GamblerGORD53

My Pentax K10D with a LowePro case, was around my neck/ right shoulder almost every mile of both trips. Camera strap is mostly around just my neck if taking a bunch of pics.
On the highway it was mostly on my back. Quick to open and shoot. The bag is 9x9x9". Lens is 18 to 55 mm. I take more pics of buildings.
If it rains, it is under the cape too.
I didn't trust hotels much.
It survived several wipeouts in Vietnam and China actually.
The battery is absolutely fabulous. Takes hundreds of pics and holds a charge for years.
My fricking phone goes dead in one century day ride. WTF. So it is bloody useless on any bike trip. Airplane mode doesn't help much.
15 years ago I did have an early cheap Sony digital camera, so before they were much use. It died.

phughes

Most here have sidecars. For a very short time they offered a solo model here, but now they only offer it with a sidecar. Mine has a driven sidecar wheel. They did offer a model without the driven sidecar wheel, but this year they only have the 2WD models.

It is my photography vehicle, and often gets into the shot.

djb

neat info and neat photos. I've never ridden one, but being Russian/Soviet sort of beast, I assume that they ride/brake/shift etc like a moderate quality 70s bike, ie that feel of klunkiness etc that for those of us who rode those bikes remember well? I have ridden an old airhead beemer R90 (think that what it was, a 900 anyway) so I can appreciate that opposite twin torque feel.

Obviously have never ridden a sidecar, must be a really weird feeling. The closest I can personally relate is having spent some time on one of those trike CanAm things that are popular up here with the retirees who always wanted a motorcycle, never did, but now can plonk down the cash and even without a motorcycle license (regular car license is enough) , can now "own and ride a motorcycle-ish thing. I reckon its pretty dangerous for Ma or Pa Parker, only haven driven cars, possibly not very good at the whole "defensive driving attitude all the time" thing, yet open to getting T-boned by Franky Not Paying Attention when turning....and grandma and grandpa are at real risk......
I really didnt like the two wheel up front, one back Can-Am job, the whole not leaning thing in corners and all, very weird feeling to an old two wheeler.

oh, your snow photo made me laugh, as a teenager, have taken my Kaw 175 Enduro out in the snow, was a blast. Didnt even dump it!

Tourist in MSN

I worked in a factory for a year after high school to make enough money to start college, that included buying an old Triumph 500. When I started college, I drove the Triumph to campus every day (Minneapolis, MN) because it only took 15 minutes, but a bus ride was 45 to 60 minutes one way. But, the first snowfall in fall that lasted, that would always be the last day that I drove the motorcycle to campus that year. Driving home at highway speed with snow in the air, slush on the ground, and windchill at sub-freezing temps could be a chilly ride.

Been there, done that. But I had no sidecar to keep me upright on the tight radius on and off ramps with some freshly packed snow.

djb

Ya, doing it a few times for a lark is one thing, regular riding, not so much. Not to mention the salt and crap is terrible for stuff. Why when I winter commute, I wash my winter bike every day quickly. If not, rusts to hell.

phughes

Riding with a sidecar is completely different than riding a motorcycle without one. You basically have to throw away everything you know about riding a motorcycle to learn to ride one. It's a completely different set of physics and skill. Once you realize that, you can learn to ride it. When you speed up you go right, when you slow down you go left. If you turn too tightly and go too fast in a right turn, the sidecar will lift off the ground. Learning to lift the sidecar on purpose is a necessary skill, so you know how to control it when it happens.

The Ural is definitely not refined, though they are getting better. They copied a late 30s era BMW when they began making them in the 40s. They now have disc brakes and EFI though, which makes them a bit more refined, but the gearbox is unsynchronized, so it is like driving an old truck with respect to shifting. Once you figure it out though, it shifts fine. You just can't hurry the shifts like on a modern bike. I do prefer a bike with a sidecar over a CanAm, since you only have two tracks, instead of three, which makes avoiding potholes easier.

I ride this all year, in all kinds of weather, including snow. I use it instead of my car. My car generally is only used when I have to go to the airport to fly out for work, or for shows I do on land. Everything else I use the Ural, grocery shopping, or whatever. I used it last year to bring home five bags of mulch for the flower bed. It's basically a truck.

phughes

If I were going to do that on two wheels again, I would probably get a small on/off road bike, like a 250, or 350.

I used to ride a Goldwing in snow. I much prefer the Ural for snow. I got caught in snow on long trips with the Goldwing and had no issues, but still, the sidecar is more confidence inspiring.

As for the salt. This rig was used by the first owner as his backup Winter sidecar rig to commute 80 miles a day to work in the Pittsburgh area. He did not own a car, only motorcycles. This was a rusty mess, and he gave it to a friend, who had it bead blasted, and repainted. He had an industrial machine paint shop do the work, and had them use an epoxy primer. The paint it holding up much better than the original powder coating did. I have ridden it three Winters and there is no rust. I do treat it the beginning of each Winter with Boeshield though. I often rinse it off in the driveway before pulling it in as well, though this past Winter I think I only did that once.

Tourist in MSN

Bought it in 1973, was a used 1968. But I knew I wanted to be able to be comfortable on highway speed so wanted more power than the smaller bikes.

The model I had was rated for 39 HP which was enough to get up to speed on an entrance ramp to merge on a freeway. Most Triumphs in USA at that time were 650cc but when I saw a good price on a 500, bought it. And later decided that the 500 was probably a better bike for me, much shorter stroke and less vibration.

I drove it for 12 years until an idiot was sure he could make it through the light before it turned red, I was in front of him coming to a stop at the time.

djb

thanks for taking the time to put down your impressions of it and the differences, really quite fascinating. Im sure I would enjoy the challenge of adapting, sounds like a heck of a lot of fun.
I love driving just about anything, so totally get how you like using this thing, with all its differences.

Ive only ridden and driven synchro boxes, but I imagine you take your time and do a little blip between shifts to make the next shift easier? Do you need to double clutch also or is the blip enough? I guess they are non synchro for simplicity, but boy, synchro has been pretty standard now for , what, at least 50 years? I guess they just still have the mentality of the T-34 tank, soviet simplicity thinking (even if theyve gone EFI)
And yes, agree with you on the three track thing being a pain in the arse. I noticed that right away even though I only spent a few hours on the CanAm (engine note is pretty blah too).
Very cool on how you use this thing, "basically a truck" is a very apt comment, and kinda sums it up.
Cool. thanks again.

djb

thats pretty neat about the epoxy primer job. I think that its pretty significant that you do the Boeshield treatment, that sort of thing seeps into areas really well. I can say that every year when I go over my winter bike, an old 90s mtb with studded tires, I'm always a bit surprised by how the salty brine crap that I ride through in Montreal winters gets into all kinds of nooks and crannies. A good example is the quick release skewers--I pull them out and even with applying white grease all over it, the white grease is then kinda light brownish (think, a good spark plug light brown) due to the rusting going on from the crap getting inside it. I do ride in all kinds of weather, and here in Montreal, the city puts a ****load of salt down, so when I say "salty brine", it really is a salty brine mix sometimes that is much worse just below freezing, heck even at -10c, and this gets sprayed up onto and into all areas. This is why I do the super fast washdown after most rides, just cuz its easy to do in my garage, and it gets all this crap off in just a few minutes--less work for me later, and less rusting going on overall.

as for smaller enduros, 250, 350, they are great size of bikes arent they? Light, throw-around-able, etc.

djb

oh, and about sidecars, whenever I watch sidecar racing, holy crapola it gives me the willies, just because from my (limited) racing experience, where I was the only one affecting the front/rear balance, dealing with the front pushing or the rear drifting out, squirellyness under braking, you name it--imagine that you are two people that are affecting how the thing corners etc, and the guy in the sidepod is moving his body all over the fricken place on his own, which affects how the thing corners....just bonkers. Man, those guys (and gals) have big fricken balls.

watching something like the Isle of Man TT, its already over the top bonkers up the fricken ying yang, and then you see the sidecars going at it....holy crap.......
I find it hard watching the TT stuff, makes my palms sweat. The margins of just going to a sh-tshow are so small, the slightest of errors...sheesh. I've gotten off line slightly in 100mph corners but didnt have a curb, or a stone wall, or a effen metal fence or an effen dropoff a mountain.......
I kinda get the whole "its their choice to do it" thing, but having personally been at a race meeting with a fatality (not my catagory), and someone who has followed F1 since the late 70s and Motogp for a long long time, safety standards change and attitude towards it too change.....

ha, funny how this bicycle topic has drifted hasnt it? Like you, its rare that folks have feet in both camps (self propelled, slow, nature orientated activities like bicycling--and motorsport)
cheers
safe riding, keep it rubber side down.

Tourist in MSN

Motorcycles have synchromesh gearboxes? I did not know that.

But I was so happy with the Triumph 500, that after an idiot totaled my first one, I bought a few more of them. The 1974 was the nicest looking one, photo below. Four speed gearbox was fully adequate, but that engine had a very wide powerband. You had great torque from about 3000 rpm all the way up. Redline was not published but the horsepower rating was taken at 7850, so I treated 7500 as if it was the redline. Most of my driving was commuting on city streets, never got out of third gear in the city. On a freeway entrance ramp, third gear got me up to merging speed, not a lot of shifting needed.

djb

I'll be honest, I just assumed they did, but I shift the same as I ever have, whether a 70s bike or a 2000 something. I guess I haven't ridden anything later than early 2000s, discounting that canam trike that has an automatic, no clutch, but button upshifts and downshifts.
My 80s two stroke that I raced, I would often shift up without a clutch and it was easy to learn how to do it and still be nice to the tranny. Timing the very fast backoff to unload the cogs while shifting up and back on worked, handy often not to have to declutch, but would often use the clutch too , depended on the situation. Always used the clutch on downshifts.
I've up shifted clutch less on regular cars a bit, but it was easier on my 2 stroke.
Anyway, the 2 stroke racing was nearly 40 years ago, and I admit muddy knowledge on motorcycle sequential transmissions specifics re synchro.

Tourist in MSN

Other than an occasional test ride on a friend's bike, all I have ridden were my Triumphs. And my newest was the 1974 in the photo above. Note the right hand shifter, that was before the law changed in USA and required that the British bike manufacturers change their controls to match the Japanese standard of left side shifters.

There was one exception, my first motorcycle was a Honda 50. That did not last long however.

cyccommute 

Youse guys do know this is a bicycle forum don’t you? To get back to the less lazy way to travel, here are some of the ways I carried cameras back in the 80s. The open sleeping bag stuff sack was where I carried my K1000 for an off-road trip in 1985.


Cannondale handlebar bag in 1984 in Scotland. It wasn’t waterproof or even water resistant but, luckily, we didn’t have much rain on that trip. I think I had it in a stuff sack

djb

chuckle. We got drifting off there like a bunch of flat trackers.
Ya, in the early 90s I too had a non waterproof handlebar bag that I carried a good pt and shoot in, but I did improvise a rain cover for it with plastic and duct tape. A few photos from about 30 years ago.

Bordeaux wine harvest festival street party activities

Basque part of France, nope, Spain, mailbox gave it away.

phughes

Yeah the thread drift is my fault.

Sidecars are a lot of fun, and sidecar racing is amazing. I guess if I had the money, and a good partner, I would try it. I used to drag race bikes, but sidecar racing is a completely different animal.

Yes shifting involves a slowing the process a bit, pull in clutch, wait for the engine speed to slow a bit, shift, then let out clutch. Sometimes blip the throttle, and on really cantankerous gearboxes, double clutch. Thankfully mine isn't that bad, especially now since I just replaced third gear and the shift fork and associated slider. Before, to get into third gear without grinding, I would have to do it at a certain speed, or I would have to pull in the clutch, wait for the speed to drop a bit, then let the clutch slightly out, then shift, then let the clutch out the remaining way. Now it shifts very nicely. No more clutch dance required.

As I get older, smaller bikes are very attractive, They are a lot of fun, especially for snow or off road where they may need to be picked up from time to time, and they are much easier to hold up on snow. I still like my Kawasaki Concours 1400 though, it's just a lot heavier to move around.

phughes

Here are a couole of my old cameras. I have had the Nikkormat for a very long time, and was the 35mm camera I used the most. I still shoot with the Yashica-Mat.

Tourist in MSN

I got home from my GAP and C&O trip a decade ago and was disappointed that I took so few photos. Thought about it and decided the reason was that I was afraid to get my digital camera wet. That trip was very wet.

Next tour took my brand new Pentax WG-3 along, I had bought it for that trip, a waterproof point and shoot. I would not scuba dive with it, especially now that the seals are a decade old, but some people wrote reviews on it as a camera for diving when it first came out.
https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentax-wg3

It was the only camera I brought on my Natchez Trace trip last month.

That was the last waterproof point and shoot camera badged as a Pentax, Ricoh owned Pentax and later updated versions of it were badged as Ricoh.

I was happy enough with mine that when I saw a used one on Ebay for a quarter of the cost for a new one, I bought it as a backup.

Some trips if I expect to see a lot of wildlife, I bring another camera with a stronger zoom, but the WG-3 goes on every camping trip that I go on, it always there rain or shine.

afrowheels

+1 on the Ortlieb handlebar bag with insert. I started off my current tour with improvised padding but managed to find the Ortlieb insert at a small discount in Bogota and would definitely recommend it. So far it's been great at protecting one camera and two lenses, with the main advantages being relatively quick access and waterproof (even when some of the panniers have not been as reliable).

Some on the Forum were a little sceptical about the merits of touring with a DSLR plus two lenses, but right now I am about to make it even crazier and add another body! One with a 16-80mm and one with a 70-300mm. The main challenge is fitting both in the handlebar bag in a way that leaves them relatively accessible but also not grinding against each other. Will see how that goes..

I can't remember what I did on my previous long tour, it was so long ago. But if you happen to be shooting film I found that the advice of wrapping up finished or brand new spools in a towel and putting them in the middle of a pack was good advice for avoiding damage by high temperatures.

dvdwmth

i used to abuse my old nikon fm and put thousands of rolls through it. Finally died after being left in a wet basement for several years. I would just keep it in its bag and put it on top of a wool sweater or something. Think of all the war photos that have been shot on 35mm cameras.

If you're really worried, hunt the buy and sell or thrift stores and find a cheap travel camera. I just got a ricoh kr5 for $35 in a value village. it will fire even without batteries. I also bought a digital fuji xe1 and a fuji 27mm, specifically so i would have a bike camera that still took nice enough photos that i could enlarge them.