Hello All, My name is dave, and I'm a sidecarist. Here is my story.
I was introduced to Jake, a 12 yr old Boxer, a number of years ago. Never having been a dog owner, I was immediately impressed with Jake's intelligence and sense of humor, and long story short - I adopted my own boxer, a 2 yr old male, from a rescue organization. That was on Thanksgiving 2005. Being a avid motorcyclist for many years, some of my first thoughts regarding dog ownership were - you guessed it - Sidecars.
I struggled, like many of you perhaps did, on how to approach this new found need. Should I buy a rig already set up? Should I use a bike I have, and buy a sidecar? Should I dedicate a bike to the task? New? Used? Dual sport? So many questions...
Then a friend sent me a pic of a High Performance Sidecar - A Hannigan Bandito. It was lust at first sight! I had to have one! I poked around the net, got an idea very quickly that this was not a common thing, and that many have spent extraordinary amounts of money importing custom rigs.
Then I found it - the Bandito on Hannigan's web site. But alas - still a bit pricey for me. Time past. Wheels turned. I find that there is nothing that I can not justify given enough time to ponder it - either that or I just forget about it, and figure - just as well. Money saved. As you probably guessed, that was not the case regarding this particular obsession.
I found a 2002 Bandit in NH, clean, low miles, good price, great color. Drove to NH, trailer in tow, and brought it home. Now to get it from MA (my home state) to KY (Hannigan's). Since it was still March (cold) I decided to trailer it to them. Four days later, done. Now the wait....
I planned my vacation around the pickup of the rig. I decided to ride my Goldwing from MA to KY, trade it in on the rig, and ride the rig to my Dad's in FL. I'd visit a week then head home. Having never ridden a sidecar rig before, I half thought I was nuts - but I've ridden longer distances in less time before, so I decided to go for it. I gave myself 2 weeks round trip.
The ride to Murray, KY on the Wing was like many rides on the wing - embarressingly comfortable, and heavy on interstate use. One of my habits that perhaps a less comfortable ride might break - get me off the highway and into the culture of the areas I ride through.
When I arrived at Hannigan Motorsports, I was greeted by Dave Hannigan, and spent the better part of the day with him! He spent over an hour with me before I ever got on a rig. Then he led a 20 mile ride on another rig, with me following. That experience was a great introduction. When I first took off down the road my very first thought, after shifting from 1st to second - was "My god how will I ever get this thing home!" But after the ride, I was feeling good. Dave told me it would take a few hundred miles to get reasonably smooth - and it did. I left there feeling like I was fairly well prepared. And I can't tell you how happy I am with the product and the people at Hannigan Motorsprts.
From Murray KY I took mostly back roads over 3 days through KY and TN, over the Cherohala (sp?) Skyway, through GA and onto FL. Exhausted, I stayed in FL for almost a week trying to get the kinks out of my back. Then it was a 2 day interstate run from FL to MA. One of those days was over 800 miles. And I still could not wait to get back on it the next day!
I've been home for a couple of weeks now, and Bentley (my boxer) has ridden in the rig a couple of times so far. We have not gone far or fast yet, as he is not happy wearing his "Doggles" yet. But I really think he enjoys it. I know I do!
So that's my first Sidecar story. I'm sure there will be many more to come!
Dave
Central Mass
02 Bandit/06 Bandito (Bandito #7)
Welcome to the Circus! Now click on the Albums button above, create an Album and load up some photos for us to drool over.
Welcome Dave! Send me a few pictures to go with your post and I'll turn it into a story in The sidecarist. Thanks.
sidecarist@sidecar.com.
I just made a post "non-hacker" and saw yous and glad I stopped in. You answered one of my questions, and that is long distance riding. 800 is very respectible and you said you were ready to get back on, so that's a good sign. How about the back road riding? I'm just not sure how I would do. What kind of speed (not that I'm a nut, but...)can you do on them.
I like to travel the us highways. 50 is my favorate, 80 from Savannah to TX, 64 also nearly all the way across, but its slower on 2 wheels, what is it like on 3?
Anyway, I'm just looking input before I jump.
Thanks,
jes
Hi Dave,
It was my Boxer who got me into the sidecar world and I haven't looked back! Archie was a rescue also. I was lucky enough to be at the pound when he came in on the truck four years ago. He was about two then. We've had a lot of dogs over the years, some more special than others but none could compare to Archie. Ralfy came real close. He was half Boxer but died young so he never really had a chance. I loved all our English Bulldogs but they were slightly shorter in the intelligence department than Boxers. Anyhow, he's my riding buddy since my wife quit riding with me. I used to say when I can't ride on two wheels any longer I'll quit. Thinking that the only people who rode on three wheels were those who couldn't ride on two. Never say never. And I believe, maybe, two wheels was getting a bit boring. I love riding the sidecar rig!! And being able to take Archie (who loves it too) or the grand kids along. Even though I'd take the grand kids on two wheels... And who knows? Maybe Barb will try the Liberty out soon...
You can read the story of Archie's first ride at www.imz-ural.com under the owner's stories. I bought the Ural to see if Archie would take to three wheels as well as to see if I'd like it. Also thinking maybe Barb (my wife of 36 years) would like the sidecar better than riding the Harley solo two up. Well, two out of three ain't bad. After a couple years of riding the Ural more often than the Harley, I sold it, my Kwik Kamp trailer and an old parts John Deere and ordered the Liberty. Ahhh... life is good!
Hey Tom, can you ask the moderator at imz-ural to take a look at my account (SidecarMike) I can't get in and when I request a forgotten password it always says it sent it but I never receive it. Ask him to make sure it's going to sidecarmike at charter dot net. Thanks a lot.
Hi Dave;
Nice story. Where in central mass. are you? I am located there too. I have seen a dark blue wing rig headin up Rte 140 toward mount wachusett a couple of times, that you?
Thank you all for the warm welcome!
SideCarMike - I started an album - more pics to come.
Stevewoo - Great! I'll clean it up and proof-read it again, and send you a clean copy with a couple of pics. MS word (.doc) or Adobe (.PDF) OK?
Jes - 3-400 mile days back to back were not bad. I was pretty beat after that 800 miler - but I had new toy adrenalin (sp?) in my favor!
Tom, thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
Ghostflames - Nope, my GL was a red 2-wheeler. My rig is blue but could;nt be mistaken for a goldwing :o) Check out the pics I posted in Albums. I do know the 140/wachusett area well; I've lived in West Boylston before.
dave
Originally written by davezanella on 5/10/2006 4:57 PM
Thank you all for the warm welcome!
Jes - 3-400 mile days back to back were not bad. I was pretty beat after that 800 miler - but I had new toy adrenalin (sp?) in my favor!
dave
I've done some long mileage days of 900+ on two wheels, but never in a sidecar. I wonder if the fatigue factor is the same, less, or more in a sidecar rig? Not really my cup of tea if I can avoid it. I think I'd be pretty beat too.
Nice pics in your album!
Great! thanks,
