I have two Soviet-built Dneprs with sidecars, looking something
like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filenepr.JPG

One of them (a mid-80's MT-11) runs (in a crude, Communist sort of way)
and is so funky it's actually fun to ride. I'm always meeting people
in parking lots who ask about it. Especially if they're from
Eastern Europe. This summer at a bike rally in Vancouver I met a group
of Russian kids standing all around it, talking excitedly in their
Slavic lingo. I told them I named it the _Red October_, which they
thought was hilarious.

The other Dnepr is a '78 MT-10/36 that I haven't even tried
to start -- it looks as though it was dragged out of the Volga mud
after the battle of Stalingrad.

Since I'm not interested in the motor (or the rest of the Soviet
drive train for that matter) I thought I'd remove it all, leaving
a bare rolling frame looking like this...
http://edslastresort.com/dnepr/dnepr_frame_1_640.jpg

....which is actually from someone's MT-9 project:
http://edslastresort.com/dnepr/mt9.html

Anyway, the sight of that bare frame is like an open invitation
to put something interesting in it. Such as the drive train
from a BMW or a Sportster or some diesel motor or steam engine
or a battery-powered electric or whatever. Googling images
for "Dnepr conversion" etc shows lots of interesting creations
based on this frame (apparently a lot of these machines have been
delivered world wide; one estimate was 1.5 million. That's
a lotta bikes.)

Because I like the sound and feel of a Harley I'm seriously
considering a Sportster motor, the frame for which looks
something alike, the motor cradle at least:

Sportster:
http://www.sporty-ironheads.com/spor...i3-468x300.JPG

Dnepr:
http://edslastresort.com/dnepr/reassembled_chas1.JPG

However, I'm sure it will be a lot of work (and expense) to adapt
it for a Sportster (as well as horrifying any purists who might
be reading this). The most logical choice is obviously a motor
and possibly a complete drive train from a BMW as the whole
rig is a BMW clone. For local insurance reasons an R75/x
motor would be optimal.

Any helpful suggestions appreciated.

TIA, Sean P. Quinlan [of County Cork, Ireland but stranded
here in Canada due to the 1845 potato blight]

sean_q wrote:

> Any helpful suggestions appreciated.

Citrõen 2CV/Diane etc;
VW Beetlepusher;
Er - or extend the frame a bit and cram a Merlin in? I don't expect
you'd need a gearbox - after all, the Zeppelin-engined FN car didn't
bother with one...


--
Rusty

On 31 Oct, 11:05, Rusty Hinge <rusty.hi...@foobar.girolle.co.uk>
wrote:
> sean_q wrote:
> > Any helpful suggestions appreciated.
>
> Citr en 2CV/Diane etc;

This is a 2CV-engined Dnepr I saw at the Elefant last year:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...1&id=528363400

> VW Beetlepusher;
> Er - or extend the frame a bit and cram a Merlin in? I don't expect
> you'd need a gearbox - after all, the Zeppelin-engined FN car didn't
> bother with one...

Electric motor, and cram the thing the thing with big old-fashioned
NiCads.

platypus wrote:
> On 31 Oct, 11:05, Rusty Hinge <rusty.hi...@foobar.girolle.co.uk>
> wrote:
>> sean_q wrote:
>>> Any helpful suggestions appreciated.
>> Citr en 2CV/Diane etc;
>
> This is a 2CV-engined Dnepr I saw at the Elefant last year:

Nice. Instant desire!

Do I see sort-of short(ish) leading link Earles-type forks?

> http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...1&id=528363400
>
>> VW Beetlepusher;
>> Er - or extend the frame a bit and cram a Merlin in? I don't expect
>> you'd need a gearbox - after all, the Zeppelin-engined FN car didn't
>> bother with one...

> Electric motor, and cram the thing the thing with big old-fashioned
> NiCads.

Several of eclectic encyclical batteries?

--
Rusty

On 31 Oct, 15:20, Rusty Hinge <rusty.hi...@foobar.girolle.co.uk>
wrote:
> platypus wrote:
> > On 31 Oct, 11:05, Rusty Hinge <rusty.hi...@foobar.girolle.co.uk>
> > wrote:
> >> sean_q wrote:
> >>> Any helpful suggestions appreciated.
> >> Citr en 2CV/Diane etc;
>
> > This is a 2CV-engined Dnepr I saw at the Elefant last year:
>
> Nice. Instant desire!
>
> Do I see sort-of short(ish) leading link Earles-type forks?

I certainly can. You may need to squint a bit.

It's very unlikely that they're anything other than the usual Ural
leading link forks

http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en...w=1366&bih=613

> >http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...1&id=528363400
>
> >> VW Beetlepusher;
> >> Er - or extend the frame a bit and cram a Merlin in? I don't expect
> >> you'd need a gearbox - after all, the Zeppelin-engined FN car didn't
> >> bother with one...
> > Electric motor, and cram the thing the thing with big old-fashioned
> > NiCads.
>
> Several of eclectic encyclical batteries?

That would be an ecumenical matter.

platypus wrote:
> On 31 Oct, 15:20, Rusty Hinge <rusty.hi...@foobar.girolle.co.uk>
> wrote:

>>> Electric motor, and cram the thing the thing with big old-fashioned
>>> NiCads.
>> Several of eclectic encyclical batteries?
>
> That would be an ecumenical matter.

Wot? Reverse TAAAW?

--
Rusty

On 31 Oct, 05:13, sean_q <no.s...@no.spam> wrote:
>
>
> Any helpful suggestions appreciated.
>
You know you want to put a stonking great V8 in there!

Boxerboy

On 10/31/2010 5:02 PM, Jordan wrote:

> I'll eat my hat if you succeed in putting a Harley engine in there

I'm not trying to change anyone's diet. Also, it's true that I don't
seem to have the resources to do this on my own... however:

Once there was a silly old ram
Thought he'd punch a hole in a dam
No one could make that ram scram
He kept buttin' that dam

{'cause he had high hopes, he had high hopes}
{He had high apple pie-in-the-sky hopes}
So, any time your feelin' bad, 'stead of feelin' sad,
Just remember that ram.

Oops -- there goes a billion-kilowatt dam!

SQ

An R75 will bolt right in (same mounts), but you'd need to do some
machining to match up with Russian gearbox, if that's what you want.

If'n I had my druthers I'd ruther use the whole BMW drive train,
motor to differential. Would it fit? I gotta find out.

SQ

On 1 Nov, 21:41, sean_q <no.s...@no.spam> wrote:

> An R75 will bolt right in (same mounts), but you'd need to do some
> machining to match up with Russian gearbox, if that's what you want.
>
> If'n I had my druthers I'd ruther use the whole BMW drive train,
> motor to differential. Would it fit? I gotta find out.

Yeahbut you'd lose the reverse gear, which is the main reason for
owning the wretched thing.

On 11/1/2010 2:03 PM, platypus wrote:

>> If'n I had my druthers I'd ruther use the whole BMW drive train,
>> motor to differential. Would it fit? I gotta find out.
>
> Yeahbut you'd lose the reverse gear, which is the main reason for
> owning the wretched thing.

I hardly ever use reverse on the one that runs (except to show off).
Well, showing off is important of course. But what I really want to do
is ride the thing at highway speeds -- 65 mph would be nice.

The Dnepr that works, its top speed is 45 mph. Anything above that,
the motor approaches self-destruction. I've already blown the pushrod
seals by doing 49.5 mph. I'm not kidding. The thing is crude and rude.
It runs the way I imagine a tractor built in Stalingrad runs
on a collective farm in Soviet Central Asia.

And that's the one that does run (in a manner of speaking).
The other one, its drive train is destined to become spare parts
for the running one. So a complete drivetrain from a BMW including
wheels, brakes, in fact everything but the frame; if I can fit it all
in there, I should have something that hauls at decent speeds.

SQ