After (mostly) lurking for the past year, I finally am in a position to do something about my urge to have a sidecar rig. As my first step, I just finished registration for the mid-Oct Adventure Sidecar S/TEP class at Hood River, OR. It is a ways to travel from AL, but the timing is good & it also gives me a chance to visit family in Spokane.
My longer term goal is to get a (moderate!) dual-sport set up, but for now I'm looking at older BMW rigs. I think that they would be good in that I can gain handling experience, and give rides to the grand-kids, while learning more about the practical trade-offs involved in finding "the perfect rig."
The October class should be a fun one. Tawm Niemela and Dan Hatcher are also signed up. Tawm and Danno are organizors for the big Dualsport Rallies in Oregon ( the Black Dog and the Scaredy Cat, among others) and have been instrumental in promoting sidecar participation in dualsport rallies. It will be interesting to get them out on the field on three wheels!
By the way, my buddies an I started out flogging old BMW combos as well as various East bloc sidecar rigs out in the woods on logging roads. You can make a pretty decent dualsport rig with one of those if you want to!
Thanx for signing up -I look forward to seeing you in class next month!
W,
welcome to the SC world!
you are going to have a lot of fun!
I have an 'older' BMW rig that you mightbeinterested in. It is not a dual- sport rig..it is a highway cruiser. great intro to the SC world, or keep it for long haul touring.
It is a '73 BMW LWB model with leading link forks, windjammer, solo seat, aux tank, saddlebags,lots of other goodies. all hooked up to a mint 2002 Ural SC, ready to roll!!
pics on request.
rwzinda@earthlink.net
I forgot to mention , it also has a '73 R100RS engine AND 5 SPEED TRANNY.
Bob is moving to a one room studio with lots and lots of padding, so he won't be needing it anymore.
('shame, really...)
Bob,
I just noticed your posting in the 'Want Ads' & will check it out in a moment. It was a comment of yours that I'd seen earlier that caused me to consider a BMW to Ural transplant for a dual-sport rig (over in Technical threads).
My only real problem now is the extensive range of choices. I expect my best bet is to do much the same as when I got back into riding in '03 --- take a class, get an inexpensive rig & ride! The choices then seem to sort themselves out.
