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My 900 mile weekend on the Rocket III (with the Sidecar)

Guest · 2009-05-18T14:20:59Z

This weekend we attended the NorthWest Sidecar Rally in Chelan Washington. Round trip including the putting around while at the event came out to be just under 900 miles. Other than some disturbing brake failures on the Rocket, the bike performed flawlessly. Some of the stretches of freeway were posted at 70MPH and folks were doing between 80 and 90. Usually sporty little cars. Well, the Rocket and sidecar are perfectly happy at those speeds, and very stable. Going up big hills, all the cars would start to lose their speed, and the Rocket just pumped up the hill, in 5th gear, without even complaining. This is a great bike to pull a hack. Here are some pictures of the trip. Over all it was a lot of fun, but 380 miles and 6.5 hours each way is too far to travel for a camping trip when you have kids and lack the time to take a leisurely pace. When I got there, I discovered that about half of the folks TRAILERED their bikes and sidecars, and they didn't come nearly as far is me. Bastards! One lady did however drive her rig all the way up from California. Very impressive. I'm not sure how many days she took though. View from the cockpit: 75mph on mountain roads and the bike doesn't seem to notice that I've got a sidecar and passengers in tow. The RPMs are at 3200 (a little high due my short tire that I need to remedy) and the throttle is maybe at 10-15 percent. Barely off the idle stop. This was great. It was so damned hot that I stripped down to a T-shirt, sunglasses, jeans, boots, and a half helmet. We rode by this ski resort and through this pass it must have been 15 degrees cooler. It felt so nice. I normally ride with lots more gear, but I just had to take it off due to the heat. Here's the story behind this pic. We just finished running the gauntlet of 3 different sidecar games/events. In the last one I was driving with a blindfold on, and my wife was navigating. Here, I'm being told that folks were moving their chairs and coolers back because I was all over the course. Apparently the Rocket doesn't turn nearly as sharp as some of the smaller rigs, even at full lock. Or maybe its the massively wide sidecar. But we didn't hit anything and I'm pretty sure that's the measure of success. We won "BEST IN SHOW!" Go figure. (We came in nearly last on the sidecar games.) Lots of sidecars lined up for the voting. About 30 in total, all but a couple from the NW region. 1969 Chinese Military Surplus rig! Hey! You can't put a car tire on a motorcycle! See ... I normally ride safe. I kept the jacket and full helmet on the entire way up. Finally made it to camp. Big motorcycle riders need big ass tents. Or maybe its the 5x kids. If you don't recognize breakfast when you see it .

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Anonymous

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Originally written by gpers2 on 5/25/2009 12:07 PM

Hi Spencer:
I believe this is your daughter "flying" http://groups.yahoo.com/group/USCAWest/
You have a great family. It was a pleasure to see you all at the rally.
I am posting this link to the WEST site, as everyone deserves a peek at your beautiful rig, and great pics of the rally. Thanks for posting.
Good luck with the Bar!
Gail

Hi Gail:

Yep. That is my 11 year old daughter Cassandra. She had a blast, and especially enjoyed flying in the chair. She's been asking me to do it, so I've been practicing since I've been home.

Posted : May 25, 2009 9:24 pm

gpers2

(@gpers2)

Posts: 567

Honorable Member

Flying - wow! Watch out for scraping footboards. 🙂
Hang on Cassandra!
Safe riding Spencer,
gp

Posted : May 26, 2009 2:15 pm

SidehackRalf

(@SidehackRalf)

Posts: 127

Estimable Member

Hi Spencer,
I really enjoyed seeing you and your family at the Chelan rally. Great pictures. I was wondering how you fit the whole family in/on the rig. I think I counted three little helmets in the sidecar when you came in. I think it was around 400 miles for us from Montana. We towed a Roll-a-Home camper behind our GL1500 with Champion Escort. Hope to see you at next year's rally. Thanks also for the loan of the duct tape for my wife's broken glasses.
Ralph

Posted : May 31, 2009 1:15 pm

gpers2

(@gpers2)

Posts: 567

Honorable Member

Ralph - Glad to hear that you guys made it home OK. I am hoping everyone did.
Gail

Posted : May 31, 2009 1:29 pm

Anonymous

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Posts: 0

Originally written by SidehackRalf on 5/31/2009 3:15 PM

Hi Spencer,
I really enjoyed seeing you and your family at the Chelan rally. Great pictures. I was wondering how you fit the whole family in/on the rig. I think I counted three little helmets in the sidecar when you came in. I think it was around 400 miles for us from Montana. We towed a Roll-a-Home camper behind our GL1500 with Champion Escort. Hope to see you at next year's rally. Thanks also for the loan of the duct tape for my wife's broken glasses.
Ralph

Hey Ralph:

It was great meeting you. Although I gave a hard time to those that towed their rigs, I actually cheated too. I drove the bike and had one or two if the kids in the sidecar the whole way up, but my wife was behind me in the minivan with the baby and the other kids.

The sidecar is big enough that I can fit three of the little kiddies in it, but I really have no way to fit all five kids and my wife 🙁 Just too big of a family I guess.

My wife is thinking about getting a sidecar though, and then we could actually take the whole family with the two bikes.

As for the duct tape ... no problem. It lives in my sidebag for emergencies just like that.

Spencer

Posted : May 31, 2009 1:31 pm

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