Daniel Scarpinato’s “Political Notebook” in this morning’s Star reports that Congresswoman Giffords is co-sponsoring a resolution to support Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.
He fails to note that in addition to the gaily-painted scooter/sidecar combination that graces a living room she is also a serious BMW rider. My wife and I have taken many a Sunday ride with her. She’s an excellent rider, although I don’t imagine she has much time for it now.
Here’s her wonderful old “toaster bike” a 750 cc BMW R75/5. (Called a toaster because of the chrome side panels on the tank.)
I’m off tomorrow for what I try to make an annual ride…the 12th Annual Death Valley Daze. The Daze is a motorcycle rally that attracts riders who are, for the most part, from the Southwest, although one year a hardy rider rode out from Florida. Some will stay at the Furnace Creek Lodge, but the real rally goers (the purists) will camp---on the grounds that if you ain’t camping you ain’t at the rally.
A week or so ago the night-time temperatures dropped into the low twenties, which was pretty appalling, but it looks now that days will be close to 70 and the nights in the low 30s. The advantage of taking the hack is that I can haul enough gear to camp like King Farouk: Extra sleeping bag, folding chair, plenty of cooking gear, and extra down to wear around the camp site in the morning.
Death Valley is my favorite scenic spot in the Southwest…even in mid summer, when the bike can get so hot that you can't touch the brake and clutch levers with your bare hands. I’m looking forward to sitting around the campfire with old (and I do mean old) friends, kicking lies and telling tires. 
A "Merry...Whatever" to each and all, among whom I include: Mike, Ted, Lisa, George Tuttle, Matt, Kralmajales, Sirocco and all the other commenters and bloggers (left and right) who have made the year's jiggery-bloggery so much fun.
If you decide to get into hacking my guess is that the most cost-effective way of doing that is to buy Russian Iron…that is, a complete Ural outfit, bike and sidecar, sold as a unit.
It may also be the least aggravating. Why? Because mating a sidecar to most modern motorcycles requires that you build, or buy and install, some type of sub-frame. Few contemporary motorcycles have what used to be called a full cradle frame. Today the engine is part of the frame and that offers fewer mounting points for the sidecar.
I sometimes refer to the Ural as the greatest motorcycle of 1943, but I really like these outfits. The Ural is a Russian copy of the WW II German BMW military hack. When the Urals were first imported, only the sidecars themselves were brought into the country. Full outfits, bike and car, came in later. The story of the Ural factory and the history of the bikes can be read at the official web site. link
The first outfits to come to the United States were, um..well, quality control challenged. Each year has seen improvements. Fit and Finish is excellent; engine size has been boosted to 750cc; new alternator; new carbs; electronic ignition. The bikes are constantly being improved and I don’t think a new buyer has much to worry about.
The current crop of Ural owners seems to be having a great time with their hacks, in large measure because of their boon-docking capabilities. Irbit Motorworks of America took bikes to Death Valley and filmed the hacks on some pretty gnarly desert trails. (Irbit, incidentally is the town in Russia where the bikes are made.) Take a look. link (This download is slow)
The military hack, although considered by the American armed forces, never caught on. Something better came along, the Jeep. The Russians are still promoting the Ural as having useful military applications. Here’s a clip from a longer promotional film. link (
Slow Download)
In a little over forty-five years of motorcycling I have almost always owned two bikes, a solo bike and a hack. A hack, of course, is a motorcycle with an attached sidecar. This is sometimes also referred to as an “outfit.” You can see a tiny picture of my current outfit in my profile over in the right panel. The bike is a BMW K1200RS. It is very fast.
Sidecarists (say, sigh-DECK-a-rists) are generally looked down on, or askance at, by solo bikers. The attitude of the lookers-down is either pitying or condescending.
The pitiers: “Poor old Bill got married and lumbered with rug rats. The poor guy’s old lady made him tie a tub to his motorcycle and now all he can do is putt around the neighborhood.”
The condescenders: “You got to hand it to gramps. He’s still out there in the wind, even though he’s too old and feeble to ride a real bike any more.”
We tend to get the sideways look from bikers who tried siDECarism once with less than satisfactory results. “Geeze, I tried one of those things once and it scared the #%*& out of me.” There’s a reason for that response, which we’ll examine later.
Sidecar driving is one of the great motorsports. It is both very different from two-wheel biking and at the same time very like it. Working a hack at speed along a looping mountain road can be a real challenge and great fun.
Sidecaring has changed a lot over the years. The current Grand Prix racing sidecar is pretty exotic, and the racing competition is between two-man teams, which you’ll see, in the following clip.
1000cc engines and top speeds of 170 miles per hour. We don need no stinkeen stock cars. (Click)
Sometimes the bear eats you and sometimes you eat the bear! In this case Pima County motorcyclists have eaten the bear. A story in the Arizona Daily Star reports that we’ll no longer have to take scoots for emissions testing.
In all the years they’ve been testing here in Tucson my bikes have never failed the test. I’m glad to be free of the pointless trip half way across town.
While The Data Point takes a holiday vacation from politics we’ll be posting about motorcycles in a series called “A Little Something on The Side.”
