13-04-2013, 08:25 AM
Hi,
Oh dear Refugee what a tale of woe and I bet many have shared your experiences me included.
When I was single I used to have many biking friends and it was common for us to ride each others bikes. Ken had a combination; well it was in fact an AJS 350cc hooked up to a bare sidecar chassis. As it was a beautiful day I borrowed the outfit and took along Kevin for a run out to Scarborough. We passed through York OK and carried on reaching the outskirts of Fimber village; the road through the village was a straight incline and as we rode along at peace with the world I noticed a very large shadow appear to my left and it was keeping pace with us; at first I thought it must be one heck of a large bird so looked up; I immediately yelled to Kevin to hold on tight just as the chassis grounded.
The shadow proved to be the sidecar wheel which had become detached; it landed on top of the hedges and I saw it run along the hedges for quite a way before finally coming to rest in the middle of the road. The chassis had left a long mark on the road where it had been rubbing and when we came to a halt I was pushed right up to the handlebars with Kevin sitting where I should be sitting; Kevin had grabbed tightly to the seat and as the chassis dug in the force detached the rear seat mountings.
We searched for the bearing but without success. People appeared to find out what had caused the noise and one guy kindly lent us spanners to remove the chassis which possibly is now a thing of beauty for sightseer's to admire. We carried on to Scarborough now riding a solo bike.
Arriving back home Ken asked where his chassis was so we told him the full story. The cause of this mishap was that just prior to me borrowing the outfit Ken had removed the sidecar wheel and when he replaced it forgot to install the split pin which locks the wheel nut. Nice one Ken we really did like the excitement.
A few years later my chum Ken met a horrible death when he was dragged into a huge carding machine at a mill in Dewsbury; chums don't come any better than Ken.
I've not heard of a Simca for many years Refugee; weren't Wartburgs in the same category of mobile scrap at the time?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg_(car)
Kind regards, Col.
Oh dear Refugee what a tale of woe and I bet many have shared your experiences me included.
When I was single I used to have many biking friends and it was common for us to ride each others bikes. Ken had a combination; well it was in fact an AJS 350cc hooked up to a bare sidecar chassis. As it was a beautiful day I borrowed the outfit and took along Kevin for a run out to Scarborough. We passed through York OK and carried on reaching the outskirts of Fimber village; the road through the village was a straight incline and as we rode along at peace with the world I noticed a very large shadow appear to my left and it was keeping pace with us; at first I thought it must be one heck of a large bird so looked up; I immediately yelled to Kevin to hold on tight just as the chassis grounded.
The shadow proved to be the sidecar wheel which had become detached; it landed on top of the hedges and I saw it run along the hedges for quite a way before finally coming to rest in the middle of the road. The chassis had left a long mark on the road where it had been rubbing and when we came to a halt I was pushed right up to the handlebars with Kevin sitting where I should be sitting; Kevin had grabbed tightly to the seat and as the chassis dug in the force detached the rear seat mountings.
We searched for the bearing but without success. People appeared to find out what had caused the noise and one guy kindly lent us spanners to remove the chassis which possibly is now a thing of beauty for sightseer's to admire. We carried on to Scarborough now riding a solo bike.
Arriving back home Ken asked where his chassis was so we told him the full story. The cause of this mishap was that just prior to me borrowing the outfit Ken had removed the sidecar wheel and when he replaced it forgot to install the split pin which locks the wheel nut. Nice one Ken we really did like the excitement.
A few years later my chum Ken met a horrible death when he was dragged into a huge carding machine at a mill in Dewsbury; chums don't come any better than Ken.
I've not heard of a Simca for many years Refugee; weren't Wartburgs in the same category of mobile scrap at the time?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg_(car)
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
