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Does know anything about buying / owning a motorcycle side-car?
I am thinking about buying one - is it more expensive to insure? Is it safe? Is it practical?
Public Comments
- No, they are neither safe nor practical. Well, compared to a car they aren't practical but they are certainly more practical than a motorcycle. I once removed the body from my sidecar and trasported another motorcycle strapped to the frame over 100 miles. That would have been pretty difficult if I didn't have the combination. I had my insurance through Progressive. They considered the sidecar as an accessory valued around $1000 so it didn't change my premium. If it was a much more expensive sidecar they may have increased my comprehensive a little. They are not safe. Depending on which side the car is on it might be easy to turn one way and nearly impossible to steer the other. If you don't do it right your bike will just keep plowing on almost in the same direction despite the fact that your steering is cranked to one side. It takes a while to learn what the heck to do in a panic situation. Your first thought is to counter steer but that just sends you in the wrong direction. Your next intuition is to steer out of the way. Be careful you don't flip it when doing that. Hard braking is a chore unless you have a side brake on the sidecar's wheel. Accelleration is also not very linear. When you are accelleration or slowing the sidecar wants to keep doing what it was doing before. When you are cruising down the road it wants to pull the bike all over the road and shake the handlebars out of your grips. I've never had more fun
- Sidecars are hard to find used, but usually aren't expensive. They do not really affect insurance rates too much. The bad thing about sidecars is that they hold the motorcycle at an exact angle. This causes the tire to wear more at one spot in the tread. Basically if you add a sidecar and then decide to take it off you'll need new tires. Most people add them and never take them off because of this. That is why they're harder to find.
- try texassidecars.com
