roadglider, welcome to the sidecar world. If you contact the MA state representative, he may be able to put you in contact with another rig owner close to your location.
Thanks Larry
My wife doesn't seem to like "Monkey" or "Experienced Ballast" for some reason.
Actually the term monkey originally was a sort of compliment on the athletic abilities of a passenger.
When a sidecar machine is raced, the passenger needs the agility of a monkey to bias his weight for optimum control of the machine.
Sometimes hanging out from the sidecar so low his face is only inches from the road. In an S turn a few seconds later the monkey is stretched across the rear fender
of the bike with head and shoulders about level with the axle. These positions are changed in seconds and the monkey needs to know as much about the machine as the pilot.
They perform a co-ordinated sort of ballet moving as a unit to get the most out of the machine.
If either one of the team misses a cue the result can be a cartwheeling crash, often lethal.
It is why there aren't many sidecar races anymore.
When they raced Flexi sidecars in the first half of the 20th century, they soon had a rule prohibiting passengers. They used a 75 pound sand bag instead because it couldn't die.
LOL Ralf!! Barb agrees. Sometime around 2002, she decided to give up riding behind me (passenger, she never had or wanted her own) on two wheels. I bought Hal Thompson's Ural to see if she'd like a sidecar not expecting at all to like three wheels myself. In a very short time I discovered what a thrill it was. But my dear wife's mind was made up and after trying it one week end her decision to not ride in the sidecar again was reinforced when she heard the term "monkey." No amount of explanation would change her negative view. No way was she going to be a monkey. But of course, Archie didn't mind being a monkey and was very good at it in very short order. For two years we rode the Ural while the Harley pretty much sat. I sold the Ural, my Kwik Kamp and an old parts tractor and ordered the Liberty for the Harley. Archie rode with me for a lot of years but died shortly after the John Day rally in 2010. Then Henry. Now Petey loves to ride as much as Archie did. The adventure continues...
I added boss to the front of monkey "BOSS MONKEY" and she seems to like it, and I know my place. 🙂
I''ll try that.
My last rig was a Kawasaki Vulcan with a Hannigan chair and I had a personalized tag that read KAWCAR. She was not happy with that. May thats the reason I built another rig!!!! 🙂
That is a very pretty rig you have there.
Thanks! 🙂
