Never having owned a bike, I've always vaguely assumed that sidecars were bolted on the nearside of the bike.
Yesterday I saw one with the sidecar on the offside. The bike was doing about 70, facing oncoming traffic doing the same speed. The man's wife in the sidecar didn't look at all alarmed, but it occured to me that I'd be scared stiff, sitting in a plastic bubble one foot off the ground, watching cars and lorries hurtling at me at perhaps 150 mph.
The car was not particularly visible, especially so as the bike had its headlight on full. At night the combination would have been suicidal.
Are there any rules about this? What about touring abroad - are sidecars reversible?
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Normally British sidecars are on the nearside. There seems to be quite a few Russian imports with them on (our) offside. Either side is legal and it isn't possible to change sides.
I'm not sure why you think it suicidal at night? Exiting yes.
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I'm not sure why you think it suicidal at night? Exiting yes.
I'm sure most drivers (correctly or not) assume that the offside headlight roughly pinpoints the closest part of the car to the centre of the road. Even cars with a headlight out will have a sidelight marking that position. A single headlight usually (though not always) means a motorbike which extends no more than a foot or two towards the centre from the headlight. Except in this circumstance where there are several feet of unlit fibreglass sidecar containing your nearest and dearest extending several feet further than most drivers would expect.
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It is simply a case of right or left hand drive. We have chairs on the left, coultries where they drive on the right have the opposite.
Modern sidecars also have their own headlight.
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That's it - blazing headlight on the bike itself, much less visible light on the sidecar. I just wondered.
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Although I have riden bikes for many years the idea of a side car is abhorent to me, a side car combination is so dynamically compromised, so unsymetrical, no appeal whatsoever!
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you could get you and three mates down to the pub during school lunch break tho!
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Rather walk, perhaps walk there and stagger back!
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Not a bit of it! With your chair properly set up and you knowing how to ride it, the manoeuvres you can perform are amazing. Much of Philipines transport is tricycle sidecar and these guys can turn on a sixpence.
For many years a bike-sidecar combination was regarded by UK insurance companies as one of the safest vehicles on the roads, and premium levels bore that out.
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Not a bit of it! With your chair properly set up and you knowing how to ride it, the manoeuvres you can perform are amazing. Much of Philipines transport is tricycle sidecar and these guys can turn on a sixpence.
Come on Growler, would you put a side car on the Harley?
For many years a bike-sidecar combination was regarded by UK insurance companies as one of the safest vehicles on the roads, and premium levels bore that out.
If I had a combination in the garage it would be safe alright, it would never see the light of day, rather I would relieve the bike of it's misery and unbolt the one wheeled carbuncle off the side and leave it out for the bin men.
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I thought they outlawed right-hand sidecars in, erm, about1979?
Supposedly for safety reasons, although the ministry were unable to provide figures for the number of accidents involving them. (Same with tinted visors a few years later - somebody just thought it would be Good Idea)
The combo. you saw was probably Dutch or Belgian - they are huge sidecar fans.
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Reg 93 M V Con and Use Regs 1986
No person shall use, cause or permit use on a road any two wheeled motor cycle registered on or after 1.8.1981, not being a motor cycle brought temporarily into GB by a person resident abroad, if there is a sidecar attached to the right (or offside)of the motor cycle.
Of note as well seeing we are on the subject:
Reg 92:
Every sidecar fitted shall be so attached that the wheel thereof is not wholly outside the space between transverse planes passing through the extreme projecting points at the front and at the rear of the motor cycle.
Providing it is then the s car is classed as part of the vehicle. If it isn't then it is a trailer and speed limits come into play same as a vehicle towing a trailer.
DVD
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Some sidecars have sidelights on them.
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How about having 2 sidecars, one on each side of the bike?
Onlt joking!!!
Cheers, SS
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How about having 2 sidecars, one on each side of the bike? Onlt joking!!!
Makes more sense than just one!
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How did I know the owners' manual ( www.imz-ural.com/support/manuals/2005%20owners%20m...f
) was going to contain some great tips on riding an outfit:
'When you have mastered "flying the chair" to the point where you can keep it in the air for for a full circle you will have a good feel for the speed and turn radius that will lift the sidecar. Then carefully experiment with larger and smaller circles.'
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Some sidecars have sidelights on them.
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Yes, but even so, they are pretty unnoticeable if the bike's headlight is on. I was wondering about the risk of someone oncoming simply not noticing the sidecar sticking out beyond the headlight, and driving head-on into it.
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