Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

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Bunker
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Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by Bunker » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:11 am

Ive been courting Rob at Wasp for a few years now to get me some photos of their army combination. The history of it is according to my recollection, Ill get him to confirm it but:

Wasp (http://wasp-motorcycles.tripod.com/id1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) were approach by the army to build/ trial a combination back in the very early 80s. They built 2 models and sent them up for testing, the resulting was deemed excellent but sadly the practicality was that the combo was too tricky for the average soldier to ride, so it didn't go any further.
Both units disappeared into the fog of time but eventually, through contacts, the army gave Rob one of the units back. What happened to the other one, we don't know.

Getting the bike DVLA registered was very tricky and it took a few years and finally a letter from Alan Clews (CCM) to get it sorted, as you see, its an A reg so probably the earliest we've seen.

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Roy W
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Re: Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by Roy W » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:29 am

Hub steering as well eh, very 'engineered'
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ellrider
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Re: Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by ellrider » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:55 am

And guess who's just bought a new(old stock) ready to assemble genuine Wasp leading link for his outfit. :D :D :D
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Re: Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by worz » Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:07 pm

ellrider wrote:And guess who's just bought a new(old stock) ready to assemble genuine Wasp leading link for his outfit. :D :D :D
Don't know can I have a clue
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Re: Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by RobSK » Sun Feb 12, 2012 7:47 pm

Roy W wrote:Hub steering as well eh, very 'engineered'
Not hub steering but leading link.
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a01470258

Re: Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by a01470258 » Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:13 pm

Excuse my ignornce, but why the special link on the front suspension an why should a sidecar combination be more difficult to ride?
Other than its size, than a normal motorcycle for soldier??

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Re: Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by ZIP TIE » Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:24 pm

a01470258 wrote:Excuse my ignornce, but why the special link on the front suspension an why should a sidecar combination be more difficult to ride?
Other than its size, than a normal motorcycle for soldier??

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Re: Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by appyarry » Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:27 pm

Ah, you've never had a bike with a chair then.

They do need a bit of practice to drive safely. Lots of fun, especially if you have a brake on the chair as well.

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a01470258

Re: Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by a01470258 » Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:18 pm

Ah no i've never had I try out on a combination. A Russian guy did offer me a ride of what. I think was a very rough Ural combo but I passed it over, as I think he had eyes for the MT. I wonder what use the 80's MOD would have had for a sidecar, in military terms its very WW2 ?

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Re: Official Army MT500 with WASP sidecar

Post by Wirralman » Thu Feb 02, 2023 11:12 am

Bounced. There are other sidecar projects to be found by using the forum Search facility on ' sidecar' - these are homemade rather than by a commercial company
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