Have been traveling for hundreds of miles from Bandon Oregon to all over Montana and heading for Washington not one sidecar hundreds of bikes three wheelers what happened we are new to this hack thing but we love it. So what's up can't be three wheelers no comfort for passenger and still looking at the back of your head. Don't corner any better unless you have a can am. Not right
Well, if you come through the Spokane area maybe we can link up for a cup or something and at least you'll see one other rig in your travels!! Especially if you head west on 2. We live out here between Reardan and Davenport west of Spokane...
I don't understand the popularity of trikes after having piloted a sidecar rig. So many more options for who and what you can carry!!
Darn! If you'd come through Milwaukie (suburb of Portland) you might have seen me. Ride my rig on an almost daily basis. I've heard that we only make up about 1 1/2 % of the motorcyclists on the road so it only stands to reason that we don't see too many. Never fear. We're hear.
I have found trikes easier to handle, at least the one that I have owned. However the side car is far more functional for transporting people, groceries, overall shopping
trips, and more fun to operate. In my immediate area we have a major trike distributor so I see more trikes than you might see elsewhere. I have only seen two sidecars
in the three years that I have had mine. I plan to switch mine to a larger scooter, say a Yamaha Majesty 400, in the future. With a sidecar you do get all the functionality
of a trike plus more diverse uses.
A large portion of the trike community are empty nesters who had a step thru Honda or Yamaha years ago and want and can afford a big bike now with all the bells and whistles but don't have the ability to handle a large two wheeler. Also many are of the short sex who also have a problem reaching the ground on both sides of a big bike. Ergo, A trike. No balancing problems and the big bad*** look with minimal effort.
To be fair many have physical limitations that are overcome with a trike.
Lonnie
Just detour a little west to the northern end of the big island. You will probably see mine outside the coffee mill in Hawi
I just returned from a trip to Arkansas with side trips and I saw just one other rig the whole trip. Guess we are kind of exclusive. Stopped at CSM on the way home, great to Chat with Claude and Nick and see what they are up to.
Saw a bunch of hacks in Sturgis this year. More than ever before.
There was probably a much higher percentage of them in the 1950s.
We are sort of atavistic you know.
JWnWyoming - 8/15/2013 10:45 PM
Saw a bunch of hacks in Sturgis this year. More than ever before.
I was told the same thing; my friends just came back and were nudging me to get back into it. I told em that I was and to keep a look out next Spring.
Phelonius - 8/16/2013 12:48 AM
There was probably a much higher percentage of them in the 1950s.
We are sort of atavistic you know.
I beleave that would depend on what part of the country you lived in. In the 1970's and early 80's in New England you couldn't go out on a warm day and not see a sidecar. At Hampton Beach in New Hampshire it wasn't uncommon to see twenty five in the parking lot. In our local community where we were building them there would be dozens running up and down the road. At first everyone waved and over time it was old hat and sidecar riders just went about their buisness and didn't even bothering to acknowledge each other.
Today I live in the upstate of South Carolina and have been running one of my rigs for the last five or six weeks. Every place I stop at the new sidecar draws a crowd because this new generation have never seen a sidecar. They ask were I got it and when I tell them that I built it they look at me like I have two heads. The thought of someone building something is unheard of. This is our future with the population only knowing how to call 1(800) Ill buy it. If there were any Entrepreneur's out in the hinterland sidecar would be a good buisness to be in with the interest that I get every time I go out; just saying.
As usual Mr. Sweet, you are spot on. Due to neuropathy in my lower legs and feet I am one of those rare riders who have a scooter /sidecar rig. Had a friend who is a master machinist design a mounting plate
for my TGB Lazor R9 scoot (151cc, 10.2 hp). Ran it in Bryson City, NC a year ago and it was the only one that I saw up there. Does 45 on the hills, 50 on the flats. Eventually I would like to get it mounted on a
Piaggio 350 or a Yamaha Majesty 400. It is a Cozy side car and good for what I need it to do. The moral of this little story in: We do what we can with what we got!! At 77 I am just hitting my stride, gimpy but
striding. Keep writing Mr Sweet, and thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
Wolfhound - 8/16/2013 8:42 AM
Eventually I would like to get it mounted on a
Piaggio 350 or a Yamaha Majesty 400. It is a Cozy side car and good for what I need it to do.
We've mounted the Cozy on several KYMCO 500cc scooters, it makes for an excellent rig.
Thanks, Mike, for that info. I had thought about the Kymco 500 as well. Any special mounting problems involved? The TGB was a chalange but, as we say here in the South, we 'got er dun!!'
