just watching the live feed. never noticed before, but saw the police bikes all running sidecars. I wonder if that's a winter season thing. usually you see them with two wheels instead of three.
You beat me to it Dave. I was just proofing the latest issue of the Sidecarist and my wife (and faithful sidecar passenger) called my attention to the Presidential entourage led by those white Harley rigs. (I didn't get a count) I was impressed.
Loved the coverage. Sidecars on Parade!
Here ya go......
No Kawasakis there.
Harley has been furnishing their sidehack rigs for escort duty for presidents and other in and around Washington, DC for about 100 years.
Go Harley!!!!
Lonnie
NWSC Ret'd.
Boise, Idaho
I seem to recall talking to Pete Larsen at Liberty Sidecars in Seattle last year and him saying that he was filling some giant order for sidecars for the DC police. My memory's a little hazy about the details, but were they Liberty sidecars at the inauguration?
My son is a USSS Officer, DC Police, Park Police and USSSUD all operate sidecars in the winter. See the article for info on the iconic HD marque.
They were Harley Motor Co.TLE's.
The Liberty cars are much nicer and have full suspension, unlike the rigid mounted Harley cars. Apparently less expensive.
A good alternative.
Lonnie Cook,
NWSC Ret'd.
NWSC
Yes the DC parks department runs sidecars in the winter and they do the presidential escort duty. They put them out to bid but pretty much had chosen the Liberty sidecars and as such wrote the bid notice so that the only sidecars that could meet the bid were Liberty sidecars. The bid notification was obviously written by some one who knew little about sidecars (or proper English) as in one sentence the body was referred to as the body the bucket and the boat. We offered a sidecar that would have worked better for police duty at less money but it was not what they had decided on before they even put it to bid. I was not willing to mount the bodies on leaf springs that really serve no purpose on a sidecar frame with full suspension nor could I see any reason why we had to mount the turn signal to the spring. The fact that when the emailed me to ask for a bid they kept referring to me a Pete (the name of the owner of Liberty sidecars) was a clear indication that they had already chosen the sidecar they wanted. There were many other oddities about the bid request. Yes I am bitter about this, I put a lot of time and effort into the bid, it would have been good work and saved all of us tax payers money and given tax payers a better tool for the job. The TLE sidecars are being phased out as Harley does not offer mounts for the water cooled bikes.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
866-638-1793
Much like the election, Jay, bitterness won't change anything. Time to keep smilin' and move forward.
I loved the hacks in the parade but I live in a state where anybody on the bike or in the hack must have a helmet on I think its wrong for the cop to be have one on but the kids in the hack in new York that will earn you a ticket
When I was in Tacoma Wa. in the service,fiest snow brought out the police sidecars.
J.R.
USCA sec.
Tex. rep
Tom, You bring up a good point: 🙁
I always wondered in CR economics goes well when Liberacion rules and down when Pusc rules...
The Pusc has the better businessmen who concentrate on what they do best when the Liberacion is in charge.
Liberacion has the best blood suckers and chair leg cutters so they come to their best efectivity when they are on the opposition bench.
So. for right now there is only one thing to do.
Concentrate on what you do best and try to make the best out of the bad.
No need for wheening. Nobody will wait for us.
The first dumb things have been done already, :O so let's worry about the things with the highest priority first.
Here we go: Wrap up the sleeves!
Good luck to all.
Sven 😉
jay you must remember who was in charge of the government at the time of the bid .
As most of you know, I run a Liberty on my FLH and count Pete and Patty on my list of friends. Not being members of USCA, they don't spend much if any time on the forum and don't believe this is the place to promote their product. When ever I see a thread that might be of interest to them, I call it to their attention. After doing just that with this thread, I received this e-mail from Patty~
Tom,
F.Y.I.: During the request for bids, the value of the contract was set forth publicly by the GSA as $60K. It may only be a coincidence that DMC’s bid was $59,998.98, just about a buck less than the Gov. wanted to spend. This is why I don’t follow the argument about saving the taxpayer’s money. Our bid was several thousand dollars less.
I have to add that flying to DC and working with the US Park Police to attach the sidecars was one of the highlights of my career. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Pete Larsen, Patty Billings
Owners, Liberty Sidecars
