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Ian Soady¹ said :-
Just a quick pic of my spray booth. The Wine Society use very good strong cardboard boxes to distribute their nectar, providing very useful raw material.
Unfortunately too small to get the Steib body in it.
05/02/2026 10:28:58 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
"The Wine Society"? Good heavens just how posh is life in Redditch? Posh - and pickled too.
09/02/2026 08:09:19 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Not posh, just sensible. For a one-off £40 subscription you can get some great wine. My current favourite is a Bordeaux red (of course) which is available in bag-in-box as well as bottles for less than £8 a bottle. And free delivery.
I have to admit that at one time I worked out the best alcohol to £ ratio and ended up with draught sherry from the local offy. It tasted disgusting.
09/02/2026 10:38:13 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I'm glad I don't drink, it seems terribly complicated.
09/02/2026 15:47:55 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I never drank until I visited this site?
Pffffffftttttt.
Now I can't stop, please visit GoFundMe page : BigLadNeedsBooze and give generously.
Thanks in advance. Now where did I put my glass.
15/02/2026 13:22:41 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Hopefully trial fit of the body into the chassis tomorrow. Measuring up it looks a bit tight unless my tape stretches / shrinks between the two sheds......
Oh, and I think I now have the temperature gauge connected correctly. When I switch on the ignition the needle just moves up a touch. What will it do when the coolant is hot I wonder?
Speaking of which have now finalised the rad positioning with the aid of some 20mm stainless steel tubing to extend the hoses. Pics may (or may not) follow.
16/02/2026 13:02:46 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
As promised, despite dicky knee. Fortunately I had some help. Brilliant German engineering means nothing fits like it should but I expect I can knock up some appropriate spacers etc. I am glad I'm doing this before it's painted as there's very little clearance in a number of areas.
Picture 1:
17/02/2026 12:43:38 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Picture 2:
17/02/2026 12:43:56 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I require some more shots to understand it all. Remind me - the engine - Suzuki 400 single?
17/02/2026 13:02:20 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I haven't got time to mess around taking snaps for your delectation young Ren. Note the (rather art deco) mudguard isn't in place yet. Also there's no seating etc. Iteration 1 will be the box of pavers I mentioned a little while ago. I have a tonneau cover for whose clips I have drilled the holes.
The worst bit at the moment is that the sidecar body seems to be wider than the chassis was desgned for even though I bought the whole lot together and it's said to be new old stock. So clearance between the shell and chassis is minimal in places.
Yes, Suzuki DR-Z400 engine - originally from a CCM I believe - which has a rated output of 42bhp which I think is plenty for the kinds of roads I use. Probably not enough for motorways though. It's easy enough to fit a larger rear sprocket if I need to drop the gearing although from memory it was pretty low as is.
17/02/2026 13:55:41 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
It's looking good Ian. Do the slightly less than ideal clearances explain why it was NOS? Perhaps returned in the distant past?
I've got every confidence in you, although I'm less confident about your knee lasting the course.
Upt.
17/02/2026 16:04:43 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
The story I had was that it was the last one imported before the company went bust. I had it from David Angel of F2 motorcycles who is a very highly regarded figure in the sidecar world - formerly he imported & sold Ural bikes and sidecars but now mainly does Velorex. He told me he'd got the Steib as a project but lacked the time to complete it which I'm inclined to believe. I did get it at a very good price so am quite comfortable working out how to get everything to fit. At the end of the day, the body isn't structural so as long as it's securely attached it should be fine. Realistically I won't be taking any passengers. Or prisoners for that matter.
17/02/2026 16:55:33 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ian, are sidecars mounted in a soft way on the chassis or rigidly mounted. Or both of course. It would seem to be a good shout to offer some shock absorbing material between sidecar and chassis. Don't worry about your first passenger, myself and Ed have been fighting for the privilege behind the scenes and unfortunately for me Ed won. He's hoping for a spring ride. Gromit rides again! You'll need biscuits.
Pffffffftttttt.
Upt.
17/02/2026 20:39:44 UTC
Glyn said :-
It’s looking great Ian. I have an unexplained interest in the Ural Dnpr outfits and almost bought one last year. It would have been a whole load of trouble I’m sure. I too would line up to be a passenger but would need considerable assistance to actually get into the chair and even more to get out. I can’t get in to my car yet due to the knee.
18/02/2026 07:54:27 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
There are two suspension systems. The chassis is suspended on a leading axle which has either a rubber or torsion bar in the fat horizontal tube under the rear of the body. This is fairly stiff, moving about 20mm when I put my inconsiderable weight on it. The body pivots around the front support mountings which have silentbloc type bushes in the chassis bosses, and at the rear has a pair of motorcycle type suspecion units. I've found some fairly soft versions of these although as with other parts clearance is a bit tight. Spacers will be manufactured!
18/02/2026 10:02:05 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ta me duck.
18/02/2026 12:23:56 UTC
nab301 said :-
Ian , hopefully you won't lose interest with this one after getting it sorted and end up selling it at a loss!
Talking of Urals , this thread had me searching under sidecar outfits and had one hit locally for a 2019 Ural combo , a snip at around 20k Euro...
Nigel
18/02/2026 13:58:18 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I usually manage to at least break even costing my labour at £01 / hour. If I charged more then I would be losing heavily! The bikes I've lost on have been things like the daft scooter I dallied with. Others, like the Sunbeam I restored a few years ago, have returned a slight profit.
But old bikes these days ar pretty much on the bottom - there are loads of Nortons, BSAs etc for around the £3K mark whereas they'd be £6K+ a couple of years ago.
Re Ural sidecar outfits there are a few about. David Angel has just built one onto aan Enfield. But it wouldn't have been cheap. There's one on car& classic for £5.5K (see link). It's been on since January I believe. But if you wanted something special there are a couple of BMW/Steibs in the Iconic auction at the end of the month.
https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1994653...
18/02/2026 15:00:55 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Iconic link
https://www.i-bidder.com/en-gb/search-results?searchTerm=steib#lot-e17c60ef-8c55...
18/02/2026 15:01:46 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
That should of course have been £.01. Missing the point as usual.
18/02/2026 17:08:51 UTC
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