Sidecar Delay Factor: Please tell us YOUR experience(s)

[ClearwaterBMW]

over at www.sovietsteeds.com
the UDF or "Ural Delay Factor" thread is probably the longest and, quite frankly, most enjoyable to read
but....
we know that ANY sidecar is a "conversation piece."
so, as my rig is only 3-5 days away from its home, please tell us about YOUR "Sidecar Delay Factor" experience(s)

a bit more about UDF:
http://rumbum.com/565-going-anywhere...?reply_to=5036

as always, thanks in advance

[TebKLR]

Anytime you stop for something (gas, groceries, picking up the kiddies at school, etc)
Parking at work
Stop lights
Coffee shops
McDonalds
Just about all the time

Sidecars are not for anti-social types. People really dig them in a way that is nothing like their lack of appreciation of (or aprehension of) 2-wheeled motorcycles.

[ClearwaterBMW]

Originally Posted by TebKLR

Anytime you stop for something (gas, groceries, picking up the kiddies at school, etc)
Parking at work
Stop lights
Coffee shops
McDonalds
Just about all the time

Sidecars are not for anti-social types. People really dig them in a way that is nothing like their lack of appreciation of (or aprehension of) 2-wheeled motorcycles.

i appreciate your post
i hope that a few others will tell their tales here
thank you

[windmill]

A few of the more interesting UDF's

A RV full of coed's on spring break at a stoplight begging me to pull over so they could get a picture of Taffy and I.

A couple of 1%er patch holders at a gas station asking questions, showing genuine interest and declaring Urals as "cool".

The elderly Russian gentleman who rode one when he was in the military.

The promoters of a antique tractor pull and show asking me to park just inside the main entrance gate.

The manager of the Home Depot who didn't believe that it was possible to safely carry a dozen 2X4's and 4 bags of cement on a motorcycle.

Getting a thumbs up from the chain enforcement officers on I-90's Snoqualmie pass.

The flagger lady at a road construction stop who gave Taffy some treats while we waited.

The little boy who asked me if I was Indiana Jones.

The soccer mom with kids in tow asking if they can pet "Grommet".

The proprietors of a Christmas tree farm asking permission to use a picture of our Ural carrying our tree on their home page.

The look of pure joy on a developmentally disabled child's face after a ride around a parking lot, and the tears in his parents eyes.

I'm a bit of an introvert so the attention has been a little difficult to get used to, there have been a few weirdos, but for the most part it has been fun.

[ClearwaterBMW]

Originally Posted by windmill

The look of pure joy on a developmentally disabled child's face after a ride around a parking lot, and the tears in his parents eyes.

I'm a bit of an introvert so the attention has been a little difficult to get used to, there have been a few weirdos, but for the most part it has been fun.

well... of course
YOUR post is EXACTLY what i wanted to read
all those examples.... just wonderful
the one i copies above....
well, even if i weren't a pediatrician.... would bring tears to MY eyes
thank you for posting
thank you for mentioning the UDF story about the child
i greatly appreciate it

[Tarka]

I`ve posted my UDF tales ad nauseum and from the title this wasn`t meant to be another UDF Thread but a couple have appeared,so here`s some of my favourites that have happened to me...

The looks of sheer pleasure and amazement on an elderly Russian couple`s faces when they realised I had just parked a Russian bike next to them.
They were staggered to see one in Britain twenty years after they`d left Russia and delighted in reading the Russian stickers I`d fitted from when I was at the Irbit bike show.


A guy who asked me how old my 750 was.
I said "2004"
He angrily replied "Don`t be stupid,it can`t POSSIBLY be two thousand and four years old".
And added......"It`s clearly from the 1950`s"

Once,out on my all green 650,a guy asked if it was a Norton or a BSA.
When I said it was neither,he said that he suspected that was clearly a Matchless!

Next,my absolute fave....from a few years ago now....
A guy came up to me (again on my 750) and said "That`s a nice bike"
I thanked him.
He asked "Who restored that for you"
I replied that it`s not a restoration (remember,guys,it`s a 2004)
He then said "Wow...who built it for you?"
Struggling with this a bit,I just said "It wasn`t quite built for me,but it was built in the Russian Ural factory"
He then asked "How old is it"
I replied that it was two years old (it was,at the time)
Confounded,he asked "How can that possibly be two years old???"
I replied "Because it was built two years ago" and he walked away,growling and shaking his head.

[ChuckS]

I've had 2 really moving UDF experiences. Both were with my first Ural, a green Patrol.

First-
I was in a parking lot gearing up when an old timer came up to me with tears in his eyes. The last time he saw a Ural was 1956. He was a Hungarian partisan. A Ural carried him and 11 others away from the Soviet army, saving their lives.

Second-
A friend of mine asked me to give his father a ride. His father had a stroke some years before and lost the ability to communicate. His mind was fine, but he could only communicate with very simple gestures. He was a Luftwaffe mechanic in WWII and used a BMW sidecar. After the war, he toured Europe by bike before emigrating to Canada and finally the USA.



It was very cool to give him a ride and to watch his eyes light up. It was also cool giving his wife (also very German) a ride. She didn't want to go, she wanted to turn around and go home. At least that what she said when she didn't have a big, silly smile on her face.

[RidingDonkeys]

If only I had thought of a sidecar as a single guy. Misses Donkeys got quite the kick out of that story though, and she loves the new gloves.

[Brain]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

I've had 2 really moving UDF experiences. Both were with my first Ural, a green Patrol.

First-
I was in a parking lot gearing up when an old timer came up to me with tears in his eyes. The last time he saw a Ural was 1956. He was a Hungarian partisan. A Ural carried him and 11 others away from the Soviet army, saving their lives.

Second-
A friend of mine asked me to give his father a ride. His father had a stroke some years before and lost the ability to communicate. His mind was fine, but he could only communicate with very simple gestures. He was a Luftwaffe mechanic in WWII and used a BMW sidecar. After the war, he toured Europe by bike before emigrating to Canada and finally the USA.



It was very cool to give him a ride and to watch his eyes light up. It was also cool giving his wife (also very German) a ride. She didn't want to go, she wanted to turn around and go home. At least that what she said when she didn't have a big, silly smile on her face.

Awesome story.

On a trip through Utah we had a gentleman from Hungry stop to tell us how as kids they fixed up a rig left behind by the Germans.

[ClearwaterBMW]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

I've had 2 really moving UDF experiences. Both were with my first Ural, a green Patrol.

First-
I was in a parking lot gearing up when an old timer came up to me with tears in his eyes. The last time he saw a Ural was 1956. He was a Hungarian partisan. A Ural carried him and 11 others away from the Soviet army, saving their lives.

Second-
A friend of mine asked me to give his father a ride. His father had a stroke some years before and lost the ability to communicate. His mind was fine, but he could only communicate with very simple gestures. He was a Luftwaffe mechanic in WWII and used a BMW sidecar. After the war, he toured Europe by bike before emigrating to Canada and finally the USA.



It was very cool to give him a ride and to watch his eyes light up. It was also cool giving his wife (also very German) a ride. She didn't want to go, she wanted to turn around and go home. At least that what she said when she didn't have a big, silly smile on her face.

i... GREATLY appreciate you relating these stories to us
very emotional stuff... exactly why we are all passionate about our rigs
thank you

[Nuttymopar]

As if a Ural doesn't get enough UDF. I thought I would add a little more to get MORE attention.

[RidingDonkeys]

So yesterday I'm riding home from grabbing the NA Wild Card tag and decided to drop it in a place downtown. I live in a cool little town with a bustling little Main street. I'm riding through, speed limit 20mph, and a couple of high school age girls wave as I pass. My first thought was "why aren't they in school" but I waved and kept on driving. No big deal.

Last night, I needed to run a few errands, and a stop at Michael's for Liquid Stitch was on the agenda. I'm wondering aimlessly thought the store, ATGATT, looking like a fool when a group of teenage girls really start to annoy me. They're talking loud, giggling, and blocking aisles that I need to clear off the lists as suspects. I can navigate a Lowe's blindfolded and drunk, but put me in a crafts store, and I go into full idiot mode.

So I barge thought the roadblock, noticing that one of the girls looked familiar, and eventually find my liquid stitch. After checking out, I start to walk out and find the gaggle of jailbait crowded around Boris the Ural, led by the teenage girl I had waved at earlier in the day. "Oh, shit! I hate teenage girls."

I kind of stand there for a few seconds, pondering my next course of action, thinking to myself that there is no way any of them drove there themselves. Daddy is lurking somewhere, and if I were him, I'd shoot me too.

So I decided to wait out the storm in the grocery store. It turned out to be a perfect excuse to study the beer selection and try something new.

I'll talk to anybody about a Ural, anybody but annoying teenage girls.

[KneeDrachen]

Originally Posted by RidingDonkeys

So yesterday I'm riding home from grabbing the NA Wild Card tag and decided to drop it in a place downtown. I live in a cool little town with a bustling little Main street. I'm riding through, speed limit 20mph, and a couple of high school age girls wave as I pass. My first thought was "why aren't they in school" but I waved and kept on driving. No big deal.

Last night, I needed to run a few errands, and a stop at Michael's for Liquid Stitch was on the agenda. I'm wondering aimlessly thought the store, ATGATT, looking like a fool when a group of teenage girls really start to annoy me. They're talking loud, giggling, and blocking aisles that I need to clear off the lists as suspects. I can navigate a Lowe's blindfolded and drunk, but put me in a crafts store, and I go into full idiot mode.

So I barge thought the roadblock, noticing that one of the girls looked familiar, and eventually find my liquid stitch. After checking out, I start to walk out and find the gaggle of jailbait crowded around Boris the Ural, led by the teenage girl I had waved at earlier in the day. "Oh, shit! I hate teenage girls."

I kind of stand there for a few seconds, pondering my next course of action, thinking to myself that there is no way any of them drove there themselves. Daddy is lurking somewhere, and if I were him, I'd shoot me too.

So I decided to wait out the storm in the grocery store. It turned out to be a perfect excuse to study the beer selection and try something new.

I'll talk to anybody about a Ural, anybody but annoying teenage girls.

ankle bracelet vibrating again???

[RidingDonkeys]

Originally Posted by KneeDrachen

ankle bracelet vibrating again???

How did you know about that? You pick up one girl off a high school field trip and next thing you know you're branded for life....

[DCrider]

like many others, when I had the Ural gas stops were 20min and stoplights full of comments or long stares, kids particularly like to wave. Was lots of fun, but for my riding needs just impracticle so carrying costs not worth it. Maybe get another some day.