MT350 Outfit - Now complete
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:19 pm
Recently I bought a lightweight Squire sidecar from a chap at an MZ rally I had been to lately (it came off an MZ 250) with the intention of pairing it to a smaller cc bike such as an MT350. Anyway, I bought another 350 a few weeks ago and after a major disaster two weeks ago when the bike caught fire after backfiring and igniting from the air box it is now paired to the sidecar.
I thankfully got the fire out before it ruined the whole bike but it did completely melt the air box, both throttle cables, most of the internals of the carb, choke, a large proportion of the loom and burnt the paint off the tank.
It was booked in for it's mot the next day so that had to be cancelled and then it was going to have it's sidecar attached.
The next day I transported it to Nick's (Yoof) house as the plan was for him to weld and fabricate the fixings for the sidecar.
Over the next week, Yoof replaced the burnt out loom and got all electrics working again. I obtained a brand new carb and that plus new cables etc were fitted. New starter relay and heavy duty wiring was replaced too as these were all fire damaged. Yoof got the bike running after a few days then set to making the sidecar attachments, I had some and he had some too and mixed with his skills made fantastic and extremely robust fittings. The whole thing handles superbly. Nick, you are a young genius, thank you very much.
The new outfit sailed through it's mot and has now had a coat of paint today, looks good, I think.
As for performance, accelerates ok (even with someone in the chair) and cruises at 55mph. May drop to a 14t front sprocket, but will ride it for a while and see if it needs it. A few pics of the finished outfit. I'll bring it to Stafford this year.
I thankfully got the fire out before it ruined the whole bike but it did completely melt the air box, both throttle cables, most of the internals of the carb, choke, a large proportion of the loom and burnt the paint off the tank.
It was booked in for it's mot the next day so that had to be cancelled and then it was going to have it's sidecar attached.
The next day I transported it to Nick's (Yoof) house as the plan was for him to weld and fabricate the fixings for the sidecar.
Over the next week, Yoof replaced the burnt out loom and got all electrics working again. I obtained a brand new carb and that plus new cables etc were fitted. New starter relay and heavy duty wiring was replaced too as these were all fire damaged. Yoof got the bike running after a few days then set to making the sidecar attachments, I had some and he had some too and mixed with his skills made fantastic and extremely robust fittings. The whole thing handles superbly. Nick, you are a young genius, thank you very much.
The new outfit sailed through it's mot and has now had a coat of paint today, looks good, I think.
As for performance, accelerates ok (even with someone in the chair) and cruises at 55mph. May drop to a 14t front sprocket, but will ride it for a while and see if it needs it. A few pics of the finished outfit. I'll bring it to Stafford this year.
