First Sidecar question: Why all the low mile rigs?

Welcome to the slightly off-center world of sidecars, Barry!

A poorly attached or improperly aligned car is a bare to drive (yes, you DRIVE a sidecar rig). And a poorly matched car/bike combo is down right dangerous as is a pilot who hasn't taken the initiative to pick up the unique skills it takes to really enjoy sidecaring safely. I suspect that someone with a rig in any of these categories would quickly decide that sidecars aren't for them and would sell their rig with low miles on the clock.

On the other hand, those that have a well matched, well setup rig and the skills to pilot it are more likely to drive the wheels off it before the let 'er go.

Hello Barry,
32 years licence, with one interruption = 26 years saddle time, I got to rig riding at the age of 23 when my last student's car lost its right front wheel ("that is it!!!!").

You find low mileage rigs or you find high mileage rigs, in between nearly nothing,
Why?
The low mileage rigs are mainly from people who bought them for "its shick/cool" how it looks, but have not much clue what is behind and get scared from their first training time...or worse, have not even a clue that you need some force, brain and training to ride it. (met a kid who proudly quoted that he rode with his R60 rig 30km in 3 years....sorry? His Grandfather used it for to bring up the family for decades)
The 2 wheelers of these people do get polished more then ridden too) Sadly often the best half is "not fond of this rare thing" or eat dragon and other flies.
Other reason I have seen (and lived myself) were poor setups that can take out all the fun.

Sometimes and very seldom the first owner was just a bummer and just caused dump damage to a good piece of machinery art. (if you see arrogancy in the owner, poor weld jobs, engine damage or obviously foolishly made scratches that show there was a no brainer at work, then better pass by and look for more serious deals)

Then there are the high to very high mileage rigs. Once a person got the "bug/virus" he will not let his hand off it...(my van and car made 3.000km and 1200km in the whole last year 2013, while the rig in 8 weeks 12.000km and the solo 9.000miles or more in the year(did break my old rig in 2012)) A good running rig will not get sold by these people because of several reasons. Its made to their like and preferences, its reliable, it is damn expensive and time intensive to get a rig to its "sweat point". Then it turns into a keeper.

And then there are the unicorns. Somebody passed by before time and left his/her widow(er) with his/her diamond in the garage. A friend in this moment is restoring a well used Zuendapp right now.

Myself I prefer to buy new, pull it out of the box myself and assemble together with a really knowledgeable old school mechanic as I did with the Jawa rig.
My used solo bikes were a horror and the first rig assembled by a mass importer was a mess.
The Jawa rig was hopelessly underpowered for our mountain range and the Ural needed the"run in" time in borreal Tundra before sending it to the tropical Cordillera.

This comment is no scientific result, but the resumee of what I have experienced over time.
I wish you good luck in the search.
Sven

You will see the same low, low mileage solo bikes as well. many Baby Boomers (now empty nesters) had a motorcycle of sorts when younger. It was probably a low cc bike since that was the theme of the day when a 750 Honda was considered a big bike. Today a 750 is a small bike and most buy a new bike that is maybe twice that displacement (and weight). Ergo, that new heavyweight is intimidating. Not as easy and fun as remembered from the past.
I see many newer bikes for sale with 1K or less on the odometer that were purchased with 7 year warranties and thousands of dollars worth of extra bling.
I recently bought a 2003 100th Anniversary Harley WideGlide with just over 6K on it. It also had $6K worth of dealer purchased chrome accessories. A $27K purchase that was stored in it's personal small air conditioned garage like the trophy it was, by the owner. It's now racking up miles as my sidehack tug.

Lonnie

First, I think that this may be a "Troll" to start a debate but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and simply reply.

Lonnie is completely right, there are LOTS of low mileage bikes out there. Some of them have sidecars. There are also a lot of high mileage bikes, again with and without sidecars. My own BMW K100rs/EML Sport has something north of 134,000 miles on it and I'm just the second owner. And, I just bought a 1993 K1100LT solo bike with just 6,200 miles. I also picked up an EML GT2 sidecar because I want to replicate the rig that I regret selling to Snowbum a few years ago.

I believe the guy who started this thread needs a bigger sample before he starts drawing conclusions about sidecar rig being low mileage because they are somehow undesirable. If he wants to sing that song he's preaching to the wrong choir. [How's that for a mixed metaphor?]

Definitely not a troll, Al. You could ask Snowbum for a reference.

And thanks for the benefit of the doubt and warm welcome.

Because many first time owners get skeered by the odd handling requirements. It's not what they expected so they sell it.

barry83rt - 8/17/2014 1:07 PM

Definitely not a troll, Al. You could ask Snowbum for a reference.

And thanks for the benefit of the doubt and warm welcome.

Any friend of Snowbum's... may be subject to a body search!

Seriously, welcome. If you are interested the only way you'll ever know is to give it a try.

I haven't been racking many miles the last few years due to my wife's health.
then there is my friend Kevin KLages who has a 95 Harley with a Friendship 3.
when I talked to him the beginning of July it only had 304,000 miles.
fly

Probably due for a tune up by now.

My 08 has only a little over 21,000 miles, I have put 12,000 on it in the 16 months that I have owned it, as for the previous owner not riding it much, he just had too many bikes to chose from, besides the 1800 Hannigan sidecar rig I bought, he had a 1800 Hannigan trike conversion, a BMW GS two wheeler, and a Honda mega scooter, I think called a Silver Wing. He only used the sidecar when he wanted to take his dog. I suppose that there are several reasons for low mileage, if the rig is poorly set up and doesn't handle well it wouldn't be much fun to ride, but it could be corrected in most cases. There are other reasons, such as the riders health like mine, some of us can't handle long rides and trailer the rig to where we want to ride, the hot weather in parts of the country, like down here in south Texas some riders that I know put their rigs up all summer, like our northern brothers do in the winter. Good luck in your search for a rig, maybe you will find one of the garage stored low mileage rigs, and give it good home, and ride the heck out of it.

Fly, I thought I had a few miles on my '96 FLH/Liberty with 124,000 but compared to your friend Kevin's, I'm barely broke in... I've got to go a ways yet to catch up to him!

Tom,
come down her and let's visit my mother in law...
http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=7570039
That will give you some oportunity to spool some miles and break in the engine...
3,5h for 75miles....twice I counted. 18, 20 curves per km
Sophie does like it now. (For the first climb I did a small trick (Ural 1* sieze, Jawa 3* sieze)...got water cooling from above.)
Sven 😉

Hi Barry, Welcome to the club, Many reasons for low mileage bikes both with and with out sidecars, Set up right sidecars are a blast, set up wrong or with to light of a sidecar for the bike they are no fun at all to ride. We have customers with many hundreds of thousands of miles on their rigs. The president (for life) of the big foot sidecar club has about 400K on his rig. The Big foot sidecar club is the closet active club to you as they are out of B.C. Canada. Before I was in the business I was putting 40K a year on two different rigs, I kept two so I could service one while riding the other as I needed them to get to work. Now that I am in the business every thing I build ends up being sold before it needs the oil changed. We have 5 or 6 rigs done at any given time and more being built if you wanted to come up and see some rigs, We are about 1 1/2 hours north of you in Enumclaw.
There are many companies in Washington offering the sidecar trike class, the state pays for part of the class, why not take a class and try one?
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793

So the class provides the rigs then?

Way cool. Any idea of who is the initial contact point in Thurston County area?

Thanks for the responses, all.

-Barry