Monday, December 15, 2008

Tractor/Motorman Badge / Cop Fuel Tank



Found this (WW2?) vintage Soviet "Tractor/Motorman's" Badge on eBay over in Russia. I thought that this would be appropriate to mount on the rear of the Russian Hack. Since the bike is now more of a tractor than a motorcycle. I have a small Russian wing decal there now.
We rode a 600 + mile trip a couple of weeks ago and the newly recovered seat just didn't suit me. The riding height is a couple of inches higher and my ass was killing me after about 150 miles. My old Tuetonic QSL 1000 Mile Solo Seat never caused me any pain even after an 850 mile day. ( I did that once) So the stock seat came off and the old reliable solo seats went back on. I have a passenger solo seat which is mounted on the large rear rack. The seats are their original brown color and are in decent shape. The off-white wouldn't look good on the solo seats. Maybe they will be black someday.
I'm not sure I'll ever use the stock seat again so I listed it on the IBMWR site for a fairly high price. Not much of a call for off white seats but we'll see....maybe someone will make me an offer I can't refuse. If not I'll just stash it away. This pair of "Tuetonic 1000 mile solo seats were on the bike when I bought it years ago. I absolutely love the seats. most comfortable seats I've used.
I'd looked for another 1000 mile seat for quite a while but the ones I found were way over priced. Found this one, needing a recover, on Ebay for $130.00. Not too bad considering the other ones I found were $500.00 for a pair. I'll recover this one in Black if I ever get going on the R100S sidecar project again.

This is the 6.2 Gallon German Police Tank I picked up recently. Traded my old Toaster Tank for it. Decided that I probably won't use it any time soon so listed it on eBay. It has a few flaws but is in overall good shape. Probably won't hold 6.2 gallons though as the tool box displaces a bit of normal fuel capacity. You don't see many of these around but I have yet to get any bids. Maybe someone will pay up to the $300.00 reserve I put on it.(?) It is a pretty nice tank and has a wiring tube into the tank from underneath for the cop radio wiring. There is a cut out for the master cylinder underneath so it should fit the later year /6's and maybe the /7's too. Kind of a poor mans Heinrich tank. I recieved the left side Luftmeister saddle fuel tank and unfortunately it doesn't clear my kick start lever. Might mount it on the left side of the sidecar. Not sure about that one yet. Maybe I'll cut the top off and hinge it for a baby beer cooler? Could use the petcock for the water drain. I think it would hold three / four cans. Ha, We'll see........ Won a pair of /6 sidecovers on e-Bay today. I will repaint them black and will cut a chunk out of the right one so it will clear the sidecar mount. I sold my "Toaster" sidecover panels on eBay last week. Couldn't bring myself to hack one of them apart. Besides they sold for nearly $150.00 and I paid $60.00 for the replacement /6 side covers. The chrome Toaster side covers didn't look right on the bike anyway. Too much chrome I guess. I've kept a running total of costs for the sidecar project since I started. Also have kept track of the profits from the eBay sales which has offset the sidecar project cost by over $2000.00. Out of pocket (after eBay sales) costs so far are only about $700.00 right now. Who says you have to spend thousands on a sidecar. Forever the scrounger I have kept the overall cost down and have done 98% of the work myself. ( machine work & tank paint farmed out) My eBay fodder is running a little low now. Still have a 71 R75 rolling chassis, al ot of engine and electrical parts. Will have to keep searching for another cheap basket case. I had been hoarding all these spare old parts for a few years and decided to start dumping the stuff. Figure if I need something I'll just buy if. I still have a good selection of worthy backup parts to carry on the road. Carb parts, electrical parts, cables, nuts, bolts and misc. small hard -to- find things. Hopefully I'll be able to bail out some other poor airhead who breaks down on the road.
Looking forward to the "First Chance Rendezvous" which will be the first weekend in Jan. The best rally ever out in the desert. Met up with one of the sponsors, Kevin Kempton, tonight in Las Vegas. He is here working, same as us. We went and had a couple of beers. Adios for now.....

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Gila Mtns.

Gila Mtns.