I need one of these to take my daughter out for ice cream and such. I think it would be idyllic for rides in the country and such, and lots of fun.
Anybody know anything about these things? Fun? Safe? Handling?
What should I get?
My Grandfather had one. It was the family car. He took my Nana to church, out for dinner, everywhere in it.
I’ve always wanted one too, but haven’t seen them in years. Are they still around?
Here you go Batman!
Squidlys has an Elite 250 scooter with a sidecar. Rawk.
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Man. That would be awesome!
The Two Fat Ladies had one, so they’ve got to still be around somewhere!
I’ve never driven a sidecar, so I can’t tell you how they handle. Hack-racing looks pretty fun though! 
My imagination tells me that riding with a third wheel might take some getting used to. You use countersteer to bank a bike into turns. I can’t see how a bike could bank right with a sidecar there, and I don’t how a passenger would like being lifted in a left bank. But as I said, I haven’t tried it.
Ural has a sidecar option, as does Royal Enfield. The Ural is a Russian bike that is very retro. Cool-looking, though. The Royal Enfield “Bullet” is 500cc and is virtually the same bike they’ve been building since 1955. Its top speed is 75 mph (without the sidecar), so it’s not extremely useful on a freeway. It would probably be good for “idyllic rides in the country” though. And it’s cheap. Of course, you’re dealing with ancient British technology. Going by the thickness of the catalog that features “blueprinted” performance upgrades, I’d say there is a lot of room for improvement; but it’s still a cool bike.
I frequently see a sidecar on the 405 freeway, always going in the direction opposite to mine. I think it’s on an old Honda CB750, but I haven’t had a good look. I would assume a Harley could handle a sidecar if you like Harleys. I would also assume that many Japanese or BMW tourers could accept a sidecar.
Damn! Look at all of those quick responses! This place was empty when I started typing!
Cool site, astro!
My sister’s father-in-law has a sidecar he attaches to his Harley once a year.
My brother-in-law, his six uncles, and his father and grandfather got on a multi-state motorcycle trip every year. They stuff Grampy in the sidecar and go.
From the stories they tell, I have gleaned one useful piece of advice.
Be very careful turning left.
And yet people still wonder why Scylla is the man.
- sidecar rigs are quirky, unpredictable and - IMHO - dangerous. If someone was to invent the sidecar today, bolt one on to their motorcycle and bring the contraption to the local DMV, he’d be told to go home and stop wasting everybody’s time.
For one thing, if you’re used to two-wheel riding, everything you’ve learned is pretty much wrong. Countersteering is right out - you can’t lean. You steer like you would a car. Cool beans as long as you remember it, but if bike reflexes take over in a crisis situation, the sidecar rig will do exactly the opposite of what you expect.
When mounting a sidecar, you bolt at least a couple of hundred punds on to the right side of your bike. Roads, sadly, are not perfectly flat - they’re higher in the middle. To compensate for the sidecar, you have to adjust the lean of your motorcycle - so on a perfectly even surface, your bike would lean slightly to the left. This sort of adds a permanent left-turn tendency to counteract the sidecar pulling to the right. And here’s the problem: Different roads lean at different angles. So in order to roll straight down most roads, you’ll have to apply some force to the handlebars. Of course, once you turn, the forces change dynamically - and differently in left vs. right turns - making for all sorts of interesting scenarios.
The there’s the fun of trying to brake straight with three wheels placed with no symmetry. Basically, you can link the sidecar wheel to the front brake and hope to brake straight, to the back brake and hope to brake straight, or you mount an extra pedal and hope to brake straight.
Sure you’d not be better off in an open-top car ?
Why not just get a real motorcycle and join us?
Or if not then you could get a trike, they might handle a bit better. I’ve never driven a bike with a side car before, but I"ve been told they are harder to ride because of turning etc. The Ural’s are pretty cheap, something like 8-9K for the whole rig.
What Spiney said. The handling is NOTHING like a motorcycle. Not that I know first hand, but this is what I’m told by guys who drive 'em.
I am nervous about the safety of it, but it would be for local trips to the ice cream shop and such.
This looks perfect:
http://www.ural.com/home/main.htm
That Bavarian classic would be so cool.