I've been around motorcycles my entire life. I was born into a family that started riding over eighty years ago and as a kid it was just a way of life. When I was very young just after WWII I rode in my Dad's custom built sidecar and thought that every family had a sidecar;it's just the way it was. I started riding in 1956 on a Puck 250cc, a motorcycle sold at Sears and Roebuck that came out of Europe of some such place. In the early 1960's I saved for two years to purchase my Norton Atlas 750 and when I got out of High School I hung around with other young guys my age running the boulevards in North East Massachusetts. I grew up in Andover and my buddy Jacky Ball lived three houses down from the now famous Jay Leno. Jay was five years younger than us and would sometime ride with Jacky. Within two weeks I wrecked my Norton up on cemetery hill racing some of my buddy's around the tomb stones. All that was left was the engine and back wheel along with some odds and ends. I took the engine and rear wheel and installed them in a 1952 Indian Warrior TT frame. It went like heck and I drag raced everyone up till it was time to go back to school. I didn't ride for almost eight years and then got back into it and eventually started building sidecars. All this time a motorcycle license was never needed. But sometime in the 1970's the powers that be decided that a motorcycle license was needed. The fine for not having a motorcycle license was something like $15.00 of $20.00 so I never bothered to get one. I guess i figured I would just pay the fine. As it turned out I was never stopped and to this day Have never had a motorcycle license. I'm not saying that this is a good thing but it is what it is. I estimate that over the years I've driven over a quarter of a million miles on motorcycles and this entire time not a motorcycle license.
So today I took a trip down to the Motor Vehicle Department this morning to get the book on motorcycles to study for the test. I'm one of those people that only has to read it once and can remember what I read. Anyways they have a regulation in the State about two wheel motorcycles and those with three wheels. I get to the reception desk and the lady tells me that I don't need a motorcycle license if I"m driving a trike or if the sidecar is permanently welded to the motorcycle and can't be removed. I'm thinking permanently welded; what's she nuts! I told her that the sidecar can be removed but that it will not and the only way that I will drive the bike is with the sidecar attached to the bike. I'm told that I will need a motorcycle license. So I move on to the next lady asking for the book to study. They charge me $5.00 plus tax for the instruction manual and I was also told that I can't take the test with the sidecar mounted to the motorcycle. I will have to take it off for the test. I answer with "what does a person do if they need the sidecar on the motorcycle to hold it up". She had know idea what I was getting at. I explained in a different way and was told that that was a different circumstance and would come under some special regulation. I pay for the instruction manual and leave the building.
Later in the morning I'm parked taking a brake before going into a store so I pull out the instruction manual and put on my glasses. The first paragraph in the instruction manual states that if you have a trike or a motorcycle with a sidecar on it "DO NOT USE THIS MANUAL". They have a special manual just for trikes and sidecars;go figure.
I make my way back to the Motor Vehicle Department and as I approach the first lady at the reception desk I told her that I needed someone that could give me the correct information about getting a license for a motorcycle with a sidecar. She starts in with the same song and dance and then I show her the first paragraph of the manual. She had no answer so the head of the division was called in. The head top my information and then got in touch with the head at the state capital. I'm only waiting around fifteen minutes and out comes the top asking me for my phone number. She told me that the head of the Motor Vehicle Department will be calling me. A few minutes later sure enough I get a call from the "Big Heads" first in charge. I was told that they do have a test that is given for those with a sidecar and that the big, big head will be calling the department that I was at with instructions and that tests for sidecar will be given. As it turned out I had to go all the way to the top person in the state to get an answer. Like they always say, if you have to deal with a bureaucracy your screwed. Today was the exception to the rule.
So what was the end result of a day at the Motor Vehicle department? I start with a permit allowing me to drive a motorcycle with sidecar for six months. After six months I can go back and get motorcycle license that will allow me to drive with a sidecar. I can't go in before the six months because after all I need the six months to learn how to drive a motorcycle.
I wouldn't dare in this day and age to drive a motorcycle without the proper license. I could just see the cops calling in their hit squad because I had a permit to carry but no motorcycle license.
Thanks for reading,
Johnny Sweet jsweet450@yahoo.com
You still living in Massachusetts, or this some other state?
In my state (WA), most guys take a class over a 3-day weekend by a state-approved instructor, then trot down to the DMV with their certificate and walk out with their sidecar license. Pretty simple, as long as you take the class. You can get your license without the class, but then the procedure would more resemble your mess there.
What a good laugh, a reason more why I hate lawyers.
Just for to inform You. Possibly You owned a Puch from Austria. excellent and long lasting 2 strokers.
In deed they had still in the 70tees a strange way to sell mopeds in Germany they sold them via supermarket chains.
Something that is repeated nowerdays with Chineese motorcycles in Costa Rica. Quite a few well known motorcycle importers and repair shops were unable to compete and had to close their doors like my friend the Jawa importer.
Sven
DRONE - 2/14/2013 9:08 PM
You still living in Massachusetts, or this some other state?
Hi, I grew up in Massachusetts but moved out fifty years ago. I built my sidecars across the border in Southern New Hampshire and twenty five years ago moved to the South. In twenty five years I've counted six sidecars in the a sixty mile radios. Possibly more sidecars than six exists but I haven't seen them. I did build around fifteen or so but they all went to North Carolina and not in my area.
That would be fun taking a course on how to drive a sidecar rig from some young guy that wasn't even born when I was manufacturing them. But I'm an old soldier and can follow instructions and take orders with the best of them.
Thanks for the post,
Johnny
Here in my state, GA, you can get your 'learners' license and renew it every 6 months. It has some limitations such as no two up riding, no riding on roads with 40mph minimum speed limits, and no riding at night. I keep mine up to date and since I
dont break any of the rules I am good to go. A lot of us scooter riders do this. A scoot dealer friend of mine ran into a group of motorcycle riders at a rest stop and the conversation got around to MC licenses. Out of 20 riders only 2 had the
MC endorsement!!!!! The rest had regular drivers licenses. You must have a valid drivers license to get the 'learners' permit. You do not need the MC endorsement to ride the 50cc scoots.
Keep writing, Mr. Sweet. You have a book in there somewhere just waiting to be written.
People working in state goverment can be something else --- when filling out the paper work for my carry license, we were told to NOT enter NMN if we had no middle name because some licenses had been issued with NMN as the middle name.
as for driving licenses -- I got my car driver's license at age 15 but had been driving since age 13 ( a fact I keep hidden from my kids ). Got my first bike at age 16 and all we had to do was go to license office of DMV and say I want a MC endosment. When testing was required, I was grandfathered but took the test for kicks - passed it. In 2005, after 23 years off bikes, I started riding again and took the test after a few months of riding. I did not pass the first time -- the reason for not passing was that I would come up to a stop sign, stop, look both ways and take off without putting my feet down. When I went the second time, I told the tester about my first time - he laughed but had to take the test anyways - passed. When I got the sidecar, I did not bother to ask questions!!!
I was grand fathered in for my motorcycle license as I had been riding for many years prior to the license requirement. No special test in Idaho for a sidehack. They figure if you can ride a bike you can ride a three wheeler - -
Being an Idaho sidecar dealer and installer we know "It ain't as easy as it looks to a bureaucrat".
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
