New Guy

[BPT]

And the car.......

[marcmax]

Nice looking rig. I have an older (1978) Velorex on mine and it pulls easily. I had been thinking of getting a piece of diamond plate to make a step and now that I see it on yours I think I will pull the trigger and make a step. I am also replacing the sidecar wheel. Mine is attached to an R65LS so the wheels are a little different. I found a good deal on an LS front wheel and am going to swap it so all the wheels are the same. I'll lose the sidecar brake but I never hooked mine up anyway.

This is mine.

[BPT]

The brake on mine is hooked up but I am having some issues with that.  Actually, having issues with the rear brake on the bike.  Getting a few different opinions from people but one guy said he wouldn't bother with the sidecar brake at all since the whole set up is pretty light.  
Before I took it home, Perry was giving me some instruction and I mentioned that there was no rear brake.  Did some adjustments and seemed like everything was OK (he had it with a split between some rear and some sidecar).  Later on, I had a guy help me get it to my house when I bought it and he said "You have no rear brake".  He had it up to pretty high highway speeds.  But even at slow speeds it does feel like I've lost it from the rear again.  Perry said that loosening the sidecar brake would add braking to the rear on the bike.  I haven't had time to play with this but the sidecar brakes do add complications that I didn't expect.  It is cabled and connected to the rear brake pedal, BTW.
I like the windscreen on yours much better than mine and I have been looking into some DIY options of making a shorter one.  I think mine makes it comfortable for a passenger but until I have a regular one over there, I think a shorter one will look better and provide less drag.

[BPT]

As I think that I mentioned, this was all together when I bought it and I have done nothing to it on my own yet except for trying to mount some (already installed but loosely hanging) lights on the bottom/rear of the car.  I like the diamond plate step although I might clean up the edges a bit.  I am also going to find some different bolts, something more flush or lower profile than what was used.

[BPT]

And if you are cutting some diamond plate, there is also another step in between the car and the bike.  You can barely see it from this view here.  They added the steps and also some grip tape and some of the frame tubing.

[suecanada]

I am so impressed with both those rigs!! I usually travel alone so going slow is part of my day anyway and no one else to worry about. LRB the LS and I, when fully loaded, (the bike i.e.! ) headed to Oregon in 2013 and Montana last summer and leisurely seemed to cruise naturally around 63 mph most of the time. Anyway, when I looked down periodically at the speedo on the GPS, 63 seemed to be it more times than not, so LRB and I have agreed on something!!

Do you think a rig like those two would be rarer than hen's teeth to find and buy?

[BPT]

I'm not experienced enough to know about availability but I don't recall see too many in this area during my Craigslist searches.  And that's why I decided to get this one.  I'd originally gone to check on two-wheelers but this was at Perry's during several of my visits and it kind of grew on me.

About the speed thing, when I mentioned my concern about it being underpowered, he told me that 65 is the sweet spot for any sidecar rig and this could handle that with no problem.  I guess that it just takes a little longer to get there though......

Also, I had a guy help me ferry it home when I finally took possession.  I was following in my VW and had trouble keeping up with him in traffic.  He was doing 75+.  Other than the lack of rear brake he said "Great running bike!"

[marcmax]

I haven't had mine over 65 but that is me. There was still plenty of throttle left but it just feels good in the 60-65 mph range. I am no longer in a big hurry to get anywhere.

My biggest thrill is taking it to the grocery store. When the youngster bagging the groceries asks if he can help me out I say sure. When I point out the rig it always gets an ear to ear grin.

[BPT]

Merry's (Perry's wife) exact words were "It's a chick magnet".  Of course, I figured she was just trying to get it out of their shop.  I haven't had women throwing themselves at me yet but I will say that, in the few times I've ridden it around town so far, every time I stopped somewhere in public I had people stop and talk to me about it.
Sometimes just random people, sometimes people that were into bikes.  But every single time, and always positive remarks.

[BPT]

As for the speed, I won't be getting it over 65 mph anytime soon for sure.  But it was nice to have someone experienced stomp on it and see that it will do that.  It feels sluggish to me but now I know for sure that it's just my inexperience with it.