New Silver Star sidecar owner

[Bertram]

Listers: I have just purchased a 1994 Silver Star sidecar rig. Have just joined the forum, seems to be a dearth of information on it dealing with this particular model. Fortunately previous owner gave me some good literature ie: Owners manual for the bike, parts manual and a Rotax shop manual. What I am curious was there any other literature on the bike with the rig. I know the sidecar is a Velorex. I just happen to be a literature junkie for any bike I own. I do have the Motor Cycle Consumer News issue that does a test on it. I am wondering if there were any other magazine/articles that gave tests or riding impressions. So I could keep an eye out on E-Bay for them. Would like to hear from any other owners of the same rig as mine.

Cheers Bertram 94 Silver Star Gresspan, 03 Guzzi Cali Aluminum, 99 Buell Cyclone, 78 Sport and 61 Tresette Moto Morinis, 98 KTM, 95 BMW R100GS and a 80 Vespa thrown in the mix

[DAVID THOMPSON]

with that list of bikes i bet the cars set out in the driveway
hav fun
dave
95 saxon tour rotax power no chair

[ekirtz]

Bertram, as of Friday I am too a "New Silver Star Sidecar Owner". I couldn't be happier so far. I too have been on the lookout for for literature and will let you know if I find anything. I brought mine home yesterday and my lovely lady and I rode 80 km around the nether regions of New York City. It's the coolest motorcycle I've ever seen and somehow it's mine!??!!! And it fit perfectly in the back of my pickup truck -- tailgate closed!

Looking forward to being part of this group!

Eli

(I think here I'm supposed to list my bikes, so here goes)

1966 Honda c110, 1970 Honda CT90, Some Year Sears Allstate Gilera 106SS, 1968 CD175, 1966 CB77, 1996 MZ Silver Star Gespann, 1971 Chevy C-10, 66 Chevy Bel Ari wagon, a million crazy bicycles, Rock-Ola 442

[Nozz]

I'm kind of jealous of all you new Gespanner's! I have a couple of Silvy's but neither are on the road right now. I have a couple of things I can upload, but here is an old dealer list from 1999. If any are in your area, it can't hurt to check in to see if they have any old stock bits that might work on your bike. Next post is a factory mini poster... Stay tuned! Enjoy the bikes. Long live rotax air heads.

[ekirtz]

Bertram,

Do you have the "Supplement of the Owner's Manual" (that's what it says, folks) for the sidecar rigs? I would happily scan it for you, and also I have (which you may also have) the wiring diagram for the Gespann, which is different (or so it says). Hope you are enjoying your Gespann as much as I am, which is to say A LOT. I've been putting about 30-50 miles a day on it riding the mean streets of New York City (they ain't so bad these days). This rig seems to track really nicely.

Eli

(Gespann, a bunch of little Hondas, Gilera 106, 2 Schwinn tandems, all kinda other junk)

[Bertram]

Noz: Having two Silver Stars is great, considering the low numbers here in the States. Are they both fairly complete? Or combined equal one complete ride? Have you thought of converting it to a sidecar rig. It doesn't seem that hard to do, by looking at my rig. Velorex 560 sidecar, sixteen inch wheels and tires along with the steering dampener and a fork brace. Perry Bushong in Fort Worth, Texas could probably give some excellent advice. While it may not be factory original, who cares. The company is defunct and I personally do not believe one would lose any money on it. Based on smiles vs miles. I found it amazing that after purchasing my rig two more have popped up for sale. One on E-Bay and the other coming up for auction via Mecham's in August at Harrisburg Penn. Awhile back there was a guy in Tenn. who listed one on E-Bay virtually no miles/kilometers on it. I felt he was asking to much for it.

Cheers Bertram

[Nozz]

Interesting. I know Perry, bought my first from him. He has the other right now and I would love to convert one some day. I have almost all the parts for the second bike, including freshly rebuilt motor. Too many irons in the fire! The worst of it is I crashed my skorpion this weekend with my girlfriend on back. She is losing interest and an understandably alarming pace! My next post may be about sprains and road rash. Ouch! We are both OK and the bike survived, but its a bummer any way you look at it. First time ever to put one down in 33 years.

[DAVID THOMPSON]

its only a matter of time... you will fall down or some one will knock you off..
i made it to 53 years and a guy with a 1991 ford f150 took me up a side street
dave

OUCH!

[silverstar500+]

I saw the postings from Silver Star sidecar owners in 2015 and hope all are still active on this forum. I just bought a low mileage(120 miles) SS & sidecar, but it came with no manuals. I am looking for the SS owner's manual, the supplement for the sidecar, the Rotax manual, parts manual and anything else that you may have. Of course, I'll be glad to pay any copy costs. Also, if anyone can suggest sources for parts, that would be helpful. I very much appreciate any help. I am in Winston-Salem, NC.

[ekirtz]

I can help you with copies of the sidecar owner manual and some other stuff..the only caveat is that I am slooooooooow - Ask Bertram I still owe him some stuff too! Hit me up offline - there must be some way to send a private message on this thing - we will get it done...

Eli

[DAVID THOMPSON]

off to the right side of screen is a button labeled PM it works if your logged in
Dave

right over there below my name and profile

if its not there you are not logged in
but the one here sends mail to me the one you want is up above some where
in one of the other posts

[silverstar500+]

Eli,
PM sent to you. Thanks for your help.

Re: the earlier post about the Silver Star & sidecar in TN(Kingsport), it is still available as of a month ago. I went to see the bike and it is 'as new'. He put it on eBay again last month with bids reaching a tick over $5,000, but it didn't meet the reserve. In talking to the owner, he wants $6,500-7,000 for it. I offered him $6,000 for it last year, but he wouldn't take it. I should add that he also put it on eBay at least once before a couple of years ago and 'no sale'. As someone else pointed out, although it's rare and new, there is almost no market for these bikes. The seller was a former MZ dealer in OH, and I think he's trying to get at least his dealer cost out of the bike, which my literature says was $6,795(retail was $7,995 + freight, set-up, etc.). Thought the forum might find it of interest.

Bud