So I'm planning an 10-15 day multi-state road trip for this summer with my two boys, and figure I'll have to leave the bike at home, since there isn't room for both passengers.
I know H-D (and others) make sidecars, but I can't afford one even if I knew I wanted to own one. But having one for a couple of weeks this summer might be just the ticket … does anyone offer these as rentals? I know you can rent bikes, but what about sidecars?

 

I don't know of a place that would, but I can say that I highly doubt if you'll find any HD dealer that would. There would be too much liability as many don't know how to ride with a hack.

 

Never heard of that, but I must say that you are onto a cool idea.

We were following a guy for a while on the way out of Sturgis last year who had a sidecar, with his young son in it, and strapped to the back was one of the plastic battery powered kid trikes. Was truly a Kodak moment but my camera was packed away. Father/Son Sturgis.

I do advise some serious practice with that sidecar first though. Was a horrible story in our local paper a few years back. Dad got a new sidecar and took the kid for a tryout spin. Killed his son.

 

Good point about the practice; I know that adding a sidecar would make it handle like a completely different beast, and would definitely get some road miles in before we packed up & moved out.
It's a good point about the liability; it may be that no one rents them for that very reason. I knew a delivery driver once who complained that he had to have a CDL to drive a panel truck, but any yahoo could rent a 20' Winnebago!

 

Some places rent the Tri cars, but have never seen a sidecar for rent in the States.

Connie and I rented a hack two years ago for a 6 week trip around the north and south islands of New Zealand. Really had a blast. I later tred to find someplace to rent one either on the east coast or Europe. As I remember, I did find a couple places that rented Urals, but nothing with more power.

As others have said, they are quite different than a moto. Lots of unique issues which take practice to learn.

 

do not think you will find any side cars for rent due to the fact that they do not just bolt on you have to hook up the brakes and lights and so on , and the mods to the bike to make them realy nice and safe, I think you need a steering dampner on the bike

 

I have never heard of anyone renting them. I owned one before and it is definetly a differnet riding experience.

 

So how involved is the connection? If I were to ride w/a hack to my destination, is it feasible to take it off for tooling around town while I'm there & then putting it back on for the return trip? Or is this a really involved deal that I'd need a mechanic for?

 

I do not know all the dedailes as I have never had one myself but a freind I used to ride with did and like I said before there are a lot of things that were put on the bike for brakes , lights , he had a tilt sensor so the bike could lean and so on , any how yes they do come off fairly easy [ not like unhooking a trailer ] most of the stuff eather unplugs or unpins i'm not sure about the brake connection I think it was a quick coupling and then some of the stuff just stays on the bike, good luck

 

In Washington its a seperate endorsement for sidecars and trikes.