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Looking to buy a rig

New to club but have been riding for 60 years. Would love to get some instruction on driving a sidecar and hopefully someone is selling one. thanks for any help.

Dan

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AceinSavFlyingMonkeys

Hi, Dan!  Welcome to the madness. 

It will help a lot to get you plugged in to know where you are, what you’ve done on two wheels, and what type of sidecar adventures you want to be getting into. 

Meanwhile, explore the forums, ask questions and keep some notes from what you see.

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FlyingMonkeys
Quote from Thane Lewis on February 22, 2023, 5:38 pm

Hi, Dan!  Welcome to the madness. 

It will help a lot to get you plugged in to know where you are, what you’ve done on two wheels, and what type of sidecar adventures you want to be getting into. 

Meanwhile, explore the forums, ask questions and keep some notes from what you see.

Ditto...............

Telling us WHERE you live helps us a LOT, as some of us will immediately look for sidecar available within 250 miles of you, and others will offer to come over to you, or meet you someplace, and show you the initial ropes of driving a sidecar rig.

Please don't tell us you live in The Great Pacific Northwest, as we already have too many sidecar owners in the greatest place on Earth.

Hopefully you live in Nebraska, so Thane can teach you all that he knows......

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Thane Lewis
Two Million Miles, and All 7 Continents
Quote from FlyingMonkeys on February 22, 2023, 7:13 pm

Hopefully you live in Nebraska, so Thane can teach you all that he knows......

that won’t take long!  Noob by soooooooo many ways of saying it!

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FlyingMonkeys

hello to all,

  i live near Clinton NJ. Near PA off Rt. 78. been riding for nearly 60 years mostly BMW long rides like Brooklyn to Fairbanks that sort of stuff. Spent 3 weeks on the TAT a few years ago and that was fun. Looking to do more motorcycle camping , some BDR stuff this time with wife. So time to try a sidecar. Any help locating something for sale would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Dan

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CCjonFlyingMonkeys

Dan, there are a few...very few...for sale right in your area, but a few more a little farther out. It comes down to, what kind of riding you plan to do, and what your budget is.  Your budget is your business (none of our business) BUT....knowing what you are willing to spend helps us dial in a better parameter of what is out there.

Example, there is a very nice one in Jessup, Maryland, at Bob's BMW dealership, although most of us know that anything from Bob's BMW is generally priced much higher than just about anywhere else.

https://baltimore.craigslist.org/mcd/d/annapolis-junction-1987-bmw-k100rs-eml/7589300559.html

It's an '87 K bike...K100RS, with an EML sidecar, and that is one of the better brand name sidecars....built in The Netherlands, I believe.

So, you need to assist us further....road....or trail.....K-bike, or R-bike....passenger sidecar, or dog/cargo sidecar?

This is a picture of the one for sale at Bob's BMW.....

The price of $ 17k+ might seem like a lot for a 36 year old BMW....BUT....it has relatively LOW mileage on the bike, the K-1000cc engines were some of the better engines from BMW, the front end is already a Leading Link front end, so that is a $ 3,000 + value right there, and an EML sidecar, which 93.14159 % of the sidecar owners in the USA would love to have. The reality is, for the asking price of $ 17k+, it can probably be bought for % 16k to $ 16.5k...and it is a proven, road-ready, nothing needs to be done to it...rig. Get on it, and drive it away.....and there is serious value in THAT.

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CCjonThane Lewis
Two Million Miles, and All 7 Continents

There is one for sale on this board in Conn.

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CCjonFlyingMonkeys
2009 Yamaha Venture with Hannigan Hack 1999 Valkyrie IS 2006 Goldwing 2021 Ram 3500/6.7HO
Quote from FlyingMonkeys on February 24, 2023, 11:06 pm

... a proven, road-ready, nothing needs to be done to it...rig. Get on it, and drive it away.....and there is serious value in THAT.

Yes there is value in a road ready rig.  An ill-handling or poorly serviced project rig is generally not a good introduction to sidecars (except for the few of us that are talented tinkerers).

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CCjonThane LewisFlyingMonkeys
Lee / Summer Grove, Louisiana: Ural cT, CJ750, Burgman/Texas Ranger, Zuma 50F, MB5, TW200, CRF250L, GTV300

Morning,

  Mostly road travel with some off road, not extreme, on occasion if doable BDR stuff. Will be traveling with wife in sidecar. Don't know anything about K vs R the last ride I sold was my 1965 R/60.  I would like to keep costs around 10 grand as it's possible that I just my miss the "lean" too much and need to turn around and sell it. On the other hand I may love it and sell it anyway to purchase a new one.

Thanks for all your assistance

 

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CCjon
Quote from Dan Dolce on February 25, 2023, 10:19 am

Morning,

  Mostly road travel with some off road, not extreme, on occasion if doable BDR stuff. Will be traveling with wife in sidecar. Don't know anything about K vs R the last ride I sold was my 1965 R/60.  I would like to keep costs around 10 grand as it's possible that I just my miss the "lean" too much and need to turn around and sell it. On the other hand I may love it and sell it anyway to purchase a new one.

Thanks for all your assistance

 

Best part of buying any used, proven rig is that it can be turned around for exactly what you paid for it in short order.   Thus the “will I like it” buyer’s remorse is virtually eliminated. I can tell you that several good, proven rigs turn up in the 5k to 10k range every year.  Take a peek at the Hacks section of Advrider.com for some examples. Many here are also over there. 

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CCjon
Quote from Big Tom on February 25, 2023, 7:09 am

There is one for sale on this board in Conn.

hi Tom,

New to club. What does on this board mean?

Quote from Dan Dolce on February 25, 2023, 1:43 pm
Quote from Big Tom on February 25, 2023, 7:09 am

There is one for sale on this board in Conn.

hi Tom,

New to club. What does on this board mean?

"On this board" normally refers to a rig being advertised in the Classified Section of the forum, more specifically the "Complete Rigs for Sale" section.  He might be referring to the 1990 Goldwing rig in Connecticut.  Would be a good first rig.  Gigantic, of course, but that also means stable and predictable if set up correctly.  Good learner rig. Extremely comfortable sidecar for your passenger.

 

You'll also notice that there is a section in the Classifieds for "Complete Rigs Wanted" which is probably where this thread should have been started.  Not to late to go there and post up a new thread describing what you're thinking about.

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Big TomCCjonThane LewisFlyingMonkeys

Don,

I was in a similar situation 2 years ago. I had been riding 2 wheels for about 54 years. Before jumping in and purchasing a rig, I found a sidecar class about 350 mile away. They provided the rig. Although the top speed on the closed course ( a very large parking lot) was 20 mph, it was enough for me to know I would like it.  Since adding a sidecar to my R1200 GS I have logged over 10,000 miles. I still have a 2 wheeler but have only ridden it about 4,000 miles in the same time. It does not take long to learn that the throttle can be used to assist turning. Add throttle to assist right turns and back off the throttle to assist left turns.

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hdgypsymanFlyingMonkeys