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Hacks In The Innauguration

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just watching the live feed. never noticed before, but saw the police bikes all running sidecars. I wonder if that's a winter season thing. usually you see them with two wheels instead of three.

You beat me to it Dave. I was just proofing the latest issue of the Sidecarist and my wife (and faithful sidecar passenger) called my attention to the Presidential entourage led by those white Harley rigs. (I didn't get a count) I was impressed.

Loved the coverage. Sidecars on Parade!

Here ya go......

Attached files

No Kawasakis there.
Harley has been furnishing their sidehack rigs for escort duty for presidents and other in and around Washington, DC for about 100 years.

Go Harley!!!!

Lonnie
NWSC Ret'd.
Boise, Idaho

I seem to recall talking to Pete Larsen at Liberty Sidecars in Seattle last year and him saying that he was filling some giant order for sidecars for the DC police. My memory's a little hazy about the details, but were they Liberty sidecars at the inauguration?

My son is a USSS Officer, DC Police, Park Police and USSSUD all operate sidecars in the winter. See the article for info on the iconic HD marque.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/could-iconic-police-motorcycle-sidecars-be-taking-their-final-rides/2016/03/18/5ccb2efa-e546-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html?utm_term=.cc8c2b39f0f9

They were Harley Motor Co.TLE's.
The Liberty cars are much nicer and have full suspension, unlike the rigid mounted Harley cars. Apparently less expensive.

A good alternative.

Lonnie Cook,
NWSC Ret'd.
NWSC

Yes the DC parks department runs sidecars in the winter and they do the presidential escort duty. They put them out to bid but pretty much had chosen the Liberty sidecars and as such wrote the bid notice so that the only sidecars that could meet the bid were Liberty sidecars. The bid notification was obviously written by some one who knew little about sidecars (or proper English) as in one sentence the body was referred to as the body the bucket and the boat. We offered a sidecar that would have worked better for police duty at less money but it was not what they had decided on before they even put it to bid. I was not willing to mount the bodies on leaf springs that really serve no purpose on a sidecar frame with full suspension nor could I see any reason why we had to mount the turn signal to the spring. The fact that when the emailed me to ask for a bid they kept referring to me a Pete (the name of the owner of Liberty sidecars) was a clear indication that they had already chosen the sidecar they wanted. There were many other oddities about the bid request. Yes I am bitter about this, I put a lot of time and effort into the bid, it would have been good work and saved all of us tax payers money and given tax payers a better tool for the job. The TLE sidecars are being phased out as Harley does not offer mounts for the water cooled bikes.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
866-638-1793

Jay G DMC sidecars www.dmcsidecars.com 15616 Carbonado South Prairie RD Buckley WA 98321 866-638-1793 Hours Monday - Thursday 6-4:30

Much like the election, Jay, bitterness won't change anything. Time to keep smilin' and move forward.

I loved the hacks in the parade but I live in a state where anybody on the bike or in the hack must have a helmet on I think its wrong for the cop to be have one on but the kids in the hack in new York that will earn you a ticket

When I was in Tacoma Wa. in the service,fiest snow brought out the police sidecars.
J.R.
USCA sec.
Tex. rep

Tom, You bring up a good point: 🙁
I always wondered in CR economics goes well when Liberacion rules and down when Pusc rules...
The Pusc has the better businessmen who concentrate on what they do best when the Liberacion is in charge.
Liberacion has the best blood suckers and chair leg cutters so they come to their best efectivity when they are on the opposition bench.
So. for right now there is only one thing to do.
Concentrate on what you do best and try to make the best out of the bad.
No need for wheening. Nobody will wait for us.

The first dumb things have been done already, :O so let's worry about the things with the highest priority first.
Here we go: Wrap up the sleeves!

Good luck to all.
Sven 😉

jay you must remember who was in charge of the government at the time of the bid .

As most of you know, I run a Liberty on my FLH and count Pete and Patty on my list of friends. Not being members of USCA, they don't spend much if any time on the forum and don't believe this is the place to promote their product. When ever I see a thread that might be of interest to them, I call it to their attention. After doing just that with this thread, I received this e-mail from Patty~
Tom,

F.Y.I.: During the request for bids, the value of the contract was set forth publicly by the GSA as $60K. It may only be a coincidence that DMC’s bid was $59,998.98, just about a buck less than the Gov. wanted to spend. This is why I don’t follow the argument about saving the taxpayer’s money. Our bid was several thousand dollars less.

I have to add that flying to DC and working with the US Park Police to attach the sidecars was one of the highlights of my career. Thanks!

Sincerely,

Pete Larsen, Patty Billings
Owners, Liberty Sidecars

http://www.libertysidecars.us
http://www.morgan3wheeler.us

I can see where this might be headed and I want to put all parties on notice that we will not have a war here. Please keep to the original topic, not contracts, not pricing and definitely not who said what when.

Interesting that a competitor was given my bid but I was not told what my competitors bid was.
I had also offered ways for the bid to be significantly less as I put in two bids, one as out lined in their notice for bid and one for a product that would have worked better for them at a significantly lower price.
Jay G
DMC sidecars

Jay G DMC sidecars www.dmcsidecars.com 15616 Carbonado South Prairie RD Buckley WA 98321 866-638-1793 Hours Monday - Thursday 6-4:30

Win some, Lose some. Just like the last election. All you can do is give it your best shot and hope for a level playing field.
Many times the outcome is predetermined.

Lonnie
NWSC, Ret'd.

One final note as a clarification only and then I'll comment no more on this. I agree with Al Olme and it's not my desire to turn this thread into an unintended debate. The final comment from Pete and Patty~

Tom -

To set the record straight:

We were forwarded the results of the bid opening after the contract was awarded - not before! Results are always forwarded to all parties concerned, furthermore GSA puts this in the public record.

We feel the original posting is an attack on both our integrity & that of the National Park Service. We would be perfectly happy to see all references to this contract, including the original posting, expunged from the forum.

Pete & Patty

Nothing at all against Liberty sidecars. They make a great sidecar. I do take issue with the parks department. I have in the past also had the opportunity to bid for their business when Harley was still making sidecars, they wrote the bid such, very specifically such that only a Harley sidecar could fulfill the bid requirements. This is not how competitive bidding is suppose to be done, the bid should be put out listing the requirements for the item needed be it a sidecar, a ship, airplane or anything else and see what the industry comes up with. The product that is being bid on should not before the bid is put out have been decided on who is going to manufacture it and as such who is going to win the bid. This is not the way GSA contracts and bidding is suppose to be done. I was only given the opportunity to bid on this as they mistakenly contacted me thinking they were contacting Liberty as such they kept calling me Pete.
Jay G
DMC sidecars

Jay G DMC sidecars www.dmcsidecars.com 15616 Carbonado South Prairie RD Buckley WA 98321 866-638-1793 Hours Monday - Thursday 6-4:30
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