My GS850 with sidecar

[Han Solo 22]

In another post I introduced myself but in short: my name is Hans Burgers and I live in the Netherlands. I recently bought a '79 GS850 with sidecar. In this post I will tell you about the rig, what is wrong with it (a lot!) and what I am going to do about it. Please comment on all of this because I can use all the help I can get. For 20 years ago I owned a GS850 so I know the bike and most of the issues but I have read al lot new info here and I thank you all for that.

a short list of what is wrong:

- Terrible braking
- No voltage to the battery (rectifier is toast)
- Terrible electrics/ wiring everywhere because the previous owner made some adjustments
- Leaky headgasket
- Missing exhaustbolts and some wrapping around the entire exhaust
- The sidecar is not aligning very well, it wants to take a right turn all the time
- Sidecar wheel is to thick and to heavy
- Riding above 50 miles an hour is terrifying

I already ordered the brake-upgrade from Dan and bought two CBR600 rotors and two Kawa calipers. I owned a Russian Ural with sidecar and the braking experience on that one was beyond ...well let's say I do not want to re-live those moments so I will fix the braking first. And of course another rectifier but the one who is recommended is not available here anymore. I am waiting for the kit from Dan so then I can go further. In the meanwhile some pictures:



I have more pictures but I can't do more than one per post. So they will come one by one...

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Welcome. I'm a big fan of your fellow country-woman Noraly-AKA Itchy Boots and her youtube channel. Had the pleasure of visiting Rotterdam when in high school. It's a beautiful country. Would love to go back someday and see some of the rest.

Most of us that post pictures use a picture hosting website, copy the BBCode of the image, then paste that into the forum post. Works well once you figure out a work flow for whatever device you use. Flickr and Imgur are 2 of the sites. Link to how that works in my signature.

[Han Solo 22]

Yes, I also followed Itchy Boots a while and saw her riding in the neigborhood once (in Holland practically everybody lives in your neigborhood so that is not very special). We have a custom over here that if you encounter a fellow biker, you wave at eachother. So I waved at Itchy and she waved back but no, we never met. We have a lot of bikers in the Netherlands so on a sunny day you have to ride the bike almost with one hand because you can't stop waving. Well ...and driving a sidecar and waving is bit of a challange. Rotterdam is one of my favorite cities but I do not go there very often. I live in Arnhem, famous for it 's bridge ( too far).


I will look into Flickr, that is a good one....