Originally written by hackellis on 7/26/2006 8:34 PM
I must be the worst sidecar driver ever. I never will be as fast on my sidecar rig as with my motorcycles. It does not matter if it is on the straights or in turns. That is not to say that the sidecar is not fun to drive and does not fit a particular purpose. It is also a little hard to split lanes with my rig!
I'll agree on splitting lanes. :0) Maybe if you fly the car really high :0)
I didn't say anything about speed, I just said that if the sidecar feels like a "Chore", it may just need a minor adjustment.
Originally written by Dish on 7/26/2006 7:40 AM
My wife and I were on vacation in Maine when we saw a beautiful black motorcycle with a sidecar (I think it was from Russia/Eastern Europe). After a brief conversation with the owner, I was surprised to hear my wife say that we should get one (she hated my motorcycle and never rode with me). I have done a little research on the internet, but I am not sure what to do next and I have a couple of questions. We are not going to be in a position to buy for 12 - 18 months so I am in no real hurry, but I wanted to start looking into it now.
How different is riding a motorcycle with a sidecar from riding a motorcycle (I rode a motorcycle for about 15 years mostly, Honda VFR-750s)? Are there any rider courses in or around Maryland? I think I only saw two, one out west and one in Mississippi. Since I know almost nothing about a motorcycle with a sidecar I imagine I have not asked alot of the newbie questions so, any additional tips/hints/suggestion/advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Eric
Eric,
Being as you are in Baltimore you are not that far away from central Pa. If you look under the events thread here you will see that the ISOK Sidecar RON DEE VOO is coming up on August3-6. You may want to come join us. We have a half day training session on the 3rd and also wil have tech sessions by Hal Kendall (co-founder USCA), Gary Haynes (Sidecar Magic Shoppe), Bob Henig ( Bob's BMW) and myself.
This year we have had more pre registrations than in 2005 so we may surpass the 219 who atened last year. Anyhow if check out the ad and if you can make it I am sure many of your questions will be answered. I will be glad to give you all a ride in a sidecar and if time permits let you drive one too.
Feel free to call me if you have any questions etc. (570) 837 5182 evenings or (570) 765 8310 days.
One more thing after reading the posts more carefully Eric. Riding (driving?) a sidecar shoudl not be 'a chore'. If a rig is setup properly even without having the bike modified too much if at all from stock it will not be 'a chore' to operate. If the rig is not a well balanced rig or if the setup is off quite a bit it can be a real hassle to operate and can actually not be that safe. Sidecar Mike's advice to the poster was good.
With a motorcycle turns are natural and one can hit a turn fast and hard and beat anything on the road. When a sidecar is attached the dynamics change. You will not hit the turns hard and fast like a motorcycle and will be like an average car taking a turn, sometimes slower. To me that makes driving a sidecar a chore. If your thing is speed a sidecar is not the ticket. I think I have the best of all worlds with my rig. I do own a dedicated motorcycle that is my main transportation.
You should also determine what the uses will be. The Russian motorcycles are limited to non freeway/highway use as the top speed is 60-mph with an occasional burst to 65 or 70. Not fit for modern freeway/highway use. But they would be a good town rig or an excellent farm, off road, rural highway. There is also the issue with being stared at. You do get plenty of attention when going down the road when driving a sidecar. Some people do not like the extra attention. A sidecar rig would make a lousy bank get away vehicle!
Originally written by hackellis on 7/26/2006 11:37 PM
With a motorcycle turns are natural and one can hit a turn fast and hard and beat anything on the road. When a sidecar is attached the dynamics change. You will not hit the turns hard and fast like a motorcycle and will be like an average car taking a turn, sometimes slower. To me that makes driving a sidecar a chore. If your thing is speed a sidecar is not the ticket. I think I have the best of all worlds with my rig. I do own a dedicated motorcycle that is my main transportation.
Sidecar speed even though not being what this thread was about varies somewhat. A well setup and balanced rig will keep up with traffic even if it is in stock form. With mods a rig will easily run faster than many cars on the road. What is known as a High Performance Sidecar will even rival many sportbikes on the road today under the right conditions.
Click here..let it load and be sure to look at the time slips for this combined solo bike/sidecar track day.
http://tinyurl.com/4jt2w
Why are right turns more unstable than left hand turns? Isn't the sidecar on the right hand side? Although since you mention that you learned to ride in England maybe teh side cars on on the left over there?
Thanks,
Eric
You are correct! A sidecar can be mounted on either side. The side that it is mounted on will be the side with the more difficult turn. If mounted on the right, right hand turns, if mounted on the left, left hand turns. I have ridden rigs with the sidecar mounted on the left or right. Negotiating a turn to the side of the sidecar needs to be a well coordinated turn. The sidecar does have a tendency to lift if turned to sharply or fast. This is called flying the car. I have gotten quite adept in flying the car on my rig. Not so bad when I want to fly the car. However, I have had to slow down in some decreasing radius turns to keep the sidecar on the ground, not a lot of fun when you are trying to keep up with motorcycles or faster cars on the road. With the addition of a sidecar the entire rig will be considerably slower than the rig without the sidecar (added weight of sidecar). Fuel mileage will go down. My feeling is that the addition of the sidecar is worth it.
Dish it is force to answer your question. What way does your body go in a car when you turn right? You are forced to the left by inertia, same with the sidehack nothing over there to stabilize it so it comes up and put you in a situation not wanted sometimes.
I guess you can't argue with physics. It seems driving a rig is very counter-intuitive. I am thinking a slower bike is the way to start out (learning to drive and to make sure I like it). Once I get a little experience and decide that I like it, I can always get a bigger/faster rig if I want.
Even though I mostly road VFR 750's I started out on a Honda Rebel 250. It was pretty slow, but as I think back on that I think it was a good thing. Too much speed/power too quickly is only asking for trouble. I remember spending a lot of time praticing in big parking lots and side streets before heading out on the highway and I don't think I ever took it on an interstate. I guess this is the best/safest way to learn about riding a motorcycle with a sidecar.
Thanks,
Eric
Truthfully it is a blast. And we are truly the elite of the motorcycle world. They are not a fast situation for most people, but a stop and smell the roses affair. But a few knocks in the noggin will do things to people just look at Burt Munroe. There are racers on everything, and the racers on these things even the 1% don't want to be around, I'm told. Ha Ha!
