One word - Fantastic!

 

That looks very cool!!!

 

I love it!! Can't wait to read a ride report...

 

+2 on the doggy ride!! That looks amazing!! +1 on the ride report. My buddy has a Ural /w sidecar and he says it's really different. He said head to a parking lot and get used to the feeling of the sidecar in the air on right turns. Oh yes, a bike with a sidecar is most definitely "riding!!!" Congrats!

 

Man that is one freaking looking cool bike/side car/combo! I always thought that side cars where the coolest thing, still do! Thats a hefty price tag that came along with it, but it shows!! Glad you got what you wanted for Christmas! I think that fat **** in the red suit missed my house this year...or my girlfriend really does just hate me!!

 

OK, a little follow up here and a few more pics. Rode it home (maybe 15 miles) and been on a few short rides since. Took the kids up and down the street a couple of times. I'll say this -- believe what people say when they tell you it's a totally different ball game. Can be absolutely hair- raising.

First thing I did was bump into the security device trying to ride out of the dealership where it was installed. Embarassing. Alarm went off. The guys at the shop were cool and didn't laugh at me (at least not to my face ). Lesson # 1: The thing is way wide on the right; don't forget that!

Accelerating is weird. It pulls to the right. Decelerating is weird. It pulls to the left. Same with braking, except it's all different depending on front/rear brake combination etc. But that's the easy part.

Turning.... Oh, my. Turning left is fine. The car helps you. Turning right...the car is your enemy. This is all sort of counter-intuitive, until you start to grasp the physics of it all. Think about it. When you turn, centrifugal force wants the bike to fall over in the opposite direction. That's why you lean. Well, with the car on, you can't lean. You "steer" thru turns. On a left turn, the bike wants to fall over to the right. But the car is there to prevent it. On a right turn...there is nothing on the left side to prevent the bike from falling over, and you can't lean.... On top of that, decerating or braking makes it worse. So the bike wants to pull to the left (into oncoming traffic, yikes), or the car comes up off the ground. Not for the timid. So you have to brake before the turn, and accelerating going out of the turn, and you have to lean your body over to the right and control the weight distribution as much as possible. And just be careful.

I'm getting the hang of it. And I'm signing up for the Evergreen Safety Counsel sidecar course. Balast in the car helps, and I'm getting some sand bags.

On the up side, the thing is a blast! I put the kids in it (one at a time) and rode into "town" (about a half mile), in our quiet little suburban town (tiny downtown shopping area). At stop lights or signs, people waive, laugh, honk, etc. I got several big "thumbs up" from guys in cars or on the roadside. People stop and look. And smile. It's like a banjo -- you can't be unhappy around a sidecar.

I took my son (5 yrs old, see pic) to Starbucks. (Hey, if you're gonna be a poser, you have to do it right.) He stood in line with his helmet in hand and told everyone, "I ride in that sidecar [pointing outside] on my dad's Harley-Davidson!!" People stop on the street and ask lots of questions. Everyone wants to look. It's a lot of fun.

And there's a ton of room in the thing. I wasn't thinking of this originally, but now I'm thinking of going camping with it.

Pics:

 

Nice looking set up you have. Had a 48 w/ a side car at one time and the things you mentioned about acceleration/deceleration, throttle and braking are exactly how mine was. Got used to it after a bit and adjusted my riding habits accordingly.

There were 3 connecting points on mine and I see that you have this plus a few hydraulic units. What is the purpose of these units. Thought they would have greatly reduced or eliminated what you have described in you post.

 

There's really only one hydraulic unit, and that's the steering stabilizer, which is really intended to deal with low-speed wobble. There are four connecting points. I suspect this rig is a great deal easier to manage than the old rigid setups, but it still has the same physics overall.

Got any pics of the 48?

 

That is SO great! You made my day with that one.

 

Shouldn't the sidecar be level? Not meant as a criticism, that kind of thing just comes natural to me from working so long as a carpenter. When things are not level, or plumb, it really jumps out at me.
Just thought I'd throw this in. No reason, just looked good.