My wife and I are having a Texas Sidecar, ranger model, installed on our 2003 Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad 1500 next week. It will be her bike as I ride a 2010 Harley Road Glide Custom. We are interested in learning as much as we can about sidecar riding and will take the S/TEP course together that is offered in Eustis, Florida. Despite riding a motorcycle since 1970, this will be a new experience and want to learn everything we can to be safe and enjoy.
Welcome to the fray, mhn. Yes, it is a whole new experience. Good plan with the S/TEP course. It took the course plus ~2000 miles for me to become comfortable/competent piloting my rig. Please be aware that sidecar rigs generally are both more physically and mentally demanding than riding 2-wheelers, but the enjoyment factor is great.
Lee
MB5+TW200+CRF250L+GTV300+INT650
XL883R w/Texas Ranger Sidecar
Zuma 50F + Burgman w/Texas Sidecar<Mrs. SwampFox
Welcome to the world of Sidecaring. That is a good course and they are nice people.
Welcome,
I too am new to this sidecar thing. Am a experienced Biker (After "Barefoot'n It" for 3 years, got my bike license in 1977)
Have about 800 miles INTO THIS NEW RIDING EXPERIENCE, it's been a HOOT!
3 OR 4 Things have kept the mileage down......
1st every stop you are going to get questioned by the general public on, the sidecar, hows it to drive, etc.
2nd here in Central Wisconsin it has had measureable rain 105 of the last 173 days
3rd, I usually only have Sundays OFF
4th, ALL THE USUAL "PRIDE IN OWNERSHIP" in owning and running a URAL motorcycle. I'm going to know more about this bike than the assembly line worker who built it !!
Welcome good to see you here.
where are you located in Florida? I am in Orlando and ride a 2011 Road Glide ULtra with CSC SE. We can get together and go for a ride.. or if it is still raining, get a cup of coffee. Welcome to the forum.
Thanks. We are in Lecanto, Florida about 2 hours ride from Orlando. Would like to get together some nice day.
Make sure that when the sidecar is installed they also modify the front end of the bike, the Kawasaki steers very hard with out steering modifications.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
Thanks, my dealer insisted that I get the steering damper for the Kawasaki. Should be picking up the asembled rig this week.
A steering damper hides a front end shake that usually can be addressed with good solid mounts and by getting the alignment spot on. We usually do not use dampers instead we make sure every thing is done correctly then and only then if we can not make a front end shake go away we add a damper. We do not like to use dampers as they make your bike steer harder all of the time.
What I was asking about is when ever you add a sidecar (or convert to a trike) you end up with heavy steering as the front end on the bike is designed with a lot of trail in it for stability as a two wheel motorcycle. To get lighter steering you need to reduce trail. To reduce trail you must move the front wheel forward. We do this with triple tree's that change the angle of the forks making for much lighter steering.
We find that often dealers do not tell you that you can do this as they are trying to keep the price as low as possible to get the sale then once done they tell you that changes can be made.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
Thank you so much for this information. This is exactly why I joined this forum.
Jay is right about the steering, I have the Vulcan 2000 Classic LT, only thing that saves me is that it has very wide bars. I will get the steering mods later on when I can afford it.
Hey NYB, I had to put Jay's steering mod on my BMW. It works well but was $1200!
Jay S.
Okie from Muskogee
