My Vetterized Rig
- Thread starter turbodog
- Start date
I'd love to have a Vetter Terraplane sidecar but the only one I've found is 300 plus miles away from me, you can tell from the pictures it's a pile of junk, and he wants $2,200 firm for it. It's also missing the hardware for connecting it to a bike and the adjustable strut as well. That stuff must have been left on the bike it was removed from. It's also missing the wheel. I could fabricate the hardware and I would put an electric adjustable strut on it and could come up with a wheel and tire and spend a lot of time and effort doing that along with patching up and painting it or just buy a new Cozy sidecar and be done. I know, not as cool as a Terraplane but there are limits to my quest and the one I found has exceeded that limit.
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2013
- Messages
- 45
- Reaction score
- 17
- Points
- 8
- Age
- 63
Yeah, i drove 2 hours each way to look at this one. With a rented trailer in tow. You might say i was a motivated buyer by the time i laid eyes on it. $1400 IIRC. In retrospect not a bad deal. I assume you have seen the ones for sale on sidecar.com and the terraplane.io email list. None very near you. Well, lots of folks have lots of fun with non-Vetter sidecar rigs. I'm betting you'll have no regrets with a Cozy.
I actually have a sidecar rig now. It's an old Soviet Union Military Dnepr MT-11 sidecar motorcycle. It's great for local riding but it's slow, as all military vehicles are. The manual says 100Km is top speed but that's only for a very short time as that's the engines red line. They don't last very long driving them wide open all the time. Realistic top speed is 45Mph or 72Kph. I got it for half the value of the sidecar and frame because the engine was stuck after sitting 29 years in a barn. After I got it home I put a 50 50 mix of acetone and transmission fluid in the spark plug holes and let it sit overnight. The next day just a little pressure on the kick start lever freed up the engine. I got it sort of running on the left cylinder a few hours later. The right cylinder had zero compression because someone at the factory did not bother to tighten down the nuts that hold the head on. Anyway, I took the entire motorcycle apart and put it back together again correctly. It's a fun hack but I've been thinking seriously of buying a Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor and a Cozy sidecar because it comes with an attachment kit designed for that bike. It'll be much faster and lighter than the battle tank of a motorcycle the Dnepr is. People keep asking if I want to sell it and I may just say yes if their willing to pay enough for me to buy a Royal Enfield 650 and matching cozy sidecar.
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2018
- Messages
- 166
- Reaction score
- 28
- Points
- 28
- Age
- 50
- Location
- Boston
- Website
- neclassicmotoguys.freeforums.net
Good things do happen. On another forum a member recently drove several hours to but a 75 CB750 chopper in mint condition from the original builder/owner. When he got there the seller asked him if he wanted to load up the parts bike too for a few dollars more.
It's a very low number sandcast model, great deals are out there if we're friendly and have cash in hand.
It's a very low number sandcast model, great deals are out there if we're friendly and have cash in hand.
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2013
- Messages
- 45
- Reaction score
- 17
- Points
- 8
- Age
- 63
Yes, I agree. Early in my other (neverending) project, I bought a XV920 engine (cheap) on Craigslist. The guy was nice enough to deliver it. When he arrived, he had most of a complete Virago (in pieces) in his pickup. With his wife off to the side, fists on hips, glowering at him, he sheepishly asked if I'd take it all off his hands (and out of his garage, no doubt) for a few dollars more. I took pity and bought it all. That bike is now my sidecar tug.