Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125877
Yo , ho , yo, ho, a cruisin' Main St re et we ' ll go .
Looks pretty good for a mangy o ld b ird .
Soaring oria.n Albatross:
Get three for two when you go sidehacking with your honey.
By Dav Pauli
"You only live twice:
On ce wh en yo u are born
And once wh en you loo k d eath in th e face. "
When James Bond co mpose d the above ha iku , I
wonder if he wasn't th inking abo u t rid ing a side-hack
rig ?
T hanks to th e nice pe ople at Ho nda West in
Minneapolis, my wife, J ud y and I recently had th e
unusual opportuni ty of t a king a fi ve-hund red mil e
weekend jaunt o n a sidecar equipped m otorcycle . This
was o ur first experienc e with a sidecar, an d I must
ad mit , we wer e apprehensive.
The bi ke, a Honda CB 75 0 K4 and th e Eagle side car
combin ed to make an impressive unit , which th e Honda
West sa les manager had dubbed " Alb at ross. "
Af t er a thorough bri efin g o n the pe culi ari ties of
controlling a sidecar and a pract ice ru n aro und a few
block s , I was bid bo n-voyage an d sent on m y scary way.
A sidecar ce rtai nly -ma kes a di ffer en ce in t he way a bike
handles !
Riding solo in city traffic is really a th rill, Every mo ve
Hiya, toots. What's up? No cold legs inside the sidecar .
requires a co nscious effo r t. and the sidecar nev er lets
yo u forget it 's t here. At sp eeds un der 3 0 MPH yo u
experience a mild wobble. You can 't make smal l st eering
co rrection s by balan ce, so the rake and trail do it for
you. R ight hand t urns m ust be made wit h care or the
third wheel will come up and you could easily "high
side. " Left handers pose a di ffer en ce problem. You have
to tum the bars fu rther th an ordi nari ly and t he fro nt
wheel wants to ho p in a straigh t line. T o co mpensa te
you must apply the fro n t br a ke lightly to tr ans fer so me
weight to the front, tum the bars hard to th e left , and
gas it. Accelerat ion and d eceler ati on we re, to my
su rp rise , not noticeably affec ted.
On e th in g ' ( did notice was th at everybody else
noticed th e bik e. Every o ne was lo ok ing , not just those
wh o usu all y check o ut th e fancy cus t o ms or th e late st
superbik es. I g uess an o utla w jus t co ul d n 't ride
somethin g that cu te. Lo t 's of smi les, an d get th is, every
car th at p assed us in ove r five hundred mil es of riding gave
us a full lan e - t hat 's charisma.
After I picked Judy up an d began to ca lm down , (I
ca n' t say I relaxed), I slowly be gan to re aliz e th at, with a
passenge r , I d idn ' t have to han g off o n curves or slo w
d o wn as m uch . It was sti ll wor k steerin g, though, and
. after thi rty miles or so m y arms wer e pretty tir ed.
Before th e weekend was over I was co nfiden t enough
to ride a distance with the sidecar off the ground, wh ich
was the only t ime it ac t ually behaved like a mo torcycle.
Being a passen ger in the sidecar is interestin g too. T he
first thing one n o tices is a sensation of absol ute
helplessness. Once you've res igned yo ursel f to th is, you
start to notice ho w comfortable you are. T he seat is
m uch better than the passenger hal f of a bike seat, an d
t he car rides well , except ove r the lar ger bum ps. The
windshield on t his mod el is curved a litt le too mu ch and
causes so me t ur bulance righ t about whe re yo u breathe,
but it does kee p th e rain off, (except fo r t he spra y from
th e bi ke's fr ont tire ). O nce the excite men t wears off the
ride bec omes a little boring. You lac k the in ti macy of
ridi ng tandem. Judy napped for abo ut t wo hours on the
return trip.
The car has a su rprising amoun t o f roo m inside . We
ca m pe d o ut o ne night an d had space for all the ne cessary
equipment with out sa crific ing passenger co m fo rt . We
consider ed usi n g th e car fo r a fishi n g boat , but neither of
us wanted to ro w.
We reali zed th irty- fi ve mil es to th e gallon, driving
s ixty wh er eve r possible - not to o shabb y. We th ro ughly
enjoyed Albatro ss, and wish eve ryone could try hacking.
•
Who kn ows, you may like it be tter than m o tocross?
A wheelie! Gas it up! Jump a canyon!
J
::l