I have been very remiss in not thanking Ad Donkers for building me the first Boxer sidecar for the U.S.! He built and shipped a perfect mate to my Triumph Rocket III, combining to make it a fantastic high performance rig. Richard-NL, an inmate here, advised me on this and of course Claude put it together. I just completed a 700 mile trip yesterday - Triple digit performance? No problem. Handling? Like a dream. I am still grinning - more to come... Ad Donkers: http://lbszijspantechniek.nl/ Claude Stanley: http://freedomsidecars.com/ Richard-NL: http://advrider.com/forums/member.php?u=101851 A picture is worth a thousand words (more to come later):
WOW! What a great looking rig. What is the weight of the addition to the bike's original weight? Thanks for the links. Been into them & wish I learned German as a kid.
Absolutely sweet! I wanted a two-seater for my girls (2nd and 5th graders). Rocket III's tremendous torque and power is perfect for my sweet monkeys . Of course, Ad's leading link is perfect. He has two-settings: one for very high performance and one for the rest of us (at least according to Claude). Claude put it at the "rest of us" setting and seems to work well for me (and with my kids). Also, the sidecar has an integrated disc brake system - I rarely use it but it works great (just used to using my front brakes). I will try to post pictures with my girls in the car soon.
Not sure about the weight. Whatever the additional weight, my Rocket III does not seem to notice. No problem with acceleration, stopping, or cruising at high speeds. I have owned other rigs but nothing compares to the Rocket's torque and power to drive the rig. (Without admitting speeding violations, I believe I can cruise near triple figure at about 3000 rpm with the sidecar loaded and have enough torque to pass any cager with ease.) As for speaking German, I would say that my inability to speak any European language other than English was the biggest barrier to importing a European rig. It took a long time to work out the details with Ad. Before I contacted Ad at Richard's recommendation, I communicated with several other vendors and it was very difficult trying to conduct business over email/phone. I guess being an "ugly American" has significant downsides. I am hoping that my girls will speak more than just one language when they grow up.
that is one nice looking rig i like it, a lot thanks for sharing with us hope that you'll post a nice ride report RIGHT HERE, very soon
Will do - like you, I wanted to enjoy riding with my family (no dog yet, however). Here's a picture from yesterday - somewhere near Greensboro, NC on I-85:
I don't have a ride report yet but do have pictures from Ad and Claude that I can share - I am loading one picture at a time so bear with me. Leading link build:
Note the LED turn signal and brake lights - last minute change that Ad made when they became available:
Crate was custom designed for this order since no Boxer was exported by a shipping container before. Note the cavernous interior of the sidecar - my daughters can both lie down inside!
Two tires inside the car. I am using the stock wheels on the Rocket III - just using car tires on them so I did not have to purchase new wheels for car tires. I guess another benefit of mating with a Rocket III:
Ready for the journey! One item to note about car tires. Claude warned me about some European sizes not being available in the U.S. In fact, Ad sent a tire for the front wheel that is not widely available in the U.S. because it is used by only one car model sold in the U.S. - Lotus Elise (http://www.lotuscars.com/en/lotus-elise). It is a phenomenal tire but I suspect I will have extreme difficulty replacing it in the future...
Loaded and ready to go to the ship yard. Check out that Beemer! BTW, LBS sponsored Team Dakar LBS for the Antwerp to Banjul Challenge - check out their website: http://www.teamlbsdakar.nl/
