Quick Ride

QUICK RIDE

HARLEY FLHTC SIDECAR Entertainment on three wheels

FIRST THINGS FIRST: THIS IS not a motorcycle. An alternate form of transportation, yes. A delightful anachronism, perhaps. A threewheeled excuse to party, definitely. But it is not a motorcycle, which, as it turns out, is perfectly okay.

Harley-Davidson churns out some 500 sidecars a year at its Tomahawk plant in northern Wisconsin, the same place the company’s fairings and saddlebags are made. The ’92-model sidecar is essentially identical

to the ones turned out since the mid-’70s, and features a steeltube frame, leaf-spring suspension and third-wheel drum brake. Ours had optional stereo speakers and trim upgrades, which brought its cost to about $5200. The one-person sidecar can be attached to any Harley FLH Big Twin and to several of the FXR models; ours was bolted to an FLHTC Electra Glide Ultra Classic, itself with a $14,959 price tag. That adds up to a not-inconsiderable $20,000-plus for the rig.

What a Harley sidecarist gets for his bale of money is a curious mix of pluses and minuses.

On the down side is the detrimental effect that attaching a third wheel and 315 pounds of metal, plastic and fiberglass has on the handling and performance of the host motorcycle. Trying to hustle an empty sidecar along a curvy secondary road will give you a whole new appreciation of vehicular dynamics. First, you’ll notice how heavy the rig’s steering is; forearms get a workout Popeye would be proud of. Next, lefthand turns, where the sidecar wheel acts as an outrigger, don’t pose much of a challenge-unless you’re really cranking, in which case the front end gets light and starts oscillating as it attempts to wash out. But right-handers are another story. Without a payload in the chair, it wants to lift in right turns, easily and alarmingly. Slowing down is the cure, but even so, the dreaded offcamber right-hand turn is to be avoided like an ex-wife.

Adding ballast to the sidecar is recommended. We applied 150 pounds of passenger and cocker spaniel, and that helped matters considerably, though the outfit’s acceleration, already in the VW Microbusclass, further slows, and fuel mileage drops into the mid-20s during spirited rides.

But criticisms of handling and performance are moot here. More so than any vehicle this side of a Mister Softee icecream truck, a sidecar seems to be universally appreciated: It’s like riding around in your own one-float parade. Eighteenwheelers toot their horns, senior citizens point, kids wave, guys give the thumps-up sign and women... well, the late, great Henry N. Manney III, urbane writer for both Cycle World and Road & Track, once called the Jaguar E-type convertible “the greatest crumpet catcher known to man.” Apparently, Henry never got a chance to sample a Harley-Davidson with sidecar.

David Edwards