Good evening my fellow riders....

Anyone on here ever had or rode a touring bike with sidecar...My wife has decided that she might want one so just checking on the pros/cons as compared to maybe a trike......


Thanks for the forthcoming comments....


Ride safe.....

 

I had one on an Evo dresser
the Harley hack drug the bike down like an anchor ( guess that's why they don't make em anymore)
I've no idea what a lighter material hack would do, probably alot better than years ago
good luck

 

They do that to any bike! Nothing that a monster motor can't put right. I suspect Harley made very few sidecars, but the market for trikes is stronger, which is why they changed. There is a trike/sidecar forum here on HDF, so well worth taking a look in there.

 

true dat here's the trike forum https://www.hdforums.com/forum/tri-glide-models-151/

 

As you can see by my signature, we have a Hannigan Classic Twin sidecar installed on our EGC. I previously owned a Ural Sidecar rig. Here are the Pros and Cons...

Pros:
Stable, secure, no slipping and sliding on gravel, wet roads, snow, oil, etc. Driver can be slightly less vigilant scanning the road. I said, slightly less.

No problem at stop lights, even loaded with passenger and stuff.

Turning left is a gas.

Tons of storage. Our Hannigan has an incredible amount of storage in trunk, back of seat, foot area, not to mention the great HD tourpak and saddlebags.

Great for passenger. Unobstructed front and right view. No more back of drivers head view. Big, comfortable seat, no exhaust heat, can phone, read, sleep, etc.

Envy of all female passengers on other bikes during group rides.

More utility--Great for doing grocery shopping, hardware store runs, you name it. Added a ton to the practicality of the bike.


Cons:

Reduces (not eliminates) the driver's fun factor of riding a motorcycle. It is still fun. But if you enjoy the twisties, that is gone with a sidecar.

Heavy, Heavy, Heavy steering. I am 6'2 205 pounds, workout daily, and steering our rig is high effort. Greatly improved if you install raked fork trees, but then the bike is sidecar only--riding raked trees without sidecar is dangerous at best. BTW, our Ural had purpose designed forks that made turning much easier.

Kills the power. Your Harley Vtwin can run it, but not at speeds our bike group likes to maintain. Wind and hills just kills us, and the hills often are so mild you cannot "see" them. I can cruise at 70MPH with passenger on flat ground no wind. Add hills and wind, and she strains at 60MPH unless I ride in 4th gear. By the way, power is only a problem on highways. Around town and up to 60MPH, I can accelerate as fast as many of the bikes we ride with. Even with a passenger.

Kills the MPG. We went from 45MPG to 30MPG. Always 45 before, always 30 after the install. Rode 550 miles to KY to install sidecar: 45MPG. Rode the same 550 back: 30MPG. 9 months later: 30MPG. I carry two Reda 1 gal gas cans.

Drains the driver. Our ride to KY was a piece of cake. One day. Arrived refreshed. No problem. The ride back, same route, I was beat, beat, beat. The wind patterns with the sidecar blast the driver. I could not keep my right foot on the floorboard. Had to install aftermarket lowers. And now the buffeting is increased. Never noticed buffeting before. I recently installed an LRS shield and the buffeting is 10x worse.

Turning right without passenger lifts the sidecar. The Hannigan and Seco sidecars have the least right turn lift, and I can still lift it without a thought. Can lead to death or injury!!!

Added hassle for maintenance. Routine maintenance from checking the rear tire air, oil, is now a real pain. Most dealers ask that you remove the sidecar before bringing it in. Can't be done if have raked trees. Must (should) remove sidecar when removing rear tire, or any operation requiring a lift.

No right-side view of bike. Harleys look great from all angles, but the right side is its best side. Can't see it with a sidecar attached.

Rear tires wear two times faster. Plus they get squared off, further adding some danger to riding the bike without sidecar.

The weight of the sidecar taxes the Harley suspension. The rear shocks need stiffer "springs", the front forks need stiffer springs and a better triple clamp. You can feel the forks twist in tough turns. That stock clamp is crap. By tough turns, there are times when we are cooking through turns that I actually skip (slide) the tires. Coming from the sport bike and dirt bike world, I probably tax my Harley more than most. Even at 57 years old.

-----------------

We studied long and hard before choosing the Hannigan Classic Twin. The Seco was a close second. Both are great handling. Much better than Liberty, Harley, and Motorvation. However, no doubt those three have the classic styling.

If you put in a lot of miles and want the best handling, best braking sidecar, go with Hannigan or Seco. Period. Seco has advantages over the Hannigan: Better sidecar wheel, brake, etc. Hannigan however, offered the 6" wider rig and electric camber control, for less money. So I went with the Hannigan. I now regret going with the 6" wider rig. To do over, would go with the Hannigan Classic or the Seco.

The wife however, prefers the wider rig and that wide seat provides plenty of room for an adult and one or two grandkids!

Spalding, the guy who owns Seco (from the Spalding sporting goods family) has many years of sidecar exp and has owned most brands. He can (and will) intelligently tell you why the other brands handle like crap. Yes they look good, and for around town they're fine, but again, if handling, low CG, good braking are important to you...go with Hannigan/Seco.

Seco delivers and installs at your residence. Hannigan requires you to install yourself (save KY sales tax) or you can ride to KY and have them install, which is what we did.

PM or reply if you want more info. If you live in the Chicagoland area, we can hook up.

http://www.hannigantrikes.com/content/sidecars.html
http://spaldingside.com/

Jack

 

Jack,

Excellent write-up, but you're on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Outfits here in the UK are the other way round, so the pretty side is in full view! The solution for steering, although an acquired taste aesthetically, is a leading link fork, common here in Europe.

Friend of mine built several outfits, based on different bikes, but all using leading link forks (they are used on all sidecar racers here). His Ducati 860 with a child/adult 'chair' would just about clock 100mph! Rear tyres only lasted a few hundred miles.....

 

I have no aversion to leading link front forks. In my dirt biking days, I upgraded my stock forks to leading links running Currnutt shocks.




And they would solve two of the three fork-related issues I mentioned above. Their geometry would make it easy to steer and they are would reduce the flexing. However, you still cannot ride the bike without the sidecar.

Thanks for the link!

Jack

 

That's true! Unless you emigrate.........

 

I had a 99 Ultra with HD sidecar. I bought the rig to give my wife, who is severly disabled with Multiple Sclerosis, the opportunity to ride. Unfortunately her worsening condition soon made it impossible for her to hold her head up and the bike and hack were sold.

What I did not anticipate was just how much I came to enjoy driving the hack! To this day I still miss having a sidecar. If I ever get to the point that I cannot reliably hold my bike upright I would go to a sidecar again without hesitation! I would always choose a sidecar over a trike. Sidecars are a blast to drive once you get the hang of them!

 

gentlemen thanks for the input...Jack--great looking ride and excellent writeup..still weighing all options before i commit...Keep coming with the suggestions....