Hi Everyone. I happened across your group while researching sidecars. And after much reading have a greater respect for the importance of a proper match on a rig. I am looking to add a sidecar so that my Autistic son can ride with me. He has no interest in riding behind me ever, but sidecars fascinate him so I'm taking the plunge. (I've always wanted one anyways to be honest.)
I have a 2003 Road King Classic.
The sidecar I am currently considering is a 2003 TLE.
Should be perfect right...but after a lot of reading here I now realize there may be a few issues...
The sidecar is currently paired to a 1989 Harley FLHTC, Electra Glide Ultra Classic.
If I move forward on this, I will actually be buying the whole rig and then splitting it to move the sidecar to my bike and then converting the 1989 to a trike for my wife.
We have matching colors between my bike and the sidecar so no paint expense, but now after all the reading about mounting changes over the years on the sidcars and the bike frame changes, I have to now wonder what mods they might have done to the sidecar to put it on the 1989 Bike.
Any information or experiences that any can share would be greatly appriciated. Thank you!
regards,
Paul
Welcome, Paul sounds like quite the project there! I can't offer any help or epxertise but I'm sure the pros who know about such things will be along shortly. All the best to you and your family with what sounds like some real enjoyable biking fun ahead!
Thanks for the support. I'm rather enthusiastic about it all. My wife has always been a happy passenger. But about 5 years ago when I first got our boys PW50s, she started to start riding. It didn't last long though...
It was a slight collision with a stone retaining wall that put the scare into my son (she was driving with him in front of her). Prior to that he was learning to ride alone with outrigger wheels on the bike. He was done after that day as was my wife (skinned knees was the physical damage, but the mental damage you cannot measure).
However while looking at all these sidecars I kept asking her if she would drive it and she said no, but then said if it were a trike she would. I'm ready to run with that idea! We actually have 3 boys, and the thought that we could all take off as a family between 2 bikes excites me to no end!
Pick up a 2003 or later Harley Davidson Sidecar Service Manual off eBay (around $68. from HD dealers). It has all of the correct parts needed for year to year installations of TLE or Ultra sidecars to the Electraglides.
Lonnie
Question: and why not leave the rig assembled? One assembley less.
Myself after only once having tried an off road trike I cannot even imagine riding a trike at all.
All pit holes on the road are yours, plus the tip over is worse then on a sidecar, where You have the 3rd dimention to lift the sidecar for to pass on one lane trough a couple of pit holes.
When You ride with different styles of vehicles in a group the riding never is as smooth and harmonic as when with the same vehicle style.
I remember several ladies who prefered the sideccar to solo or trike just because of beeing able to supervise the kids and groceries storage.
Best thing, let her make a test drive before You start to tear down a running bike for to convert it into a trike.
Just a thought.
One thing is for sure, Your boys and specially the handicaped one will love to ride in their personell carrusell the sidecar.
I have participated back in Germany in several handicaped rides and these kids had with 2 riding events a year enough to talk about throughout the hole rest of the year.
Specially after the wintermeetings at their health center. So Your son for sure will become the proudest and most impatient member of the family when it comes to leave the door.
Best wishes.
Sven
Leaving it on the current bike is an option. And will be how I break myself in on it. 2003 was an anniversary year though and both my current bike and the sidecar are the painted and badged matching versions. So they make the better pair. Along with being newer.
I'm looking at training wheel trike kits so I can be back on two wheels at any time with the 1989. I will definately have the wife try the sidecar before I invest in the trike kit. Heck, might end up with two hacks in the garage!
When chosing a sidecar one thing to consider when it comes to Harley sidecars, Harley never got around to adding suspension on the sidecar wheel. So you hit a bump and you know about it on the bike and as the body of the sidecar is on leaf springs with out dampening your passenger gets to bob up and down for a while. Also the Harley is a hard sidecar to get in and out of and does not have a trunk that opens from the out side. It is also not an easy sidecar to take on and off the bike. Other sidecars like the ones we build can be taken on or off the bike in about 10 minutes however if you go this route you would not want to modify the steering on the bike for lighter steering as a three wheeler.
As to the "training wheel" idea. Bear in mind that these are not legal in many states they also have enough saftey issues that they are not allowed on the training range for the Sidecar / trike education prograhm (S/Tep) the reason they are not is that to pass the class you must do a swerve. When you swerve the "training wheel" type trikes you load up the suspension on one of the out board wheels. When you swerve back the other way the energy is released from the spring and throws you onto the wheel and spring on the other side, which in turn throws you back the other way resulting and a very bad, difficult at best to recover from head shake. Also with these kits you have added to the overall mass of the bike while reducing the traction on the rear wheel, so one has to wonder why they never add brakes to the two extra wheels. If you want a trike, do not go half way, build a real trike the difference in cost will be made up for when it comes to resale. If you are looking to the training wheel set up just to put the extra bike on three wheels, a sidecar can be had for less money then these "training wheel" kits. Our least expensive sidecar the Kenna is only $3695 and comes with the bike specific mounting hardware. Our most popular sidecar for your bike the M72C is only $4995 again with bike specific NOT universal mounting hardware. If you do go with a full on trike conversion we sell the Champion kits for 10% off however I think you will find that the sidecar is more fun and you would be able to take your son on either bike.
If I can be of any help let me know.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
I agree with Jay on the training wheels. We have also done quite a few trikes for those who had begun with training wheels and then decided to go for a real trike. Many for the reasons Jay mentioned.
Harley sidecars? We have mounted a few and they are a little different than others but do work okay. Don't get in the all too common rut and think the Harley manula is gospel though especially regarding lean out.
I'm just thinking out loud here, not really from personal experience yet. My buddy & neighbor recently bought a '09 Harley trike, deluxe to say the least, over $30K. I think they saw him coming, but.... Anyways, it's mostly a Glide with all kinds of swoopy and useless fiberglass tacked on. Out of all that glass he gets a small trunk in the back, a Queen seat for mommy and nothing else. Really lacks for storage or utility, 90% looks, though it does look good.
That convinced me to build a hack on my '96 KZ1000P-15 Police bike! I'd have every bit as good, probably better, handling and ride. There's still room for a second person in the chair. Plus I already have more storage than he does on the trike thanks to Kawi's medium size saddle bags and large top trunk, could go with bigger bags too. Beyond that, building myself there's even more storage in hack trunk. For my own use it's a cargo-tripping rig, so in addition to said bike storage the hack gets the 5-6 gal poly fuel cell with 12V pump out of another buddy's drag car, a pair of tiny 12V mini-compressors [Made in U.S.A. 40 years ago!] with mini tank, a brace of trumpet semi-truck air horns, plus a vintage made in U.S.A 12V mini-winch, deep cycle auxiliary battery, 2 or 3 stainless Peerless 6" offroad lights, small water storage w/pump, with bunches of room left for kit, also hidden high-security storage: plus a trailer hitch!
You and your beloved could do the same, twice, with a pair of cool hacks! Room for the whole family plus lots of gear, ready for camping trips, touring/camping, or even taking along another friend too. Not to mention with 2 sidecar outfits you could easily pull 2 trailers for serious camping or longer trips, wow! Hopefully the love of your life will take a hankering to the outfit to become a 2 hack family!
Thanks for the great ideas!
Jay, I'll follow your link as soon as I hit reply!
I really like my Harley 02 Ultra with my 06 sidecar. In my opinion particularly since Harley does not not make sidecars any more and both will be the same brand increase value. The side car is what they call rigged but I assure the twin bar suspension does flex a lot.
All so being rigged you do not have to worry about making adjustments every time you run different weight. I took a good friend of mine 95 miles to pick up his Ural. He weighs 275 pounds. No adjustment and it rode just like it did with out him.
I have been offered $1500 more then I paid for mine.
