Posts
1727
Joined
1/29/2015
Location
GB
Edited Date/Time
4/15/2016 2:55pm
Hi guys, so the 2016 British sidecarcross season kicks off next Sunday when my brother Rob and I will again campaign our 26 year old EML KX 500 against a full line up of much more modern chariots and in true cutting it fine style we hope to get out and practice tomorrow..... If today goes ok, firing the bike up after complete nut and bolt rebuild including new mains and seals, new rod, new piston and rings, skimmed head to up the compression a little, new cylinder head studs, new billet clutch basket, new v-force 3 reed block, new pair of over sized radiators, new silicone hoses and all new plastics, the mudguards of wich came from the pro circuit race team.... Oh and I have to fit the new chain and further modify the back mudguard to get the seat positioned better, 3 or 4 hours work and she should...... Should fire up..... We get quite a lot of crowd support by still running the big K5 here's a couple of photos taken this morning
I think id race with my Golden Retriever.
Whats it cost in general to build a bike to race that class?
Are they popular? I mean can you get 10 bikes or more on the line at one time? Its a big day if there are more than 5 bikes in the 125 class in the north east vintage motos
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Much Genuine change / advancement? Have you been able to make changes to bring things up to current spec? Not that I know much about SCX suspension, but the front shocks seem to be very much inline with older SCX units from quite some time ago.
I assume that the chassis / chair really takes a pounding. Much chasing of fatigue cracking? Or, are the chassis just made so well they take the punishment? The various SCX chassis from the main manufacturers I've checked over the years are gorgeuosly made things, made in what I assume are very high quality/ appropriate materials for the stresses encountered - I'm a frame maker of over 4 decades experience so I look straight past bling and BS to the construction.
Just questions - I'm a bit of a cynic, with the continual claims of massive advancements from mainstream manufacturers and their customers with regards to dirt bikes. Get past the hype and bling, and you generally find geometries that have remained the same for decades now, with only m.ms difference.
SCX is 'big', in tinyly relative terms, here in OZ in South Australia, and Victoria - very few elsewhere, so it's not often I get near them. Caught a couple of Dutch, Belgian and German SCX races over the years and GPs. . I'm trying to tie in an SCX GP this year around being at the Classic TT and one or two GPs and the MX Des Nations at Maggiora.
Bearuno, ours is fairly old, frame and motor are both 1989 but we don't get any trouble with our frame ( touches something very wooden with fingers crossed...) we have had one crack in the last 4 years.
When EML built this type of frame kit they got things right and it differs very little to more modern outfits, I will take some better pics of the frame and welds for you. Our suspension is WP on the forks and they have been fully re built and serviced, handles well and as for the foot peg, the gaps are not big enough for my size 11 tech 8s to get through and my feet seem to stay where I want them.
Sandman, I have plenty of footage but I have never uploaded video onto here, I will try later in the week.
MaxPower, cost is basically the moon if you want, some guys build £20,000+ bikes, others race 2-3 year old £8,000 bikes, others race what they have but any decent race bike is worth £4,000+ that's around where I value mine ( I know old knackers show up on eBay etc especially around Weston Beach Race time of year ) but any sidecarcross bike that runs is worth £1,500 now. There's around 60 bikes being raced in UK at the moment and we like to get together so 25-35 is normal at a national meeting, there were 6 at the practice track I was at today.
Why are these type of forks utilized instead of traditional telescopic forks? Do these not "dive" the same way under hard braking?
What's more popular, the left side or right side sidecar? How in the heck does a team choose?
Bikes tend to follow the law of the road in that country, but there's no written rule on it so in the UK we drive on the left hand side of the road in right hand drive cars so 99% of the bikes in the UK have the sidecar on the left thus making them right hand drive if you like or in sidecar speak LH, as in sidecar on the left hand side, in the USA you drive on the right in left hand drive cars meaning if sidecarcross had taken off ( it really should, you are missing out ) you would predominantly be on RH bikes, with sidecar on the right, like Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy etc at the GPs ( yes there is a sidecarcross world championship and Des Nations ) it's about 70% on RH, most teams from mainland Europe and 30% on LH, England, Ireland and a few others Swiss etc.
Winchester at Owlesbury ?
Frome, what a track , rocks the size of your head up the top, made my British 4 Stroke Debut there in 1995.
Some photos from our practice at Ashdown Nr Oxford on Sunday......
Who would believe , a dusty practice track in March, they had to cancel Long Buckby this weekend
Enjoy Spa and the GP.
Pit Row
Four days to get the bike serviced and prepped ready to race non championship event this (Easter) Friday.
Photos from yesterday....
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