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Ian Soady¹ said :-
This week's generous prize is not won. The device is in fact a parking brake. One aspect of having a sidecar is that there is no stand to stop it rolling away if parked on a slope. Yes I could leave it in gear but due to the installation of the Zuki engine in the Beeza there is nothing to stop me trying to start it in gear (actually this can be useful if the clutch cable snaps!). So the gadget slips over the twistgrip and front brake lever to hold the latter on. I also have a lock that does much the same thing. The tape (non-sticky harness tape) is as Mr Lurker suggests to preserve the finish.
Here it is in action:
26/02/2026 11:14:44 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Ahhhhhh riiiiiiight! Hang on a minute... that... that's a cable in the lever? Well I suppose it'll be drum brakes and looking at the other pictures - yeah. Been a long long time since I rode my Benly CD200 with cable operated drum brake up front. Eeeeeh I remember the cable freezing solid leaving me with no front brake. Them's were the days eh. I don't believe that everything new is better, far from it - but hydraulic brakes are undoubtedly an improvement up front at least.
26/02/2026 16:19:46 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
You see! I should've blummin posted my fiver.
My only thought is that with the curved ends it would hold two parts together, so then I thought what two parts? Then I thought the brake lever for bleeding of the brakes overnight, then I thought, but it's got cables?
Then I gave up thinking. I await the next puzzle.
26/02/2026 16:22:50 UTC
nab301 said :-
Drum brakes , even when they were current never did it for me , be it my "current" Enfield which I converted to disc or my early 80's Renault 4 850cc car...
Never had a cable freeze but I did arrive home during a cold spell (2011/ 2012?) with a mechanically frozen unable to switch off ignition switch! (Honda 500)
Nigel
27/02/2026 11:51:57 UTC
nab301 said :-
Ian , I meant to ask does the sidecar have the facility for or even need a sidecar wheel brake?
Nigel
27/02/2026 11:53:18 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
The front brake on the BSA is an 8" twin leading shoe affair and is very progressive and powerful. I agree some drum brakes were pretty pathetic but by the late 1960s there were some good ones around. Norton's TLS on the early Commandos was excellent and indeed better in many ways than the later disc. I remember some heart stopping moments on my disc braked 850 Commando in the wet. It needed a full turn of the wheel at least before the water was wiped off. Just as your knuckles were going white it would start to grip at which point the front wheel would lock......
No sidecar brake and I can't see a means of fitting one easily. The wheel is in fact from a Ural with suitable adaptors. A sidecar brake is useful - not so much for stopping but to help with left hand bends which also need slight acceleration. On right handers - which of course are less scary - slight application of the bike rear brake helps to pull the whole thing round. I need to relearn all these things and have located a useful big car park on a local trading estate which is unused on Sundays so will be making my way there once all is up & running.
Sidecar paint and transport there on Monday confirmed.
This is the BSA brake - also fitted to Bonnies, Tridents and the like.
27/02/2026 12:23:54 UTC
Glyn said :-
I came across this at Kempton bike jumble today. A V6 engine and fairly well put together. I presuming it is someone’s one off. It had a ticket for £750 on it. Has anyone any ideas?
07/03/2026 20:13:48 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Glyn, that's a mystery indeed. It's got elements of Pan Euro 11/13 about it but they're V4.
Upt.
07/03/2026 21:59:54 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
On second looksies, I dont think it is a V6, it's an ST1100 with a fake front ST lead. But I've been wrong before. Fake news, who said that?
07/03/2026 22:03:20 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
See what I mean?
07/03/2026 22:05:37 UTC
Glyn said :-
I think you’re onto something there Up’t. I don’t think the Triumph tank fooled anybody but it was a very good fit seemingly sculpted around various fitments on the frame. Do you think it’s the Pan frame. Clever really because most of the Pan is covered with fairing so those who have never owned one would not recognise the chassis and engine. £750 seems reasonable value for what could become a pretty interesting machine.
08/03/2026 07:42:27 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Interesting, I always like bikes that are a bit oddball. I think Mr North may be right as I can only see 2 exhausts exiting, at least on the side we can see.
08/03/2026 09:47:42 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
The frame and rear footpeg hangers are ST11. The tank is a dummy, you can see the tank and filler just behind it in it's original position. Wheels are ST11 too.
08/03/2026 16:39:29 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Yeah if you look at the front spark plug cap compared to the middle and rear caps it's "different". Most peculiar, someone's gone to a lot of effort to give a V4 engine a V6 look. Weird, but as long as weird ain't hurting no-one weird is fine.
09/03/2026 08:14:03 UTC
nab301 said :-
I guess it's a poor mans take on a Honda Valkyrie (although the valkyrie is a flat 6 ) if the engine and transmission are good it seems well worth the money . Be interesting to see how it rides and with some custom side covers it could look ok.
Nigel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Valkyrie...
09/03/2026 16:03:09 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ay up me ducks.
Advice required, no not that, keep it clean!
Anyone got any experience of charging through the OBD2 port. Optimate make a lead with the OBD2 port on one end and the SAE on the other. Seems a good solution in an ever more complicated HEV world. Any views, experiences would be welcomed. I've put the question to Optimate and will post their response when it comes. This is for a 4 wheeled contrivance and not a motorsiccle. It would seem to be safer to go through the OBD but I'm just checking things out before I spend 20 squid on a lead.
Ta me ducks.
Upt.
10/03/2026 16:58:44 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
https://www.optimate.co.uk/battery-chargers/o37-sae-to-obd-ii-cable/...
10/03/2026 16:59:39 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
From Optimate....
Thank you for your email.
The O37 OBD connector is a very safe option for battery maintenance and will be the ideal solution for you to keep the battery in your Toyota topped up when the car is not being used.
Regards,
Benn Green
Technical Sales Advisor
10/03/2026 21:13:41 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Wow! I am surprised. Firstly because Optimate actually got back to you and secondly I didn't think it'd be a good idea to charge through the OBD2 port. I know there's a 12v feed to the OBD2 port as my el-cheapo fault code reader has no battery but it wakes up when it's plugged into the port. I would have thought the 12v wires to the OBD2 port would be quite thin, only designed to provide an amp or so for any attached equipment. I wouldn't want to be back-feeding a hefty charge through an OBD2 port.
I suppose the Optimate is a battery TENDER as opposed to a battery CHARGER. It's designed to feed a small current to the battery to keep it topped up rather than a dollop of amps to quickly recharge.
On an OBD2 side note I purchased a OBD2 port to 4 pin thingy that fits in the CB500X's little red diagnostic port. My el-cheapo scanner can now read the basics from my Honda. Woohoo!
11/03/2026 07:55:15 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I'm a bit surprised as well but if optimate thinks it's OK and you have that in writing then I assume they will pick up the tab if your ecu gets fried.
My solution was to use the permanent live on the 12 pin trailer socket on my car. It's handy because the car's still locked and indeed would still work even if the battery was dead. Some years ago my wife left the headlights on with her car and flattened the battery rendering the central locking inoperative. For some reason I couldn't get to the key operated door lock. After a few choice words I remembered my AA patrol days and manage to break in using a wire coathanger and a tyre lever. No damage was caused.....
Oddly enough, breaking into cars wasn't covered in the AA training course but it was one of the more common call outs, especially Ford Escorts for some reason. The only ones I could never get into were VW bugs (the originals).
11/03/2026 09:43:03 UTC
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