Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!houxm!hogpc!hsc 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