostly synthetic so it doesn’t wrinkle much, is compact when packed and can be washed by hand and will dry overnight. We have REI and Columbia synthetics but any manufacturer of repute will do. What cotton items we have are used exclusively for travel on the bike and these items suffer the most. They get filthy because they cannot be washed and dried easily. But, since we have added our “washing machine” to the sidecar this has become less an issue. We also use silk under garments for warmth and/or cooling and daily use. These work well as they can be washed out and will dry quite quickly. They also offer another layer between our bodies and our cotton clothing which helps keep things a bit cleaner when we are on the bikes. We each have one pair of comfortable sandals for daily wear off the bike and a pair of rubber thongs which can be used in campgrounds a showers. |
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Copyright © 2000-2009 Jim Seavey and Verna Norris All Rights Reserved |
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We thought it would be nice to provide information about the equipment we use and describes what has worked and what has not.
ock the wind noise. A second set (pictured at left) contains miniature speakers which are used when we are using the radios. This way we get protection from the wind noise and can hear no matter what the speed. We had the choice of the minimal in-the-ear-canal version (small and can barely be seen when worn) or the larger version which also fills the outer ear cavity. We chose the latter as it offered the maximum noise attenuation (and who cares if you can see them!). They took a while to get used to in terms of inserting them fully into the ear, but after a bit of use, they usually go in quite easily and we rarely have problems.