Hey Y’all

[Bluesman]

I’m new to this forum. I inherited my Dad’s 79 Yamaha XS 11 with the Terraplane Sidecar. My XS 11 friend is putting it back together for me. It all was a basket case since my Brother in law got his hands on it before I rescued it. It’s a mess, but my buddy says “no problem”. I just hope all the sidecar bits and parts are still there. I’m almost 72 and the sidecar is basically going to function as a training wheel for me because I don’t think I could pick the bike up if it ever fell over. I’m looking forward to giving my 99 yo mom a ride in it. Her and my Dad went on many trips with it back in the 80’s. Thanks for letting me in this forum.

 

[KGBnut]

Just remember, that training wheel makes it really stable turning in one direction, and extra tricky turning in the other direction. Still, quite a treat once you get used to it.

 

[Bluesman]

Just remember, that training wheel makes it really stable turning in one direction, and extra tricky turning in the other direction. Still, quite a treat once you get used to it.

Thank you. Which direction is the tricky one?

 

[Larry Fine]

Which direction is the tricky one?

Turning toward the sidecar tends to lift it.

 

[KGBnut]

Thank you. Which direction is the tricky one?

To expand on what Larry said, when turning away from the sidecar the extra wheel acts like an outrigger. It makes for a very stable platform. You can power through a turn. When turning toward the sidecar, if you are too aggressive, that wheel will come up off the ground, and it is very easy to flip the whole thing over. People that are really good at it can turn just enough to barely lift it off the ground to make a tight turn. This is referred to a "flying the chair."

Folks that are learning are encouraged to put 50-100 lbs (potatoes, sandbags, etc...) in the empty hack until the get really used to it.

Just a quick primer on sidecar terminology:

The sidecar is often referred to as a "hack"
The bike with the hack attached is usually referred to as a "rig".
You don't ride a sidecar rig, you "drive" it (although you also sometimes hear the word "pilot" but to me that is all motorcycles).
The person riding the in hack is the "monkey."

Spend some time. Do some reading. I don't have a tremendous amount of experience with sidecar rigs, but they are a lot of fun. Oh, and go on YouTube an look up "sidecar racing." You will see some crazy stuff, especially sidecar monkeys at the competitive level.