Bucket Sidecars

[onegoodrun]

Gidday everyone, this is my first post and I'll admit I'm a newbie to the world of Buckets! But hey, you have to start somewhere right?

At High School, we have built some sidecars with single speed 110cc engines in them, aswell as a ton of aircooled and watercooled pocketbikes. What happens is at the end of the year, heaps of schools get together for a race meeting at Manfield Racecourse.

At few weeks back we took the sidecars and bikes to Taumarunui for a thrash around the track. The trouble now is that my friend and I are addicted. We want to do sidecar racing next year, but because we will be out of school, we can't race with them.

So, I thought, Bucket Sidecars would be the way to go. My question is, is there a set of rules for us to build our sidecar to? Such as engine size etc etc Also, how many people race bucket sidecars in NZ?

I look forward to hearing your replies,

Cheers
Alex :scooter:

[Henk]

Rules for bucket sidecars are here

http://www.mnz.co.nz/download/2010_MoMS_Chapter_24_Road_Racing_Miniature.pdf

They are an absolute blast but unfortunately there aren't that many around at the moment. There is a guy who comes on here occasionally

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php/28119-Gazzza

who has a couple and has been to Mt Wellington a few times but not for too long, and one that I know of in Wellington but I'm not sure how often that runs. There has been talk by a couple of guys up here about building chairs but I'm not sure how long before that will come to anything. Bucket chairs are an absolute blast but the bad news is that there aren't that many around any more and those that are about don't run that often.

[onegoodrun]

Cheers for those rules. They don't seem very restrictive which is good I guess, plenty of scope for us to try out our engineering skills :woohoo:

That's a shame that not many people run them. Well, there may be another two to hit the scene next year. I would love to come watch the ones that are around race at some stage to see how they do things. It's one thing to watch them on youtube, but to see guys doing it for real is another. My friend and I try our best to shift our weight around in the corners and use the brakes as little as possible, but if anyone has some tips, they would be neat to hear!!

[Buckets4Me]

There has been talk by a couple of guys up here about building chairs but I'm not sure how long before that will come to anything.

yep after the monster engine is finished and the 50's are built then the 100cc bike for Robert to start on I'm sure Team E.S.E will get around to the sidecar :facepalm: they have been talking about. I didn't miss any other projects that come first did I

[Henk]

JC has made some noises.

[Buckets4Me]

JC has made some noises.

would be good to see some more out there
am keen to get one going myself with (see how good the son can hang on)
:woohoo:

[koba]

Cheers for those rules. They don't seem very restrictive which is good I guess, plenty of scope for us to try out our engineering skills :woohoo:

That's a shame that not many people run them. Well, there may be another two to hit the scene next year. I would love to come watch the ones that are around race at some stage to see how they do things. It's one thing to watch them on youtube, but to see guys doing it for real is another. My friend and I try our best to shift our weight around in the corners and use the brakes as little as possible, but if anyone has some tips, they would be neat to hear!!

There isn't any regular events around Fielding/Palmy way at the moment but there are a few regular competitors who come down to Welly. I'm sure that if there was a big enough pool of riders developing up that way something regular or semi-regular could end up happening on the kart track or manfeild back circuit...

[onegoodrun]

I'm not too worried about going to welly or roys hill or wherever, it will just make life more interesting!! Anyone from the Manawatu will tell you they take any chance they can get to get out of the region!! There will definitely be me and my mate building a chair, and we are trying to get some more of the boys keen on it. You gotta be a special kinda crazy for the sidecar game :rockon:

[Henk]

If you get this off the ground and start racing keep us informed. I know Gazza was trying to sell one of his at one stage, the reasons I didn't buy it are largely logistics, nowhere to keep it and no way to haul it around.
If you are running chairs somewhere I may reconsider or try doing a lease deal with him for the away meets, love the away meets. Apex :yes:

[onegoodrun]

Plan at this stage is to have one ready to race for next year. I will keep you guys informed as to how we get on with it. There seems to be plenty of enthusiasm for sidecars, but just no-one seems to be getting stuck in? Perhaps it will take a couple of newbies to rev up the old boys? :scooter:

Get into it!! :drinkup:

[Bert]

I'm not too worried about going to welly or roys hill or wherever, it will just make life more interesting!! Anyone from the Manawatu will tell you they take any chance they can get to get out of the region!!

Thats a bit rough Alex!!! nothing wrong with the manawatu as long as you like wind and rain....:sick:


There will definitely be me and my mate building a chair, and we are trying to get some more of the boys keen on it. You gotta be a special kinda crazy for the sidecar game :rockon:

Special yes, crazy only some of the time....

I know of a couple (bucket chairs) sitting in sheds (including full fairing molds; jigs) in the manawatu; waiting for the day that sidecars return to the fold.

Firstly I highly commend Roger's efforts in developing this course at FeildingAg. What a cool way to get students interested in actually doing something really cool other than playstation!!

Those high school days look like a f##ken hoot; I have offen wandered if there is some oportunity to do something there; maybe a central bucket meeting with the minibikes on the back track; enabling exposure to cheap bigger bike racing (buckets) options; which i doubt many would know about. Once you have the bug it never leaves...

Good on you Alex; keep us informed on progress.

[onegoodrun]

Roger said to me today that if I got into racing chairs, he would come back to it!! I'm going to hold the old boy to that!!

Yeah he's a good bugger. He's right into getting us into the competitive spirit too. We give him shit all day long and he loves to dish it back. We take every chance we can get to get the sidecars out and take 'em around school. Good fun.

If a couple of guys wanted to give a demo of their buckets at the NZ Secondary Schools Mini Moto Championship in October, I'm sure Roger would be more than happy. Just give him a bell.

The thing with Manfield is it is bloody dear to hire the track for even a day. I know 'cos I've heard the expletives coming from a few peoples mouths!! But it sure is a good venue, if a bit open for the pocketbikes, even with a few hay bales thrown in for chicanes.

[Henk]

If you're going to do another Taumarunui session let me know. It may be possible to get some bucket folk along for a thrash about and if anyone gets keen to try a bucket I'm usually pretty relaxed about letting people ride mine, some others are the same.

[Bert]

Roger said to me today that if I got into racing chairs, he would come back to it!! I'm going to hold the old boy to that!!

Yeah he's a good bugger. He's right into getting us into the competitive spirit too. We give him shit all day long and he loves to dish it back. We take every chance we can get to get the sidecars out and take 'em around school. Good fun.

If a couple of guys wanted to give a demo of their buckets at the NZ Secondary Schools Mini Moto Championship in October, I'm sure Roger would be more than happy. Just give him a bell.

The thing with Manfield is it is bloody dear to hire the track for even a day. I know 'cos I've heard the expletives coming from a few peoples mouths!! But it sure is a good venue, if a bit open for the pocketbikes, even with a few hay bales thrown in for chicanes.

O'dear, its too soon to start another new project. hummm I'm sure I'm going to think about bucket sidecars all night now..... We use to have sooo much fun.:yes:

I'm sure there would be plently of people that would put their hands up to show off the F4/F5 class to promote the sport.

[onegoodrun]

Yeah cheers man. I'll have a chat with Rodger and seen when we are going up next. We are pretty keen for a crack at Roys Hill too. You reckon we could maybe bring our 110cc school sidecars up to one of your meets at Roys Hill for a bit of a play?

[Henk]

The guy to talk to on here about Roys Hill would be NSR143, he runs buckets there.
Bloody good track and awesome people, we try and get down a couple of times a year. Well worth the drive.

[Bert]

Yeah cheers man. I'll have a chat with Rodger and seen when we are going up next. We are pretty keen for a crack at Roys Hill too. You reckon we could maybe bring our 110cc school sidecars up to one of your meets at Roys Hill for a bit of a play?

You would have to chase the HB boys to answer that...

Post up some photos can we can all have a look see ta your beast. 110cc 2T or 4T?

[Dutchee]

Roger said to me today that if I got into racing chairs, he would come back to it!! I'm going to hold the old boy to that!!

Yeah he's a good bugger. He's right into getting us into the competitive spirit too. We give him shit all day long and he loves to dish it back. We take every chance we can get to get the sidecars out and take 'em around school. Good fun.

If a couple of guys wanted to give a demo of their buckets at the NZ Secondary Schools Mini Moto Championship in October, I'm sure Roger would be more than happy. Just give him a bell.

The thing with Manfield is it is bloody dear to hire the track for even a day. I know 'cos I've heard the expletives coming from a few peoples mouths!! But it sure is a good venue, if a bit open for the pocketbikes, even with a few hay bales thrown in for chicanes.
October's not a good month for us (Henk and I). We've got Kaitoke (Wellington), MotoGP (Melbourne), Mt Wellington (Auckland), and I'm also meant to do my one off-road race for the year (but if it clashes with buckets, I'm out).

Would've been keen otherwise to head to the minefield and bring 3 buckets, but the travel budget's blown that month. Let us know if there's any opportunity, I'd rather be in Manawatu than Auckland (we've got rain, fog, rain, wind, tornado, crap food nearby and basically hate the place).

[crazy man]

you guys are lucky to be able to build that kind of stuff at school! wish i had the chance.. l should get my sidecar out been in the shed stints l buggered it in 2001

[koba]

I'm sure there would be plently of people that would put their hands up to show off the F4/F5 class to promote the sport.

Keen if there are no clashes.

[Bert]

you guys are lucky to be able to build that kind of stuff at school! wish i had the chance.. l should get my sidecar out been in the shed stints l buggered it in 2001

yes you should Crazyman, or one of your many two wheeled buckets:innocent:



Alex, a few links to older discussions (and photos) on sidecars:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/128143-Sidecars-Sidecars-and-more-Sidecars!?highlight=sidecar
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/108078-Where-have-all-the-sidecars-gone?highlight=sidecar
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/123759-The-return-of-Bucket-Sidecars!?highlight=sidecar

[onegoodrun]

I will try get some photos tomorrow of our beasts. The rules dictate we can have >80cc 2-smoke or >110cc 4-stroke with no modifications and no gearboxes. Gearing is up to the individual and so is braking and rear wheel size. They go pretty bloody well for what they are. Me and my mate are going to be building one for school, so I'll throw up some pics of it when that's done in a couple of months time.

We can use the experience gained from builidng this one in our Bucket Sidecar.

We gave one of the chairs a thrashing around school tonight!! Absolutely buzzing from it!!

[Ivan]

its a awsome event the School gp I was doing the mechanics work for my old school lastyear and did the demo laps on the ZX6 Kawasaki,

I cant wait for this year,

We are racing in the teachers race this year so should be abit of a laugh

[onegoodrun]

Here's a couple of snaps of us racing at Taumarunui

[onegoodrun]

Here's a video of us racing at taumarunui.... If it works :blink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0upnw520wbk&feature=channel_video_title

[Str8 Jacket]

Here's a couple of snaps of us racing at Taumarunui

I note in that photo that you're all running the opposite way to how I've ridden it the last 2 years. What's the track like that way?

[onegoodrun]

We did it that way for the sidecars, so the swinger isn't leaning over the rider all the way around. It's bloody good this way around, except that middle corner is a total bitch to get a nice line through when theres a big puddle in the way!!

[Squiggles]

At High School, we have built some sidecars with single speed 110cc engines in them, aswell as a ton of aircooled and watercooled pocketbikes. What happens is at the end of the year, heaps of schools get together for a race meeting at Manfield Racecourse.

We own one of the ones built down there in the past, goes well (front end is a bit naff) but we're crap riders. Still haven't quite gotten over flipping it, maybe this year we'll be back?

[koba]

We did it that way for the sidecars, so the swinger isn't leaning over the rider all the way around. It's bloody good this way around, except that middle corner is a total bitch to get a nice line through when theres a big puddle in the way!!

Hehe, that puddle is cool!

[crazy man]

l have some nice fairing moulds for a sidecar need to fine a pic of my old one

[onegoodrun]

We will be taking our school sidecars to Roys Hill on the 11th of September for a bit of a show off. Should be good fun, I will be riding one that my mate and I built from scratch, frame and all. Roger made some moulds so will be doing fairings for them aswell. Should look relatively pro when theyre done. :scooter:

Here's some pics of one of the other chairs that already have the fairings on. Taken on my phone so they aren't that flash sorry.

244368244369

[Dutchee]

Looks good. Looking forward to hearing how it went :) If you come up to Auckland, I know of a couple of youngsters dead keen to play on chairs again ;)

[Pumba]

Since when was Henk young???

[Dutchee]

Since when was Henk young???
Since I'm 50 weeks older than him??????????????
No, was thinking of young Stacey who brings her leathers in the hope that Gazza will turn up (or she can score a ride on #44), and Jason's boy (Kelly? fark, sorry dude, shit with names, but the one who's had a haircut and really looks like a boy now lol).

Okay, so now I'm dobbed in as being crap and senile, I'll just forget I read your post, but ask "when the hell are we seeing you, I'm about to forget your name is David". Oh, and we've got my olds to move into an old folks shelter, so don't give me excuses boyo.

(oh, if you want to see a young Henk, ask him to see photos of before we got married hahaha). It was his hair that attracted me to him (now I'm in the poo, he thought it was the rum). Be afraid, be very afraid.

[nzmikey]

Hey ya , so how is the sidecar buckey scene going , myself & a mate are looking at building 1 , either from scratch or from a chair less motor etc .

What i want to know is ........ HOW many are out there now ?

:woohoo:

[DrunkenMistake]

Hey ya , so how is the sidecar buckey scene going , myself & a mate are looking at building 1 , either from scratch or from a chair less motor etc .

What i want to know is ........ HOW many are out there now ?

:woohoo:

You could probably run it in the open class for buckets?
I could be wrong though.

[Henk]

There are two that have run recently, another that is being built at the moment and one work in progress that is coming up from Wellington before year end.
There are also a couple of other people talking about building.
I think this is one of those things where if a few start turning up on a regular basis, more will get built and some of the old rigs may get dragged out of the sheds they are hiding in.

Go for your life I say, but talk to Gazzza on here, he is the only person I know of that has built one recently and may be able to give you some pointers.

[nzmikey]

Go for your life I say, but talk to Gazzza on here, he is the only person I know of that has built one recently and may be able to give you some pointers.


Thank you Sir I shall track him down & empty his head of knowledge :yes:

[F5 Dave]

using a straw. tip; first mouthful is usually best spat as contains mainly earwax.:shutup:

[wildman]

Hi there, good to hear someone else wants to build a sidecar, the more the better. Mt wellington has a fun day on dec 18th, hopefully Gazzza will be there with a couple of sidecars and my mate and i should be there with one. Just look for the two old fat guys trying to relive their youth

[wildman]

Hi there, good to hear someone else wants to build a sidecar, the more the better. Mt wellington has a fun day on dec 18th, hopefully Gazzza will be there with a couple of sidecars and my mate and i should be there with one. Just look for the two old fat guys trying to relive their youth

[Taz]

Sidecars are great fun. Can be a lot of work though. Here's a pic of me at taupo back in the dark ages.

[froggyfrenchman]

Haha - Good to see Roger has polluted the minds of yet another generation!
If you are still going to school with him, Tell him that Daniel from Hastings says hi, and is wondering what ever happened to the hovercraft we built at Hastings Boys'. We gave it back to the school after the fan broke up and make a fu*%ing great big hole in the side of my mates garage. I think Roger had it when he lived in Waipawa. Just wondering if anyone ever bothered to fix it or if it got thrown out in the end.

Sorry for the thread hijack

Going back to my cave now...

[Dutchee]

Hi there, good to hear someone else wants to build a sidecar, the more the better. Mt wellington has a fun day on dec 18th, hopefully Gazzza will be there with a couple of sidecars and my mate and i should be there with one. Just look for the two old fat guys trying to relive their youth
Yeah, that's the same sort of comment as "look for the ratty old white van". It doesn't narrow anything down hahaha
Okay, so not everyone is old, not everyone is fat, some are still living their youth, but it doesn't narrow it down totally lol

It would be great to have a heap of sidecars, motards, mini's, and F5 bikes happening again. We've got work happening on F5 bikes, so to have sidecars making a start as well, is fantastic :)

[wildman]

Hi Dutchee, okay i'll narrow it down more. Look for the fat old guys reliving their youth,wearing yellow sweat shirts with Acme Racing Team on them. Driving the tatty white van ha ha. Yeah sidecars are awsome they'er closer to the ground so it doesn't hurt so much when you fall off.

[Gazzza]

Hey all, well good news, just put together another rig... its a bit of well a bitza, most of it is the remains of a scooter, a few bits of tube an old TF125 engine and there you go. Will give it a bit of a shake down this weekend and if it holds together we will be on the track next meet. So hopefully this will put three rigs out there with my new build just about underway. Nzmikey if your keen we will most likley need a pilot/swinger so hop on and have a go.
Lets hope for fine weather and see you at the track.

[Buckets4Me]

Hey all, well good news, just put together another rig... its a bit of well a bitza,


photo or it didn't happen :shifty:
good on ya one day I might look at one myself but the kids want there f5 bikes going first

[Henk]

one day I might look at one myself but the kids want there f5 bikes going first

Well get on with it dad, I should have a second F5 bike going for the GP. Have the rolling frame mostly sorted, now just need to swipe some bits from around the place and get it finished, will definitely be done for the next points round.

[Buckets4Me]

Well get on with it dad,


I painted it RED and put numbers on for him :innocent:

[Gazzza]

Well the scooter rig is all go, gave it a bit of a run on the weekend and all good, hard to say how it will go at the track as we only went up and down the road, not sure what the cornering will be like. Having a bit of trouble loading the pictures, will try again tonight.
Got the front end on my new kart wheeled rig sorted, will hope tio start laying down the bottom frame in the next week or two.

[nzmikey]

Nzmikey if your keen we will most likley need a pilot/swinger so hop on and have a go.
Lets hope for fine weather and see you at the track.

Yeah I am up for that aye .... is that the weekend of 12th & 13th november ? :woohoo:

[Henk]

19th and 20th.

[Gazzza]

hopefully this will work anb the pics will be attached.249363249364249365

[Henk]

That's nothing like what I had pictured in my tiny little mind. Nice work

[nzmikey]

hopefully this will work anb the pics will be attached.
nawww it looks so cute & dangerous all at the same time :shutup:

[Huck]

Just a few pics of the scooter rig now is almost finished. Started the new build so its looking good for next year.