[Texan]

Something I have to share. Rode down to South East Texas this past weekend and picked up my new Spalding sidecar. Love it. Have to do a little tweeking to the ride but over all I'm very, very happy. As several of you know my GF has MS and loves to ride behind me but gets tired fast. This was the best thing I could have done. A trike was out of the question and a HD sidecar is a pain for me to get in and out of much less trying to do it without the use of my legs.

Roger, the owner, is an upright guy and great to do business. Bends over backward to help and make sure you're happy. Also found out they were installing 2 of their sidecars for Jay Leno in Calif this past weekend. Must say Jay has good taste too.. !!! LoL!!

o~\o

 

[Woody72]

Very sweet! Looks great!

 

[claydbal]

those are nice. you get any low speed headshake with it?

 

[sonoffatboy]

Something I have to share. Rode down to South East Texas this past weekend and picked up my new Spalding sidecar. Love it. Have to do a little tweeking to the ride but over all I'm very, very happy. As several of you know my GF has MS and loves to ride behind me but gets tired fast. This was the best thing I could have done. A trike was out of the question and a HD sidecar is a pain for me to get in and out of much less trying to do it without the use of my legs.

Roger, the owner, is an upright guy and great to do business. Bends over backward to help and make sure you're happy. Also found out they were installing 2 of their sidecars for Jay Leno in Calif this past weekend. Must say Jay has good taste too.. !!! LoL!!

o~\o

nice lines to it...occasionally ride with a guy in his 70's and he has the moco hack for his ultra...i know on the twisties he has to muscle it ..but overall he can run with the big dogs...his lady is pretty big ..basically he would have a hard time holding them both up on the bike..so both are now in comfort...(she loves riding in it...and always carries a little bottle of xxx to sip on too ...and no one notices! )...

 

[Woody72]

I was at a cruise night a few years back and saw a bike with a sidecar. I gave a quick look as I walked by...then about 3 or 4 bikes later I realized something was different about it. I walked back and looked again, but still couldn't figure it out. Then I realized...the bike had no handle bars on it...they were in the sidecar. So the passenger would sit on the bike...and the rider (driver?) would control it from the side car. It was pretty wild.

 

[Rdubu]

Looks real good! whats something like that set you back?, PM me if you dont want to post it,

 

[Texan]

Looks real good! whats something like that set you back?, PM me if you don't want to post it,

The basic pricing for the base unit is $7495.00 delivered and installed. There are all kinds of options i.e. full sized HD luggage rack, seat lap belt, fender tip light, heritage fender light, Dunlop D402 tire and so on. But like I said in my original post Roger will bend over backwards to create the sidecar you want at a fair price.

I did about 6 months of research before contacting Roger. One thing I liked about the Spalding car was the full sized Harley wheel, not some small 13" tire and the sprung suspension. But the big selling point for me was the ease of access for the GF.

I was able to save some $$$$ by living fairly close (580 miles) and being able to have it installed at the factory.

o~\o

 

[Chickenman]

Tex that sidecar looks sharp. Just where in SE Texas is their factory? I live N of Beaumont and would like to maybe go and look at their trailers.

 

[Divertim]

Looks great!

 

[Jeepin_Lawyer]

That is sharp! Looks like great quality.

 

[Moxi]

That looks fantastic! I opened the thread thinking I was going to see an old, but cool, hack. Thats a pretty stunning combo if you ask me.
And youre a real doll for doing this for your g/f. Shes blessed to have ya!

 

[Texan]

Tex that sidecar looks sharp. Just where in SE Texas is their factory? I live N of Beaumont and would like to maybe go and look at their trailers.

Chickenman, shoot an arrow straight North of ya toward Nacogdoches and you've got it. All of their stuff is custom built for each customer order so they really don't have inventory. BUT it would be well worth a trip up to meet Roger and the guys. I'd give Roger a call and plan a trip. Hey, plan a trip up the first weekend of the month, visit Spalding Sidecar and take the OL, SO, GF to Trader Days flea market in Canton. That's what we did, walked my a$$ off but had a great time.

I related to a friend I use to ride with when I lived out in Washington State that it's kinda like an older Rolls Royce...each one handmade to order.

o~\o

 

[gdkenoyer]

btw, here is the website for Spalding.

 

[toybox99615]

Learn to fly

As one who also has a hack I remind you of the necessity to learn how to fly the car. There are some definite tricks to driving a sidecar rig. Some of those you do not want to learn as you come off the interstate and find you go from steering by turning the front wheel in the direction of the turn to the conventional bike steering.


http://sidecar.com/ is a good place to visit. There are a few good articles regarding how to drive a side car. Note: I say drive and not ride.


I've had a hack for a few year. I don't drive it enough but I love it.

Last year I noticed at Sturgis a substantial number of side car owners. Seems like the country might be headed back to the 30s and 40s where there were almost as many sidecar bikes as standard bikes.

 

[CrazyHawk26]

Texan,
That’s the best looking side car rig I’ve seen! Please keep us informed on your experience with the Spalding sidecar. Spoke to Roger and I’m considering adding one to my StreetGlide so my German Sheppard (140lbs) can ride around with my wife and I  How is the handling and did you rake the trees?

 

[route66paul]

Something I have to share. Rode down to South East Texas this past weekend and picked up my new Spalding sidecar. Love it. Have to do a little tweeking to the ride but over all I'm very, very happy. As several of you know my GF has MS and loves to ride behind me but gets tired fast. This was the best thing I could have done. A trike was out of the question and a HD sidecar is a pain for me to get in and out of much less trying to do it without the use of my legs.

Roger, the owner, is an upright guy and great to do business. Bends over backward to help and make sure you're happy. Also found out they were installing 2 of their sidecars for Jay Leno in Calif this past weekend. Must say Jay has good taste too.. !!! LoL!!

o~\o

Did you do the tripple tree change for the trail? As i understand it, most motorcycles should do it, but that the HD touring platform wrrks pretty well with out the modification.

 

[newultraclassic]

I also like sidecars. Yours looks like a very nice rig.

I recently purchased and installed a new Harley TLE sidecar on my 2004 Ultra. It came with all of the necessary parts and fittings and it handles nicely. It uses a steering damper and that's always been enough for this one and the two previous Harley-Davidson sidecars that I've owned.

I did change the gearing to 3.37:1 which is beneficial for the sidecar. I always thought that my bike was geared too high as a solo with 3.15:1 so this is good for either use.

I have the lowers for the bike but I have to paint the new right side lower since I got it on eBay for the sidecar. The sidecar came paint-matched to my 2004 Ultra from the factory. .



Here are pictures of my rig.

Happy Trails.

 

[Texan]

Texan,
That’s the best looking side car rig I’ve seen! Please keep us informed on your experience with the Spalding sidecar. Spoke to Roger and I’m considering adding one to my StreetGlide so my German Sheppard (140lbs) can ride around with my wife and I  How is the handling and did you rake the trees?

LoL!!! The GF was off shopping yesterday with the girls SO I took Scooter, my 110# Rott for a ride. He LOVED it. Kept looking at me as if to say "hey, run by the pet shelter one more time".... LoL!! AM going to get one of those pet-seat belt restraints and put on him in the car 'til he get use to riding in it. He kept looking like he was going to jump out, but never did.

As far as riding with the side car. It's quite a learning curve from just riding. You're more, if you will, driving. I've been taking it out every day and just riding around town, getting use to it. I'm also reading thru the stuff toybox99615 refers to in his post from US Sidecar Assoc. Turns are tricky...And you use the front brake and downshifting more than just riding. But all in all it's fun. And if you're hiding from anybody forget it. Everybody notices you and the sidecar. Like you said, "it's a good look'n rig".

The one thing that I'm going to pass on to Roger is adding some kind of mirror to the right side of the sidecar. I took several gals for a ride the other night and thats one of the first things/comments they made. Sure would be nice to have a mirror on that side. LoL!!! and another, who rides her own StreetGlide, kept saying "I'm not in control, I'm not in control".. LoL!!

I did NOT put the 6 degree tree on my Ultra. I do a couple 6-8,000 rides a year and plan to take the sidecar off (30 minute job) of the Ultra for those rides. Even though I do have another bike (FXDL) to ride but not on long hauls. With a 6 degree tree, I've been told, riding without the car the bike becomes a squirrel... Don't know this for a fact but was I was told.

Also, am putting together a complete rear tire assembly (wheel, sprocket and brake disk) to put on the Ultra WHEN I'm riding without the sidecar. Pulling the sidecar the rear tire is going to get flat in the middle of the tire because you DON'T lean anymore thus you run ONLY on the center tread of the tire. Have been told by a couple people that the bike will ride a little funny. Might not be a problem but with a complete rear setup I can change it out in less than 20 minutes.

So far...Love the Spalding..!!!

o~\o

 

[Texan]

.....I recently purchased and installed a new Harley TLE sidecar on my 2004 Ultra. It came with all of the necessary parts and fittings and it handles nicely. It uses a steering damper and that's always been enough for this one and the two previous Harley-Davidson sidecars that I've owned.

I did change the gearing to 3.37:1 which is beneficial for the sidecar. I always thought that my bike was geared too high as a solo with 3.15:1 so this is good for either use.

Good look'n rig NewUltraClassic. I looked a the HD car but the GF can't get in and out of it. Thus the reason I went with the Spalding with the clam shell entry/exit.

Have been thinking about changing the sprocket gearing like you did. So far the gearing hasn't really be a problem.

Have also looked into getting a steering damper but the one that HD has affixes to the sidecar support rails which are pretty high vs the Spalding.

o~\o

 

[newultraclassic]

I did NOT put the 6 degree tree on my Ultra. I do a couple 6-8,000 rides a year and plan to take the sidecar off (30 minute job) of the Ultra for those rides. Even though I do have another bike (FXDL) to ride but not on long hauls. With a 6 degree tree, I've been told, riding without the car the bike becomes a squirrel... Don't know this for a fact but was I was told.

Yes, that's true. Changing the triple trees to change trail for a sidecar will make the bike almost unmanageable if you later ride it solo. It's sort of one or the other. They are supposed to handle much better as a sidecar with the modified triple trees but for me, the steering damper is just fine.

Also, changing triple trees on a Harley is a miserable job and not something that can easily be undone. That fact coupled with the usual price of around $850 is enough to stop me.

NUC