as title says, I am having alot of foot problems & wanting a way to keep on riding.
my biggest obstacle is cash! or lack of it.
I have been debating whether to go to a 3 wheeler, or a sidecar rig. sidecar looks more fun, plus ability to remove easy, but if I did a 3 wheeler conversion, I would make sure I could swap it back to 2 wheels.
presently I am riding a sport bike, & I can barely hold it up at stop lights & I am just waiting for pain in my feet to cause me to drop it, it hurts to shift, but its on the road. riding is the 1 thing I love, & been riding for 30 years some form of motorcycle.
I have been slowly building a custom 70's Harley chopper, been working on it almost 5 years, thats what I want to modify, I am not far from having it on the road, havent painted so I can still comfortably weld, without ruining anything. I have a bollt on hard tail, as well as a swing arm suspension. I had already planned to hand shift this bike, but had originally planned for a foot clutch, now thinking of a hand clutch on shift lever,
I also have an old british twin 650 that has a welded on hard tail either the Harley or the british would be what I want to convert.
are there any plans to build a basic frame on the cheap? welding & fabrication I can do, spending money I cant, as I cant spend what I dont have. I sold my last Harley when things got real bad, & picked up a cheap sport bike to stay in the wind, & it took me 2 years to find a basket case, & close to 5 years spending in small increments to get to where I am now, & now with foot problems, I am looking at going to 3 wheels. whatever I get or build I want it relatively light, as I still will have to move it around by foot, unless I scrounge a reverse tranny, which is way out of my league price wise as well
I dont need to carry anyone in a sidecar, just basic luggage requirements, like a compartment with enough room for shopping, like 2 grocery bags, or when traveling, a backpack & 2 duffle bags, maybe small tent, plus basic tools. roughly what I have carried most of my life, but strapped to bike, & in a saddle bag 🙂
I usually try to do 2 trips a year over 500 miles, 1 to see daughter over 800 miles 1 way, the other for fun, where ever coin lands on map. the rest of my riding is to & from work, & within my local 3 miles
I would start by taking the S/Tep class (Sidecar trike education program) where you can ride both sidecars and trikes http://evergreenmotorcycletraining.org/
You could also buy the book "Driving a sidecar outfit" by David Hough. We sell it for $34.95, white horse press also sells it.
Florida sidecar products sells plans http://floridasidecarproducts.com/
We of course offer sidecars, sidecar mounts, sidecar frames and hardware for making your own sidecar frames and mounts.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
866-638-1793
Hi greybeard, I was once in the same boat as you in a way. I lost my leg in a head on with an uninsured driver. I wanted to ride again but money was tight. I bought a used sidecar with a universal mounting system for my first rig. It got me back on thevroad but I soon learned a lot about set ups and how a rig should be set up. My 2nd rig was done with the correct mounting system from dmc and I bought a used kliktronic shifter. I've put about 10 k on my sportster 1200 rig so far and it's been great. You can put together a good rig for much less than a trike or a store bought rig if you do your homework and are handy. This forum is full of some great knowledge and a lot of people more than willing to help with advise.
Have you considered a Ural -about 850 pounds with reverse gear? Not as spectaular, but -for us old guys- handy. Besides, retro is "in"
not seen any of those cheap, & if I have to get a loan, my standard of living will have to go down, & will have to give up things, plus during winter, when I have to buy heating fuel, I normally get behind on bills, I dont need to get myself into any worse debt.
I been caught in automotive trap, more or less, for example, I got wifes car paid for several years ago, & following month it is totalled, & caused by illegals, so we had to get our insurance to pay & they devalued car & we took a bad beating, had to finance another, got it paid for & 6 months later its engine blew, used money we had saved to buy her a brand new car, for the first time ever.
for me, I drove same truck for 17 years, then it blew up, but was totally worn out, replaced it & that lasted 2 years, replaced it & that lasted 1 year, those were $2,000 beater trucks, & now financed a nice used low mileage truck, however it drinks gas. I decided I wanted more room than a small compact truck, & bought a full size Ford truck, & I feeel it everytime I put gas in, however my feet thank me, as I dont have the clutch pedal to push, I do have a beater Jeep Cherokee stick shift, over 200,XXX miles, buts its been broken down, & I havent took time to fix, as every time I have a day off, it snows or rains, like today for example!
My two sidecar rigs serve me very well as disabled driver vehicles. Both of my legs are 60% paralyzed, and I have modified my car so I can still drive.
However, I can control either of the bikes better than the car and feel much safer on them.
See my ad in Sidecars for sale Utility sidecar ($600.).
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
nwsidecar@aol.com
208-629-8409
Sometheing to consider is that a sidecar requires more upper body strength. In order to make a sidecar much easier to steer, you change the triple trees, however, by doing so; you will not be able to remove the car and ride solo with the modified trees.
