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Motorcycle with Sidecar - Owner Inquiry


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Okay, I know I have to re-learn motorcycling a bit to drive a sidecar bike . . .

 

Other than traction and being able to go anywhere how does one wheel drive compare with two wheel drive.

 

I am considering (dreaming really) of attaching a Cozy side car to my 1200 Sportster or just buying a Ural Two wheel drive some day.

 

Shameless Womanizer

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I can see where the Ural would have several advantages over an add-on sidecar to a different bike.

 

It was designed to have the sidecar, so the mounts are built in; the wheel provides traction via a PTO; and it has a reverse gear in case you get into a tight spot.

 

They're pretty cool bikes, with a lot of history. Started out as a BMW for the Wermacht, then the Russians got the tooling and started making them for their army. Very robust and durable. I don't think you could break one if you tried.

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I've watched way too many sidecars battle the wind. It's not much for safety or handling in any way. Please give me one so that I have something to sell on EBAY.

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I bought a Vulcan set-up with a sidecar. If you are starting out as a motorcycle rider still pretty green, you may have success with one. If you have been riding 2-wheelers for decades and think it will be cool and easy to learn, think again. "Old dogs/New tricks" comes down hard and heavy here.

 

Took out several mail boxes and cornereing is deadly. I had mine on for about a month and sold it. I wouldn't take one for free.

 

Just my experience as a thirty-five year veteran of two-wheeled madness (forty if you include the Honda Mini-Trail 50 I got at age ten). Used ta drag race for a small shop.

 

My best friend thought he was gonns test-ride a Suzuki trike one afternoon at a motorcycle dealer open-house. He's been riding as long as me and he couldn't get it out of the parking lot.

 

Bodine

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Ural dealer down the street from my house; usually has half-a-dozen bikes with side cars lined up out front; keep expecting to see a courier in long leather coat, goggles and German army insignia climbing on.

 

http://uralne.com/default.aspx

 

LL

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Ural would need a Russian dispatch rider. Germany used the BMW's. ;)

 

At any rate, a well travelled road that has deep ruts in the asphalt will deal you fits with a sidecar. As Brother King says, wind makes it a deadly game of survival too. Motorcylce riding is supposed to be enjoyable, not a workout of upper body and butt-pucker. There are enough things to worry about with road debris, car-drivers and truckers without voluntarily adding to the mix.

 

Kinda like my mentor said about those little trailers behind motorcycles: "I don't wanna be runned over by my own sh... (stuff)."

 

Bodine

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Shameless I've been riding since I was about well for a long time if you count the years in the backyard on dirt bikes and have never operated a side car rig. I did ride in one ONCE and being a rider it just felt wrong, about like my first time in a chopper. The way it moved around corners was weird, really weird and had me hanging on to the "grab rails" for dear life. The thing belonged to the guy who owned our bike dealership and two others and was one of the futuristic ones that was all enclosed. Cant remember the make/model but it was supposed to be high tech with lean capability etc. Remember thinking something like "Oh great, they can bury me right in this thing."

 

If you want something with three wheels and space to tote stuff an old HD Servicar would be my choice plus there are lots of good conversions out there.

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The Ural is a replica of the WWII and post war Beemer. I've looked them over several times, but I keep goin' back and customizin' my old Shovelhead. B)

 

Had a Servicar once and rode a chopped Honda powered trike a time or two. Way too much work for the pleasure received. :(

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Well kinda a replica but the actual history is a bit different. My neighbor has one of the two-wheel drive with side car he uses to check cattle and ride fence with. He never takes it out on the road, uses the sidecar for tools and fenceposts!

 

here's what their website says:

 

HISTORY of URAL®

 

 

The history of the "URAL®" brand motorcycle begins with the Russian pre W.W.II planning. Russia knew it would soon be going to war against the Third Reich, and Hitler. The military was ordered to gear up in all areas, including the ground forces that would be defending the Russian "motherland" from the invading German Panzer, ground troops, and German special forces. The German special forces had thousands of the BMW sidecars that the German Army loved for their maneuverability, reliability, economy and ease of maintenance. Carrying a machine gun and soldier plus supplies, the sidecar "weapon" was feared by the otherwise "fixed" Russian ground troops. The usefulness of the sidecar motorcycle was beginning its legend.

 

Back in the old USSR, in 1939, the Russian engineers in Moscow were busily dismantling 5 BMWs purchased from Germany through some Swedish intermediaries. The engineers copied the BMW design in all details and made molds and dies to produce their own engines and gearboxes in Moscow. (Incidentally, Harley-Davidson also copied the BMW and delivered about 1,000 Harley-Davidson model XA flat-twin shaft drive motorcycles to the US Army during World War II.) Soon a factory was set up in Moscow producing hundreds of Russian sidecar motorcycles. At this point the rig had no name. As the demand and function for the Russian sidecar rig spread in the military, the top Russian

strategists worried that the factory in Moscow was within easy range of German bombers. The decision was made to move the motorcycle plant further east, out of bombing range and into the middle of the resource rich "URAL" mountain region.

 

A site was chosen in the small trading town of Irbit, located on the fringe of the Siberian plains. The only building on the site was a brewery and it soon was converted into the first R & D building to prepare for the construction of a massive new production complex to build the "URAL" motorcycle. Over 5,000 "URALs" as they came to be known in the military, (they still had no official name) were produced for the Russian Army during W.W.II. They fought against the Germans in many sectors and battles and must have mightily surprised the German sidecar gunners when they came up against Russians riding the "look alike" and even stronger sidecar BMW clones!

 

The history of the URAL® had begun with the glory of helping to defeat the terror of Hitler's armies on the Russian and European battlegrounds.

 

The URAL® was built for the military only, up until the late 1950's when another plant in the Ukraine was built to take on that job and the Irbit Motorcycle Works (IMZ) began to concentrate on bikes for domestic consumption. The popularity of the rigs grew steadily with the Russian people and in the 1960's the full production of the plant was turned over to non-military production.

 

So while they are copied from BMW's, they are still Russian bikes in every other respect. They are a different critter with that front drive system!

 

Bodine

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I have a friend that road for twenty five years them got a bike with a sidecar he had it about ten years went to a trike. I've been driving a bike for 42 years j got on both of his and drove them over 1500 miles on two trips with him him riding mine while I road his. If you do it right it is great fun. The only thing it's not cheap. The bike ( goldwing) with side car cost him 32,000. Then he sold the sidecar then changed it over to a trike that cost him another 18,000. All in all they are fun if you take the time to learn how to drive them. Just to jump on one and take off is silly. When anyone first got their first bikes you didn't just get on and ride for miles it took time. I have a lot of friends that has gone to three wheels some do to health some do to age others just to keep the family riding together as with my friend his little one was too young to drive it made it a family outing.

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Shameless, are you looking for passenger & cargo hauling ability or just something more stable than the usual two wheels?

 

Since we're veering into the world of trikes, these Can-Am Spyders are pretty cool => http://en-us.spyder.brp.com/home.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paidsearch&utm_content=Can-Am%20Spyder%20Roadster&utm_term=spyder&utm_campaign=SpyderRoadster2011

 

I'm seeing more of them cruising around. Seem like the ideal fun commuter vehicle.

 

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Sorry but I have to say this. Putting a child in a sidecar is just plain crazy. Might as well dangle them out the window of your vehicle. It's about as safe. Strong opinion, yes but I'm firm on it.

 

bodine

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The champion sidecar that my friend Had was as safe maybe safer than having them riding on the back of a bike. It was well made had seat belts and more like a small car attached the bike then other sidecars. Check it out and you'll see what I mean. Championsidecar.com

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Shameless, are you looking for passenger & cargo hauling ability or just something more stable than the usual two wheels?

 

Since we're veering into the world of trikes, these Can-Am Spyders are pretty cool => http://en-us.spyder.brp.com/home.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paidsearch&utm_content=Can-Am%20Spyder%20Roadster&utm_term=spyder&utm_campaign=SpyderRoadster2011

 

I'm seeing more of them cruising around. Seem like the ideal fun commuter vehicle.

 

 

Those things crack me up. :lol: :lol:

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But without a sidecar on the batcycle, where would Robin ride?

 

I dare not answer. :unsure::lol:

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