this is going really well glad i started it what i was thinking at the time was what if sidecars hadn't been invented & you came up with the idea now? can you imagine trying to pesuade the powers that be that it was a good idea, first do a risk assesment. i dont want them to get to popular i like it when i meet a fellow traveler there's allways time to stop for a chat plus i never met a sidecarist i didn't like. and finaly on the subject of trike's they never wave back maybe they daren't take a hand off.
lol Hank
Like dsmith mentioned getting into the sport of sidecaring does not have to be as expensive as some lead it to be. So much gets posted on the net about things to make a sidecar rig better it seems to many who think they want to get into sidecaring that they NEED car tires. steering mods, tilt adjustors, swaybars, sidecar brakes and all kinds of things just to get started. THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE!
One can start out with a pretty stock bike , ad a sidecar and have tons of fun with it. Some long time sidecarists stick with this type of rig and think little of it.
Another thing about the net is that many times we do tend to give the idea that sidecars are dangerous. Most, including myself, who post a lot have been guilty of this. Even though the intentions were good the message can come out wrong in the translation. SIDECAR ARE NOT DANGEROUS VENHICLES.
They can be evil if setup wrong or if not balanced right but that is true with many things.
I deal with people who are interested in acquiring a sidecar almost daily. Yes, there are many misconceptions out there. If we do as Mike suggested and promote the sport in a positive fashion we all can do a lot to get the proper message out there.
Well said claude, when i first started riding sidecar around the mid 60s there were loads of second hand ones about from guys moving up to cars & very cheap, you could buy an ex AA outfit for £14 about a weeks wages at the time & they were considered so safe that the insurance companies gave you a reduction in premium just for putting a chair on & if you ran solo & sidecar they would include the sidecar for a token admin fee, how things change. most of my friends at the time had a chair for winter & work horse & a solo for summer fun.
I think driven well it's still the safest thing on the road today, & more fun than almost anything. i cant think of anything that has given me as much pleasure for so long, i know i'm preaching to the converted but i would encorage anyone who's thinking about it to give it a try it's so much more than biking & lots more than transport.
"Unspoilt by Weather or Technolgy" Hank
I don't have a sidecar (yet) I have been nervous about learning to drive one because of all the warnings I've read about. On the up side I've read that once people got used to driving their rig they loved it and might never go back. I'm going to take it slow and figure things out as I go. I have downloaded the tree books that I have found on the net and will go over them closely.
A couple of my motivations are that I have a couple dogs that would love to ride along. My rig will be dog friendly. I like to ride. It has been 25 degrees here in the morning when I go to work. I ride:o) The only thing that stops me now is slick roads. With a sidecar This wouldn't be such a hindrance. So I decided to give it a go.
Wes
Hi Claude you said it. Like with any purchase shop for your needs and budget. It's out there just take your time..just like the ride!
Signature" "out enjoying Sidecar season, oh that's right it is ALWAYS Sidecar season!"
Funny the negative opinions mostly come from the Biker who never touched a Rig with a car never mind pilot one...to me says quite a bit.
This is the best, for me and so many others, my purist friends often challenge to prove the sidecar inferior and are surprised by perfomance and versitility...and pooch along too!
L
Wngnut, Any motor vehicle is dangerous. To make any other assumption is foolish. Heck, you can get killed easily enough on a bicycle!
Sidecars are different than solo bikes. Once the bike is bolted on the steering characteristics change. It's not a big deal really. The same cautions apply as for any other vehicle you're unfamiliar with. Drive it carefully to someplace you can practice the handling and familiarize yourself with the vehicle then try out some back roads with curves and twists that you can negotiate at lower speeds.
Those who've stated that the options often desired aren't necessary are telling the truth. Options like the electric camber compensator or tilt feature aren't a necessity. They just make the rig a bit easier to handle on high camber roads. If you don't have this option you'll just learn to drive without it. Once again, no big deal. A convertible top is nice but most cars don't have one available. The passenger shares the weather. Trust me, they won't melt and if they do you're probably better off for it.
Triple tree mods are often recommended to reduce trail and ease steering effort. Most rigs can't even have that option installed! So what? Sidecar rigs don't require a body built like Arnold Swartzenegger to drive. You'll hear about steering effort but it's slight unless you have an improperly mounted stabilizer or an exceptionally heavy rig and even then you don't have to be Charles Atlas. Unless you're making hard turns you'll find that as little as a slight push on the bars will maneuver the rig quite easily.
I did a benefit ride this morning with my STAR chapter. I did everything they did and although I was a bit uncomfortable when we finished (I did about 150 miles from door to door) it's because I have osteo-arthritis rather than because I had to horse the sidecar around.
Match the rig to what you intend to do with it then match yourself to the rig. You'll be fine. Driving a sidecar equipped bike is definitely not rocket science. Automobiles are actually easily as difficult but you probably do that daily already. If you can drive any vehicle at all then you can probably handle a sidecar if you treat it reasonably while you're learning. Forget the hype and learn carefully.
Often, great stress is placed on "Flying the car". It's a stunt. Nice to know but adequate ballast and common sense will keep the car on the ground where it should be. No worries.
My rig has extra "goodies" like ECC but I intended to use it for high speed highway travel so I bought a large displacement bike with a better sidecar rather than going through "levels" to get where I wanted to be. My first long trip was the one coming home. I drove it from Murray KY to Dallas Texas in 14 hours, having never had any instruction other than 25 miles or so around the back roads near Murray.
I paid attention to what I was doing and hit the highway. I could have added a side trip to get the extra 350 miles and done the IBA thing but it was dark and cold so I went home instead. Was it scary? No, not really. Was it difficult? No, not really except that I had the dosage wrong on my normal meds so my knees were hurting reasonably badly and I was stiff and sore but that was the arthritis rather than driving the sidecar rig. Paying attention to med dosages helped cure that problem. Same thing with every ride for me but you may never have that problem. Today I took a couple of Tylenol 3 (hydrocodone: 500mg of acetaminophen and 5mg codeine) caps when I got home and I was fine in about 30 minutes.
I've ridden motorcycles before. Did that help? I knew where the controls were and how they worked. So no, not exceptionally helpful but some. You don't need motorcycle experience to learn to drive a sidecar rig. It helps some but it's not a prerequisite. The car in front of me stopped suddenly at one point and I hit the rear brakes. My heart rate and adrenaline levels never changed as I skidded to a safe stop. Just another maneuver like any other. It happens. It's part of learning to drive
Hi Group,
This is interesting: despite joking references to "status" in the bike world, I would rate my rig as one of the lower end models. I invested a grand total of $1000.00 in it; it has no top, no third-wheel brake, and a replacement windshield. I need to re-do the seat, very soon. It is hitched to a 1977 Yamaha XS650 twin--50 HP on a really good day. It's my second chair on the same bike, and I love it. I modified the mounts for the bike, and have no frills: where it's set is where it stays, at least until I can get it back into the shop.
I love the thing.
I spent half of today out riding, soaking up sun and waving at two-wheeled riders, who always wave back at a sidecar rig, at least that's my experience.
I have my (vintage 1978) fairing, with the home-made leg shields, Hippo Hands and winter gloves, and I ride year-'round.
The point? Well, if there is a point, it's simply that, while speculation is fun, for me riding the rig is pure pleasure. I can go shopping with the rig, or hop from Washington to Montana to visit my 90 year-old father. My grandkids love it, and so does their father, who used to ride home from school proudly in my first sidecar, 25 years ago.
So it may be underpowered by modern standards, it has no frills or fancy trimmings, but the fun factor is enormous!
As for the difficulty, just think back to learning to ride a two-wheel bike. The stalls from popping the clutch, the throttle that was suddenly full-tilt, the front brake on gravel (yep--I did that one!)---point being that a chair is truly no more difficult, and you never have to worry about falling over at a stop-light.
Hi. I'm Barb and I'm a sidecar addict.....
How do you recognize a happy bike rider?
When the flies between the teeth are smiling!
Every mile in a rig is a minivacation.
Having soar muscles just reminds you that you are living.
(In my case I prefer to stay off medicine as much as possible, that way I know where is my limit! (using analgestics once made me pass through 8 month of bad illness and bad infections with hospital bacteria))
Enjoy life and remember your are here NOW!
Sven Peter Pan
Thought i would add this one on for Barb lol
and the photos begin...........
ok not a motorcycle but it is a sidecar....
enything you can do ect
I'm still waiting for a 2 wheeled sidecar...
Griffith Park Rally '07. Saw that one How about the aluminum streamliner?
Lonnie
Originally written by Uncle Ernie on 10/29/2008 8:55 PM
I'm still waiting for a 2 wheeled sidecar...
Hey Ernie..click on attachment below
Hi Guys,
That was fun!!! Talk about the weird and wild world of sidecars....and things best left untitled....
I love the VW, having plenty of memories of hippie days spent riding in VW vans up and down the West Coast of the USA in my youth, and the others are interesting in their very odd way---I love the twisted ingenuity we humans can use to take rational vehicles and turn them into eye-catching marvels of useless beauty and interest....
More pictures, anyone?
