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From: hsc@hogpc.UUCP (H.COHEN)
Newsgroups: net.cycle
Subject: Sidecars
Message-ID: <459@hogpc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 27-Sep-84 10:37:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: hogpc.459
Posted: Thu Sep 27 10:37:57 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Sep-84 06:09:55 EDT
Lines: 30

Doug Bingham's sidecar company is probably the most consumer-friendly
in the U.S.  They sell their own brand and several others.
Motorvation Engineering makes big, expensive, luxurious sidecars.
Motorvation sidecars also have a unique optional suspension-preload
lever that lets you retrim for the amount of weight in the hack
*while you are driving*.  This largely eliminates empty-sidecar handling
problems.  I love it.
Motorvation and also California Sidecar use trapped-ball lower mounts
instead of clevis, which makes them *much* easier to get on and off the
bike (after the initial installation and alignment).
Prices range from less than $1K to more than $4K, and there are conversions
that also include new bike frame and front end (EML) that cost even more.
Neval has a bike/sidecar rig with powered third wheel for pulling your
plow.
     Handling is radically different from either a bike or a car,
but the suggestion that it is dangerous (compared to normal motorcycling)
is just plain silly.  A hack rig will seem terribly disorienting and
"quirky" to the novice, but the bottom line is that tripods are *much*
less likely to fall over that bipods.  I commute by bike all year,
and got my first hack right after a long unscheduled trip on an ice
slick.  Now I can go where cars fear to tread in winter. (Try braking
just the right wheel or just the left wheel on a sports car!)
My four-year-old has been hacking since he was two.  He sleeps when he
wants, uses the convertable top when it's raining or too cold, and
enjoys the ride.  A few weeks ago my wife and I got on our bikes,
threw my son in the sidecar along with the tent, sleeping bags,
camp stove, picnic cooler, toys, books, etc., and toured New England.
     A sidecar may not fit everbody's (sometimes myopic) idea
of "sensible," but it can be the world's most practical toy!
Harvey S. Cohen hogpc!hsc  (201)576-3685