Have U noticed that Champion Sidecars is no more?

I don't see how you come up with that, although sidecars are not their biggest seller, they are located in the dropdown listing under "products",I'll admit their new web design is not very appealing. Sidecars haven't been their top selling product for quite some time from what I understand. I live in Southern California and their customer service sucked when I wanted to buy my Daytona, I had to go through Dauntless all the way up in Washington to get mine installed. That was almost 1 1/2 ago. Their trikes and hardbags are their main focus I would say. I don't see where they are out of the sidecar business though. I road over to their facility for some warranty work when my trunk lid broke and they asked why I didn't have them install it, I had to laugh and said I couldn't even get you to sell it to me....lol

Linda

Linda I was simply pokin' at 'em what with their name change 'n all.
If you look at their Web Site they have removed Sidecar from their name and put in Trikes. That has to tell you something.

Oh yah, and I do have to agree they are kinda hard to deal with when it comes to Sidecars. Trikes are another whole thing though.
I had heard that a person with a few $$$$ could possably buy the Sidecar side of their business due to it's low return vs the Trike side. Don't know how true that is but if someone with the $$$$ and the interest did buy it things would likely get better and with any luck the QC would improve to the level it should be for the money spent.

I agree, they could certainly use some better QC and customer support. They could do alot to better their product in my opinion.Linda

hi, thanks for the heads up about the customer service at champion, was just about to check them out as my daughter has decided she now wants a hack on her gl1200, i am of the opinion that customer service is even more important than price(most of the time), if you have a product that you can't have service or parts availability for than you have junk, i know because i have a $6000 hannigan astro that i can't get a windshield for unless i drive 1200 miles to get it, so now it is junk, at least my gsd puppies like it(their home for now), makes good welping home for them, please keep posting about bad dealers and manufactures as the public needs to know where not to spend their hard earned moolah. thanks mike

Well don't get me wrong, I like my Daytona and the reason I went with it was it was on the west coast and it was a two seater, my grand daughters love it and it turns heads I have to say, I have not had any major problems, a couple rubber washers and the trunk lid bracket broke away from the fiberglass, they were fixed because I road over and sat at watched them fix it. There weren't a lot of choices here on the west coast for a two seater and I am not mechanically inclined so it isn't something where I could find a deal and hook it up. Nor did I want to spend my little funds on transporting my bike back east to get one hooked up. Dauntless worked with me and we met half way to hand off my bike to them, they were great with me. I had a tonneau cover made to match my scheme and it looks great with my custom whitewalls. get what works for you. I wish I had some better pictures.

http://tinyurl.com/2qwgta

Linda

Linda, like that exhaust..........fly

Originally written by Fly on 4/24/2008 3:10 PM<BR><BR>Linda, like that exhaust..........fly

LOL, well I have to say I liked it better before the sidecar was put on, now it buffits back up at me, much better since I turned the new tips out and added lollipops...lol Nobody likes riding behind me though...lol good way to keep people off my tail...lol

Thanks Fly

Linda

Interesting to hear about Champion. I have an Escort, also bought thru Dauntless with their subframe. I, too, have quality control prolems with them, like the fender caps falling off and the trunk leaking around the seal and the four holes for the luggage rack. I have fixed most of these myself, as I live in south Florida. Way too far away to take it to the "store". But, knock on wood, I have over 48K miles on it and other than the leaks and the disappearing bumper/fender caps, and an electrical issue with the inside and driving lights, no other problems. Would I recommend them? Yes with a warning about my issues and others. People need to know, and this forum gives them that opportunity.

Uber

I just bought a "new to me" hack, Roadstar with a daytona car and went to the Champion website to look for info. I was very dissappointed with the website. Easy enough to find the sidecars to purchase a new one, but nothing in the way of support. It is very telling that the trend in the 3 wheel industry has moved toward trikes. You can download the instructions for your trike conversion but not for mounting your sidecar.
however, I will say I really like the sidecar, it seems well made and suits my needs perfectly. And the kids love it, so I can't complain.

Turtle

Originally written by TurtleZ on 4/27/2008 3:51 PMI just bought a "new to me" hack, Roadstar with a daytona car and went to the Champion website to look for info. I was very dissappointed with the website. Easy enough to find the sidecars to purchase a new one, but nothing in the way of support. It is very telling that the trend in the 3 wheel industry has moved toward trikes. You can download the instructions for your trike conversion but not for mounting your sidecar. however, I will say I really like the sidecar, it seems well made and suits my needs perfectly. And the kids love it, so I can't complain. Turtle

If you need any pictures, I have several of my set up/mounts that Dauntless put together for me, just sent me an email and I'll shoot them off to you if it would help.

Linda

Turtle here is a Link to Hals basic book on Sidecars as found on this forum. If you go to the Tech Files links there is more that may be of use too.

http://www.sidecar.com/Files/SC%20Manual.pdf

http://www.sidecar.com/megabbs/forum-view.asp?forumid=17