When a co-worker turned 30, her friend decided she needed to mark the occassion by doing something wild, so they jumped off a bridge together (bungy jumping). I thought it was a real shame I hadn't thought to do something like that when I turned 30, and i resolved to do something special to mark my 40th birthday. My husband turns 30 three weeks before I do, so i thought it would be really cool if we did something together. There was no way I was going to get him to jump off a bridge with me or jump out of an airplane or repel off a mountain, but I thought it would be really cool if we bought a pair of motorcycles (instead of sports cars) and went touring together. (No way I'm sitting behind him.) When I mentioned my plan to a co-worker, he asked if I was planning to get a sidecar for my kids. My children will be 5 and 7 when I turn 40, and the thought of them climbing out of my sidecar wearing little helmets and jackets is very appealing. So I started looking around the Internet to try to figure out what kind of a bike I should buy.
At first I thought of Harley Davidson because that's the classic all-American motorcycle, but I want the bike and the side car to go together, so I thought the Ural might be the way to go, but those sidecars look like they are permantly affixed to the bike which might not be bad, but I was thinking of dropping the kids off at school, leaving the sidecar and riding the bike to work solo, but from what I've been reading, that might be a very silly idea, but I would be running the side car empty at least half of the ride everyday.
Is it possible to put more than one child in a side car? They seem large enough to seat one child in front of the other, but the only picture I've seen is a very wide sidecar with the children seated next to each other. So I'm interested in your opinions. What of bikes
There are lots of options. I've seen Urals with a second seat where the trunk is. Take a look at my good friend, Fred French's (Newfiedad)beauty. http://www.sidecar.com/megabbs/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=208 This thing has what looks like a motorcycle seat and two people straddle it just as if they were on a bike or snowmobile.
I'll be seeing Fred in a few weeks at the SKUNK Rally and can take more photos if you like.
Originally written by Samantha's Mom on 5/7/2007 11:40 PM
but I thought it would be really cool if we bought a pair of motorcycles (instead of sports cars) and went touring together. (No way I'm sitting behind him.) When I mentioned my plan to a co-worker, he asked if I was planning to get a sidecar for my kids. My children will be 5 and 7 when I turn 40, and the thought of them climbing out of my sidecar wearing little helmets and jackets is very appealing. So I started looking around the Internet to try to figure out what kind of a bike I should buy.
At first I thought of Harley Davidson because that's the classic all-American motorcycle, but I want the bike and the side car to go together, so I thought the Ural might be the way to go, but those sidecars look like they are permantly affixed to the bike which might not be bad, but I was thinking of dropping the kids off at school, leaving the sidecar and riding the bike to work solo, but from what I've been reading, that might be a very silly idea, but I would be running the side car empty at least half of the ride everyday.
Is it possible to put more than one child in a side car? They seem large enough to seat one child in front of the other, but the only picture I've seen is a very wide sidecar with the children seated next to each other. So I'm interested in your opinions. What of bikes
Mom,
your Idea of getting a sidecar is great! but , as you mentioned, the idea of dropping the kids off and leaving the SC is not a good idea.
it is a fairly hard thing to do..not just a couple bolts to detach. a SC rig will normally be set up to make the Sc and bike handle as one...
once you get it set up, you wont want to remove it! even riding all day with it empty! I do that a lot, and really enjoy it. you will find out all the great things you can do with the SC rig after you drop off the kids! shopping, touring, garage sales, pick up a freind and go exploring, just plain runnin' around for the fun of it. the SC will make the bike a lot more stable, and give you peace of mind,,no more worries about sand, gravel, turning around, falling over. and it is a great conversation piece. make sure you have extra time to talk to people about your rig, and wave back at them on the local streets!!
2 small kids can be put into a SC, but the local laws must be checked. certain age and weight kids need child seats and seat belts just like in a car.
a great way to go tho!!
I carry two six year olds every day to Kindergarten. Finding helmets for them was not difficult. Good jackets were easy to find. seatbelts are not required here in South Dakota for sidecar passengers but I put them in anyway.
Sidecars take a lot more work to remove and reinstall than you'd want to do every day. Better to have two different motorcycles if thats your plan.
Since at present you have no motorcycle, and that naturally makes me wonder how much motorcycle experience youhave. My recomendation woudl be to buy something less expensive than the HD (Ural would be over 20,000 dollars less) and ride it for a few years to see how much use you get out of the rig before you go spending bushel-baskets of money on a premium brand rig. Oddly enough, sometimes the premium brand rigs give you less features than the modestly priced units anyway.
You should sign up for one of Vernon's classes since you are pretty close. It would give you a realtime feel for what you are really looking for and would be money well spent for a newby.
http://www.adventuresidecar.com/training06/training06.htm
Joyce is right;
coming up to Hood River to take a sidecar class with us would be a very good way to see how you like sidecars and get an idea what you should be looking for to meet your needs.
Our next class is June 1,2&3 and I believe there are still some openings. We are doing one class a month through October. Adventure Sidecar classes are done through the Hood River Community Education Program. Call them at (541)386-2055 to get signed up. I am going to be off line for a couple of weeks, but you can check my website or call the school to get information about the classes. http://www.adventuresidecar.com/training06/training06.htm
I am planning to sell the 2 Suzukis we use in class. I don't know what your time frame or plans are but if you are interested you can see photos of them on the website as well-they are the red and the yellow bikes.
Joyce fixed the photo post option! Thanx!
here is another photo of the yellow Suzuki in class:
