Running Errands With the Sidecar

Last night and this morning, I finished working on the lighting for the sidecar. And what do you do after any work on a vehicle, you take if for a "test drive". I had been siphoning gas out of the motorcycle this winter to run the snowblower so I figured I needed to refill the tank rather than have it run out when I least suspected it. After a fair amount of snow the last couple of days, it was nice to have a little sunshine today. This was taken at a turnout with a view of the Alaska Range (too cloudy to see much), and after a lot of running around on back roads, I headed back home. This was on a major road for the area and I was able to easily maintain the speed limit of 50mph. The standard RT gearing is too high and I suspect that fifth will never get used.

I had mentioned in a previous post that I had ordered some LED turn signals and received white instead of amber. Rather than returning them, I just used them on the front of the sidecar. I replaced the windshield mounting bolts with the mounting bolt for the lights. The lights have are on low whenever the bike is running and the light on the right also functions as a right turn signal. I think these lights may help my visibility to other drivers, maybe.

This is my solution for the rear of the sidecar. The amber one near the top is mounted to the sidecar fender and is a marker/running light. The light on the lower right is the stock tail light and continues as such. The large light is mounted to the side car body with the wiring in the trunk and is a tail light, brake light, and right turn signal. I think I still want to add an amber turn signal since I think that the amber ones are a lot more visible. At least at this time of year, I must be more visible due to all the waves, smiles and thumbs up from drivers and pedestrians.

I had many options to keep my hands warm today, the handlebar muffs do a good job keeping the wind off your hands and you may have noticed the elastic band around the grip. This is attached to the muff and keeps it from touching the levers. The openings are large and it's easy to get your hand in and out, something I had to do often as my visor would fog up anytime that I stopped. The heated grips worked too well and I had to turn them off since they were too hot. Maybe I should look for the resister for the "low" setting. Since it was a moderately warm day at 10°F, the gear didn't get a very thorough test.
Only about 30 miles of running around today and the studded tires worked great especially on the snow covered roads. Braking was decent and I still haven't felt any of the low speed wobbling that I've been warned about. Maybe the slick roads mask any instability. Even after only 30 miles, I can still feel that I got some upper body exercise. This may be just what I need to go with all my walking. It is incredibly handy to simply throw stuff into the sidecar. You may notice in the first picture that I have my top box installed. It mounted simply to the Reynolds rear rack like it was made for it. No clamps just bolts into the existing holes with some fender washers.

Posted with Blogsy