I've been adventure touring non-stop since 1982 and I've ridden
extensively through more than a hundred countries in 1988 I travelled overland
from Colombia to Panama through the infamous Darien Gap. I've written one book
speak four languages and spend five to six months a year riding the world I'm
Helga Pedersen and this is my sidecar rig.
hi I'm Helge and this is Big Red, the sidecar I have been riding all for the
last year and if you stick around I will teach you a little more about the
sidecar adventure riding and we'll even gonna go and visit the workshop that
designed and created Big Red.
The first time I saw a sidecar that I really want to ride was in Norway during
the Crystall Rally I think was in the early eighties it was like minus 30
degrees and I was just hanging on from my dear life on my R80 GS BMW and
here comes this guy passing me with a sidecar just sliding around the corners
at all I have to try that and I did. I tried it. it was crazy. I slide all over
the place but it was really fun. I run a company called Globe Riders and we do
tours all over the world. some of my clients have been riding side cars. I've been
looking at it and it looked like wow that's a lot of work and stuff but I
tell you I knew that one day I have to try this. the biggest attraction for me
is the way to get in connection with people. it really have opened my eyes and
opened the world in a way. when you come with that sidecar. you know, as a
motorcyclist, people normally say hello but not everybody. on a sidecar everybody.
well it's something romantic I think with the sidecar that people associate
with it. so I knew I wanted a sidecar and I kind of knew what sidecar I wanted I
wanted that boxer BMW. I tried that Ural. I've seen the Ural. I actually been to
the Ural factory in Irbit,Russia great bike in their own ways but not for
me it's too slow too many mechanical problems and I wanted something that had
the horsepower and the speed that I like to go with I've seen the other guys they
were always struggling with the power and they're wearing out the clutch you
dry clutch this new water-cooled BMWs have wet clutch that was very good
it have 125 horsepower people say overkill well you tow a big tub on
the side you need all the help you can you have cruise control stupid
things like that but it really it's nice so I have a personal rule I have a limit
of two bikes in my garage I don't need more than two bikes.
I do tours all over the world one is always gone in a container or when I'm
out riding it and the other one sit at home waiting for me then I decided I
was going to have a sidecar bike so one of the bikes became a sidecar by
I were excited to find out that one of the best sidecar builders in the country
is just a couple of hours ride away from home so one thing that really
intrigued me with the DMC was to set up here so Jay can you tell a little
bit how that works? well this is our electric trim and what it does is it
raises or lowers the upper shock pickup point which raises or lowers the sidecar
suspension to trim for load and road conditions which will lower your
steering effort in and help you maintain a straight line just the press over the
button and I could straighten myself out and I did this, I don't know,
hundreds of times during the day. They're just like trim tabs ona boat or an
airplane. yeah
so what's interesting about this bike, these wheels are interchangeable. all
three wheels on this motorcycle interchange we're actually running an
original rear wheel on the front which involved building a custom hub that you
bolt the wheel on then you bolt five spacers that pass through the wheel then
you Bolt on an adapter on then you bolt on a pair of Ducati brake rotors then you
bolt in adapter on then you bought the ABS tone ring on then you put it all
together with a longer axle which sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but it
certainly beats walking when you get a flat tire we've got an automotive wheel
on the back which is done with an adapter that can be taken off so the
original wheel will still go on and in the case of the sidecar he's currently
running a BMW wheel but our hub also has a bolt pattern on it that allows you to
put an automotive wheel on it so well he has an automotive wheel on the back of
the bike that could have easily been put on the sidecar as well and this allows
you to carry one spare that'll fit all three positions or if you notice the
treads getting a little thin on one of the tires the sidecar tire is just more
or less along for the ride and some times have been known to dry rot before
you ever wear it out in order to ride a sidecar bike here in Washington state
you have to have an endorsement so I went to a two days course and I think it
was the best investment of time and money that I ever did. the sidecar bike
is a completely different animal from a solo bike. a two-wheel single track
motorcycle could be steered entirely like just shifting your body weight
without any input from your hands or from your arms
a sidecar motorcycle cannot be leaned the same way all the steering
force needs to come from your arms and upper body so on the sidecar. if you want to turn
to the right you turn the handle bar to the right just like a car
but you also troll your body over the centrifugal force want you to go off the
road want to go straight but you are working against that to compensate
you'll lean to the right with your body the faster you go the more you need to
lean the more weight you need over to this side if you have a person sitting
here and you have more weight the less you didn't need to lean so if you don't
have enough weight over the sidecar you might end up just flipping over the
sidecar wheel will go up in there and you might flip over it's probably the
most tricky part with a sidecar is the right turn because it has a tendency to
lift off the sidecar making a left-hand turn for a sidecar rider is much easier
than going to the right when you're turning to the left you turn the handle
bar to the left you also put your weight over to the left side but it's not as
critical as if you were turning to the right because you have the sidecar wheel
keeping your steady and it takes very much to flip over the bike while doing a
left-hand turn
and if the sidecar is on the wrong left side of the bike everything is in
Reverse what can I say after a long day on the road and especially on curvy
roads all day you're sitting like this working it and you feel it it's a
workout so I just got my endorsement I got this beautiful new bike and I were
going to go to South America I was a little nervous in the beginning but I
made it all the way 8,000 miles to Tierra del Fuego and I'm really glad I
did we were going on good roads bad roads we will see level up to 14,000
feet I think we did like seven or eight countries from Colombia to Argentina we
encountered all kind of weather we had snow we had blistering hot weather roads
that was incredible difficult we got a lot of wind at parts it was what you
expected an adventure an adventure is not supposed to be an easy thing and
doing it by a sidecar I saw that it was quite different adventure because I had
three wheels I was stable when the other guys were
forming around in the snow I could take picture of them have fun with it
you know I were not gonna fall down but he was also a challenge on the
switchback in Colombia like thousand switchbacks really hard I got strong
after that trip for sure
this last year riding the sidecar has really opened my eyes to new adventures
I will very nervous in the beginning but when I got the hang of it it's really
fun I would still ride my solo bike for the majority of my travels it's much
more flexible than the sidecar and that's my main tool for my trade it's a
big commitment getting a sidecar economically space in the garage but so
do your homework try it out if you have the chance before you commit perhaps I
don't regret it a bit for this last year I had a lot of fun and I know I'm gonna
have more fun into the future riding the world on three wheels just give it a try
it's not gonna hurt hopefully