A little something I advised the new owner of a 1934 H-D VL he
found, complete. with a "Dead Horse Wagon" package truck sidecar set-
up by an old time dealer to bring in non-running bikes for servicing
in the Old Days. He was pretty pumped, just getting the old bike
started after years in the shop window where he found it. He took it
up and down the road solo, and was getting ready to put the sidecar
back on.
I gotta ask, is this your first sidecar? If you don't have a pile of
miles awready on three wheels, I just would caution you to take it
easy. I've been driving sidecars since 1974.What I want to warn you,
is that an Assymetrical Tripod motor vehicle is a completely different
animal from anything else on the road. No matter how confident you may
feel, there are a whole new set of skills to learn in order to keep
your rubber side on the bottom!
Everyone I know, when new to sidecars, has had at least one, "It
won't turn!" experience in no more than their first few days of
driving one. The inputs your body are accustomed to from riding bikes
all your life, the feel of the bike, make it feel (fool your body,
that) you're on two wheels, and going into one of the first right
turns you try to make will fool your body, and panic instantly sets in
when it doesn't lean like your autonomic nervous system expects it to.
You go straight, off the left side of the road, and into the ditch, if
you're lucky. If you don't mesh with the grille of an 18-wheeler or
something, you live to gain a whole new respect for something that has
to be driven, not "ridden;" driven with the handlebar, the throttle
(more to go right, less to go left) and brakes.
You can hook up the stock sidecar brake linked, in the normal way,
to the back wheel of the bike (the "pusher" the bike's rear tire/wheel
is called), or, some people prefer to leave it unhooked and unbraked,
freewheeling, and rely on the throttle and brakes of the bike, or (and
this part gets real in'tris'tin') you can set it up with a second left
bar hand brake lever (under your front one, or the clutch on a modern
bike), so, going into a hard right turn, you can duck low and slide
your butt off the rt. side of the seat, hooking your left thigh around
it (to help hold the sidecar down), reach under the other lefer and
pull a little sidecar brake with the left-hand fingers, and go around
the right turn like you're on rails!
I tol' ya, it's unlike anything else you'll ever drive. There's also
"U.S.A.," The United Sidecar Association. They're on the web. They
have information, safety courses and blogs, all dedicated to the sport
of sidecars.
I just don't want anyone to get in over their head before learning
that sidecars are a completely different animal, and are a BALL to
drive, BTW. Just take it easy.
--Sarge

On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:34:34 -0700 (PDT), Sarge <sargehere@cfl.rr.com>
wrote:

> Everyone I know, when new to sidecars, has had at least one, "It
>won't turn!" experience in no more than their first few days of
>driving one.

Or in my case, the first (and last) few minutes. Never again, I just
don't have the upper body strength.

Dana (but there's an old green sidecar in the barn)
Bitch 16 Wench 22 BS 23 BOTY VI ret.
'05 FLHRSI "Belle" (no sidecar)
'03 FLHTCUI (no sidecar)

On Aug 13, 3:18*pm, Dana Taramina <d...@spamicide.gryffyn.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:34:34 -0700 (PDT), Sarge <sargeh...@cfl.rr.com>
> wrote:
>
> > *Everyone I know, when new to sidecars, has had at least one, "It
> >won't turn!" experience in no more than their first few days of
> >driving one.
>
> Or in my case, the first (and last) few minutes. Never again, I just
> don't have the upper body strength.
>
> Dana (but there's an old green sidecar in the barn)
> Bitch 16 *Wench 22 *BS 23 *BOTY VI ret.
> '05 FLHRSI "Belle" (no sidecar)
> '03 FLHTCUI (no sidecar)

Have a drink, Dana. I'm buyin'. I'll bet you could, with a leetle
instruction. Drive a sidecar like a pro, I mean. It's not necessarily
strength, it's finesse. Approaching a right turn, gas on, the bike
goes right around the trailing sidecar; left turn, chop the throttle,
and the bike slows down and the hack goes right around ya.
Fergit that! I want the old green sidecar in yer barn! How old izzit?
Tin body, or a '64-&-later "fiberglass egg?" Or, one of those
aftermarket glass ones that are, basically, too light to hook to a
Harley? Heh heh.
--Sarge, Brotherhood of the Slug #109, Southeast Net Scum
36EL, 37UL/LEC s/c, 41U

On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:36:08 -0700 (PDT), Sarge <sargehere@cfl.rr.com>
wrote:

>
>Have a drink, Dana. I'm buyin'. I'll bet you could, with a leetle
>instruction. Drive a sidecar like a pro, I mean.

No thanks, really. (Although I coudl do some major retail therapy with
one!)

> It's not necessarily
>strength, it's finesse. Approaching a right turn, gas on, the bike
>goes right around the trailing sidecar; left turn, chop the throttle,
>and the bike slows down and the hack goes right around ya.
>Fergit that! I want the old green sidecar in yer barn! How old izzit?
>Tin body, or a '64-&-later "fiberglass egg?" Or, one of those
>aftermarket glass ones that are, basically, too light to hook to a
>Harley? Heh heh.

Don't know, don't know, and don't know. I'll take some pictures and
send them to you. (I can't get across the street for some reason.) Or
couldn't, I'll check again.

Dana
Bitch 16 Wench 22 BS 23 BOTY VI ret.
'05 FLHRSI "Belle"
'03 FLHTCUI