I have been riding for a few years, but never owned a sidecar. I currently own a 1999 Shadow 750 ACE. The reason I started thinking about a sidecar is that last year I got a German Shepherd and I love taking him with me everywhere I go. Of course that limits my motorcycle travel quite a bit. I live in Chicago and there are no dealerships close by, so please help. What would work with my bike? Would a 750 even pull a sidecar? Can I keep the sidecar when I upgrade the bike? How easy is it to attach/detach the sidecar if I just want to go for a ride without it? Thank you very much in advance to those who will take their time to answer. Hope you are out there riding.
Hello, and welcome!
I am a relative newb here, and I don't presently own a rig, but I've been learning about them for several years now and will offer what trivial assistance I can until someone else comes along.
There is a sidecar driver's "Bible" available, also known as the "yellow book", and which has the title "Driving a Sidecar Outfit" which can help answer some of your questions. I've studied the book carefully and am shopping for a rig or planning to put one together soon - finances permitting. It is a very different experience from riding a 2-wheeled motorcycle (note the intentional difference in semantics "driving" vs "riding"). The Shadow 750 will likely do OK with a sidecar as long as it isn't one of the large ones - there are some basic weight proportions used as a general rule of thumb to ensure the basic handling characteristics aren't totally out of wack - plus the larger the frontal area of the sidecar, the more extra HP you need with the bike to push it through the air, especially at speeds over 55 MPH. The Shadow would probably be OK on the highway but you won't have alot of passing power and I wouldn't be surprised if ~ 70 to 75 MPH was your limit of attainable speed (which is pretty fast, IMO on a sidecar rig, but what do I know). You will have a severe hit to your fuel mileage - if you're used to getting ~50 MPG with your shadow you will probably be in the 30s with the sidecar attached if running on the interstate, maybe a little better on side/secondary roads.
IF you haven't been riding a motorcycle for 3+ decades like some of us, it may actually be easier for you to transition to sidecar driving, as you will have less to "unlearn" about the 2-wheeled world when piloting a 3-wheeled vehicle. Sounds silly, but I think that it's true.
The much more enlightened will be along shortly to help you more than I can.
On the USCA home page you can also check out the links and books tab where you can download some manuals at no cost to help get you started. Welcome and don't be afraid to ask questions. Lots of wisdom and advice to be had from many knowledgable people.
Loon
your Shadow 750 will have to work very hard to maintain freeway speeds, I have a 1100 Shadow and that's about right for maintaining and still have a passing reserve. To make it enjoyable I suggest a larger displacement bike
This one is for sale.
My first sidecar outfit was a Ural 750. I rode it for a couple years while the Harley remained a solo bike. I'm glad I learned to ride on three wheels on the smaller bike before adding the Liberty to the Harley. Not only did I learn the skills required, I found out how much fun three wheels really is so when I spent the money for the Liberty, I knew it was something I really wanted to do, no question, no second guessing. As far as having the sidecar on the bike part time, and using the bike solo part time, far better to have a dedicated rig and a second bike for solo riding if you choose to do both. Especially if you make changes to the front end so it steers easily with the sidecar, it would no longer be pleasant to ride as a solo... JMHO...
Would also recommend taking thr S/TEP class if one is available near you. You will get to learn on a small easy to ride rig,while learing if this is really for you,before laying down your hard earned cash.
Meant to say LEARNING,I've been spending too much time with Claude!
Hey, you can NEVER spend too much time with Claude; learing or learning!!
You're right about that Doug,kinda got to where i really like the guy. Hope to see you guys again soon.
