High performance side car installation on an FJR:
pictures start here.
FWIW - From the New York Times:
April 30, 2004
DRIVING; Not So Sedate: Sidecars Fitted for Speed
By GEORGE P. BLUMBERG
ROGER SYMINGTON is an apostle of speed who preaches a gospel of going faster on three wheels than most people can on four -- especially around corners.
Mr. Symington's vehicle of choice: a high-performance motorcycle sidecar (in his case, a Dutch-made EML), propelled by his hopped-up 172-horsepower Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird. ''I especially want younger people to get interested in how extremely near the edge sidecars can perform,'' said Mr. Symington, a 61-year-old retired van customizer from Hemmingford, Quebec. ''I ask them what kind of ride they want. Just a ride, or a real ride.''
Motorcycle sidecars aren't often thought of as thrill machines. More often they are seen as the middle-aged biker's accessory, added on for a nonbiking spouse, the luggage or even a pet. Indeed, Hal Kendall, a Houston-based sidecar authority and a co-founder of the United Sidecar Association, estimates there are as many as 100,000 traditional sidecars on American roads, but fewer than 200 high-performance rigs. ''On two or four wheels, if you see a 30 or 40 m.p.h. speed limit sign on curves, you always think you can beat it by 10 or 20 m.p.h.,'' he said. ''On a conventional sidecar, don't try, unless you know racing techniques.''
High-performance rigs, in contrast, ''dig in,'' corner flat, and grab the road. They mate to the motorcycle with more sophisticated suspensions. And the rig's tires and wheels are switched to a wider automotive type to better grip the road. With specially modified hub steering, the motorcycle wheel also turns the sidecar wheel (a conventional sidecar is just pulled along). The motorcycle is often a high-performance sport bike putting out close to 200 horsepower.
The result: ''It's like flying an aerobatic airplane without the wings,'' said Hal Walters, 53, a human resources manager at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who flies planes in his spare time. Mr. Symington recently blasted him around the hairpin curves and bends of Route 276 and the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Smoky Mountains. ''I'd guess we were pulling one and a half G's or more in turns,'' Mr. Walters said. ''And I'm used to acceleration, but nothing like this.''
According to Mr. Kendall, sidecars date to the early 1900's, before inexpensive automobiles came on the market, and were used to add passenger room to the family motorcycle. Today, he said, they are mostly recreational. The high-performance models generally come from Europe, where they were developed for rally racing, and cost $16,000 or more -- which does not include getting the kit mounted on the motorcycle, a job that entails swapping wheels and suspension parts on the cycle for new ones, then hooking up the electrical, steering and braking systems. That can run as much as $3,500.
For Doug Miller, it was worth it. In 1993, Mr. Miller, a former motorcycle racing champion who had suffered a spine injury (unrelated to the sport) that meant he could not use his legs to balance on a bike or work foot controls, was taken for a ride in one of Mr. Symington's sidecar rigs and declared, ''I've got to get one. If you hear of a series of bank robberies by a guy in a wheelchair, it's me.'' Now he has a high-tech French RDS Neptune sidecar with an '03 Suzuki GSXR 1300 Hayabusa motorcycle, originally capable of more than 180 miles per hour. With the sidecar for stability and using special hand controls, Mr. Miller is renowned now as a top rider in the sidecar world.
Sam Burg and his family -- wife, Vicky; son, Zach, 6; and daughter, Madeleine, 12 -- approach high-performance sidecars differently. ''I've had bikes since I was 12,'' said Dr. Burg, 49, a children's dentist in Santa Maria, Calif., ''but with a family, there was no way to share motorcycling.''
He decided to get a two-person high-performance rig. But his is no stripped-down racer. Instead, he has an Armec, a Swiss-built luxury sidecar with plush seating, a hand-finished interior, trunk, reading lights and racing seatbelts. To pull it he has a BMW K 1200 LT, a big, comfortable touring machine, with antilock brakes and reverse gear. None of it came cheap. ''The motorcycle alone cost about $22,000 and the sidecar, with all the paint and options, about $28,000,'' Dr. Burg said. ''But I know we have the best. And it corners like a Porsche.''
The Burgs have put about 3,500 miles of family outings on their rig, the two children in the sidecar, Mom and Dad on the BMW, and everyone communicating through helmet intercoms. ''Everyone loves it,'' Dr. Burg said. ''We carpool at school. We go for ice cream with it, use it for errands. When Zach goes to the skateboard park, we throw his board in the sidecar and he jumps on back of the bike.''
And the only thing better than having one sidecar on the block, say fans, is having two. After getting a ride in his neighbor Ralph Gerkens's screaming yellow Side-Bike Comanche attached to a Yamaha FJ1200 motorcycle (the entire rig formerly owned Mr. Symington), Jay Hall, of Lexington, Ky., bought a used rig for himself. Recently he added to his fleet a new French RDS Neptune sidecar with a Yamaha FJR1300 bike, which Mr. Gerkens helped him hook up. Though the whole setup cost him more than $25,000, Mr. Hall figures he is saving money on the deal. ''It's like a Ferrari for only $30,000,'' he said. ''The wind in your hair, the power, and the way the suspension handles a twisty road is unbelievable. It can do 60 on roads where you should only be doing 30. You never have to slow down.''
Unless, of course, the police ask you to. But even that can be negotiated, it seems. Mr. Gerkens's wife, Viki, remembers a ride through Western Kentucky in their rig, when they sped through one town's 35 m.p.h. zone considerably faster than the speed limit. ''The officer pulled us over,'' she said, but didn't get around to writing a ticket. ''He wanted to look the sidecar over.''
