As per the title, what makes your rig so special to you?
At the USCA National Rally I attended one of the things that blew me away (besides all the awesome people, and fun times) was the variety of different types of rigs. I'd just thought "a sidecar is a sidecar", until I started paying close attention. Man, everything from a custom Coke bottle shaped rig, to stunning big cruiser bike rigs, to sports rigs, to adventure rigs, to custom camp rigs... The differences were a bit jaw dropping. And this was just rigs in North America. Look at other continents, and the breadth of variety gets even broader. Got me thinking, "what is it about a certain type of rig that gets a person excited. Would make for a fun to read article in the Sidecarist Magazine after this year's National Rally. 😎
Since I started this, here is what gets me excited about my two rigs:
The big Screaming Yellow Zonker (a '95 BMW R1100GS with Dnepr sidecar) is my first. Living in the Southwest there are so many opportunities to turn off the beaten path and go explore. Coming from an off road background (2 & 4 wheel), this type of adventure gets my juices flowing. I've taken it places that were beyond my capabilities and required some creative work to get back out. lol It has also taken me on 4,000+ mile adventures across the country. To say it is one tough rig would be an understatement, and it allows me to push my limits. It is the one "Jack of all trades, master of none" rig.
Finding great places to camp, away from the "camping crowd", is a fun advantage of an Adventure based rig.
Another big advantage is how well it handles my young energetic pup. She likes to move around a lot inside the rig, and with durable seat cushions and tough paint work, the rig handles her roughness with aplomb.
The newest rig was really just a test idea. Something small light and sporty, that could ride easily in a smaller toy hauler pulled by an SUV or 1/2 ton pickup. This is the first one I've "built". Since it hadn't been done before I had to build the subframe brackets from scratch, and figure out all the alignment specs. Fabrication is a whole lot of fun, and this was definitely enjoyable. That is turned out much better than it should have was like icing on the cake.
It is super sporty and fun on the twisty roads. I'm also rather smitten with the style of the sidecar (early Motorvation T-1 with the link suspension). We have a lot of fun back roads that wind around the benches, and run up into the Uinta Mountains. It will get a lot of use. I'm looking forward to getting it painted to match the bike.
Definitely look forward to read about your rig, and what makes it so special to you. 😎
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
