Great! Just like chicken wings! When I was a kid, you could buy 200 for a quarter, now they are practically a buck a piece!!!
What worries me more is that they will become trendy, and the government will cash in on it with special permits and such!!!!!
Darn right!,..our fearless leaders will certainly try to milk some cash out of this idea if they can,..the only grace we have is that sidecars have been around almost as long and they are only concidered accessories for motorcycles,...you wait , they'll wanna licence us as pilots soon too!, cheers, crawf.
What worries me more is that they will become trendy, and the government will cash in on it with special permits and such!!!!!
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No Need to worry about that, come to Wa. State and see what the Govt. has done or read about it and hope your State Govt. don't think about it.:-(
I'm surprised that they didn't even mention the Governator (Arnie), and his riding one illegally until he had his wreck. You don't really read much about him and his rig any more, but he had one and rode it well before Madonna.
Hacks have had their brief period of popularity in the movies over the years. None of those movies ever seemed to impact sales all that much, as far as I am aware. I really doubt that sidecars are going to grow into a national trend that impacts sales and such on most brands. Maybe the Vespa with a hack will become a bit of a trend in the fray, but few others, I suspect.
Huey sez:
"I'm surprised that they didn't even mention the Governator (Arnie), and his riding one illegally until he had his wreck."
This is a popular myth that shouldn't be passed along, Huey.
In California NO special endorsement is needed to operate a three wheeled vehicle, only a valid drivers license.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
Yup, Lonnie, Da governator were legal when he crashed as few knew.
I don't know the exact specifics and certainly don't know California law that is applicable, but at the time of the accident that involved both him and his son, LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon said that he didn't have a valid motorcycle license endorsement at the time.
It isn't really a myth at all, as this was a direct quote from the police investigating, and was even backed up personally by Arnold himself when he told the press that he had gotten a motorcycle license in another country but had never gotten one here. The LAPD and the CHP differed in how they viewed the law. The governor's rep said he would move forward and get the required endorsement. I assume that he did and the issue was dropped, but there was indeed controversy at the time, as it was even questionable by some as to why anyone would want to check a Governor's license in the first place. Supposedly, to this date the LAPD and CHP don't agree as to the end results and the interpretation of the law.
It may well be that he was able to get out of any questionable situation after the fact (and legally at that), but initially this was what both the police and he were saying and neither were indicating that he had driven the rig legally. More power to him that he actually followed through and got the endorsement as his rep suggested. That actually put an end to any potential problem and questions that he may have to address at any future time, should he be involved in a motorcycle sidecar wreck again. Not a popular myth of any sort since it was based on facts at the time, so it is fair play to mention such in my opinion.
I think you're mistaken. The law in California states that you need a valid motorcycle license UNLESS there is a sidecar attached. The police officer was wrong and said so himself. The Governor's words were in response to his often riding without a sidecar. He did nothing wrong on the day he had the accident. Up here Fox news even issued an apology the next night, saying they erroneously reported that he was riding illegally.
It would be no different than you or I moving to washington state, getting an M/C endorsement and not knowing we needed a special sidecar validation.
I must say, though, he is the Governor. Somebody should have pointed it out to him earlier.
No "Questionable situation" involved with the Guv. He was legal with the sidehack rig.
Part of the problem is due to the current Tabloid Journalism trend, to make news as opposed to reporting news, where they are quick to make something spectacular and very slow and covert to give a retraction (if at all) when they are wrong.
Lonnie
Wish Doug Bingham posted here....Doug, you reading this..LOL.
Your absolutely correct in that I could be mistaken, but the controversy is still there, even at this late date.
The print on their '08 handbook says that Class C licensees may operate a motorcycle with a sidecar attached or a three-wheeled motorcycle. Again, based on several comments that Arnold made himself during and after that time, I am not so sure he had even bothered to obtain the Class C license in the first place. However, I could be mistaken on that as well.
To go ahead and hop off the "was Arnie legal or not" in this thread, I am still surprised that the original article cited here with the link didn't mention Arnold as a sidecar pilot. He probably has more focused attention with a sidecar than most give to him. He may not be quite as memorable as Barney Fife on one, but he rates right up there with the most popular movie stars known to have ridden sidecar rigs.
While speaking of celebrities, though not real current, let's not forget Perry King
http://absolutelyperryking.com/photos.htm about half way down the page,
and I recall reading that Lindsay Wagner is also a sidecarist.
"Great! Just like chicken wings! When I was a kid, you could buy 200 for a quarter..."
Just wondering; Had chickens evolved into what they are now, or were they still 10 feet tall?
That article paid a lot more attention to how "hot" the Jonas Brothers boy band is than the fact that one received a sidecar rig as a birthday present. The writer didn't even name the bike and this is supposedly on a motorcycle site! Lame.
If the celebrities pick up on it I'd say it might become a fad rather than a trend. Celebs on Harleys is a trend. As much as we love our sidecars they're still regarded more as a novelty by most riders and the public in general. I've even been approached by several people my age (60) who had never before seen a sidecar and one gentleman who'd never even heard of them untill he saw mine. Last stat I saw regarding sidecar registrations in America was something like 2% of the total bikes registered. We're an anomaly, not a trend.
In Texas sidecars aren't even mentioned on the endorsement or, for that matter, on the insurance. A sidecar is listed as an accessory and trikes are registered as motorcycles along with specialty vehicles like the old Cushman Truckster.
