Thought I would officially say hello. I recently (as in last month) purchased a 2003 Harley Davidson Ultra with matching sidecar as a second bike (my other bike is an 09 Road Glide). I have 2 young daughters, ages 5 & 7, with my 5 year old being a special needs child. My oldest daughter has been riding with me since she was 5 and my youngest has not been able to enjoy motorcycling with dad until now. We as a family love this sidecar set up, as we can all ride together and for my youngest, it's a form of therapy (motion is good for her). Anyway, I have been riding since I was a kid so am not new to motorcycles, but new to the sidecar scene.
My rig as I said is a 2003 anniversary Ultra with sidecar; it's a stock 88" motor with reverse gear (Champion, I believe) and has 11K miles on it.
I am trying to learn as much as possible regarding this new ride and will be looking here for some helpful comments/suggestions, etc... as I go.
I have figured out how to have a profile picture added (at least I hope it showed up), but am having not so much luck in posting pictures to my page as an album..????
Download some of Hal Kendall's books available here and start reading.
Get the Harley sidecar manual for that year. About $68. from Harley but many are available cheaper on eBay.
Lonnie
Welcome, Freaky and many happy miles to you all!
freaky - 12/3/2012 3:44 PM
... trying to learn as much as possible regarding this new ride and will be looking here for some helpful comments/suggestions, etc.... but am having not so much luck in posting pictures to my page as an album....
Welcome to the offset sidecar world, freaky. In addition to reading the suggested books, we encourage you to seek out a sidecar training class.
Pics to post in the albums must be re-sized, down to less than 200KB file size. I generally re-size my photos down to 640 pixels wide, which almost always "makes the cut." We wanta see pics of the family!!
Lee
MB5+TW200+CRF250L+GTV300+INT650
XL883R w/Texas Ranger Sidecar
Zuma 50F + Burgman w/Texas Sidecar<Mrs. SwampFox
Welcome Freaky....the guys on here have lots of info and resources , I am still learning from them . I have only been in the sidecar world since July 2011 but my now 3 yearold grandson loves every minute in the hack. Good lluck and safe riding. Oh I am in Inwood WV , eastern panhandle on I81, I see yer in Central PA but that covers a lot of area.
well - learn as much as you can.
first get a harley sidecar service manual, if the bike and sidecar are both 03 then you want a 03 manual - worth its wt.
if it steers straight now carefully mark all the mounts so that if you have to work on it you can get it back to the right place - leanout and toe in are difficult to get perfect but it really pays to have it right. drop of nail polish at the various joints will do the job.
second when hauling multiple folks try to keep in mind that you want more wt IN the sidecar than on the back seat of the bike, a empty sidecar with a rear passenger is asking for big trouble.
third - rear tires wear out real fast - there is one avail steel radial that fits but the bike will run just fine with a stock tire - but 5000 miles is a LOT for the rear tire.
if the steering effort is too high you can change the tree to a liberty tree or a harley triglide tree to lessen the steering effort. [since you have a solo bike there are no issues.
i ride my grandkids around - but helmets are a huge problem i only go on slow local roads with the kids so i just put them in bike helmets and go. three little kids in there actually is quite a load.
load - be real careful. the gvwr of the bike and sidecar together is 1600 lb, but the rear tire is still the same - its real real easy to overload the rear bike tire. the sidecar can carry about 300 lb of wt no problem but the rear seat can only carry a hundred pounds or so.
timo I got a 3/4 childs helmet from fulmer at a local motorcycle dealer, usually if they sell 50 cc bikes they have them in stock.
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions/thoughts/comments.
WVSporty: Central Pa = State College area fyi..
I have tried to shrink my pictures as indicated, but still seem to have a problem.? I got the profile picture no problem, then nothing else since, unsure why.? Also with regard to this post, how do I add a picture to it as there is only a submit button, nothing that would allow me to upload a pciture to this reply.?
Thanks again everyone.
two ways to post pics, if you click the reply on the persons post and not the reply at the bottom. It has a box to click that says add pics after posting or if you click edit on yer own post there is a add/remove attachments option, My brothers girlfriend is from State College and they live in Harrisburg
Ok, thanks and if this works, here's my 2 daughters....
It worked
Here is Aiden , taken on the fly.....
Welcome aboard Freaky, ride safe!
Welcome to the forum. They have a lot of HD sidecar manuals on eBay at a MUCH better then the MSRP price. I bought two to be on the safe side being my bike is a 02 Ultra with a 06 sidecar so I bought one for each. Got both of them a whole lot less then what one would cost at the dealer.
My grandchildren love my rig. Wish I could afford to Harley s. I am after 20 years of sitting redoing my 1971 Triumph T100c as a solo bike for short distance and around town when the rig is not needed. Could be a year or two before I get it done but I am slowly working on it.
