Sidecar on the Darian Gap? Give it a miss.

In July I blogged about Scott Schidler’s idea to tour on a Ural sidecar motorcycle from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra del Fuego. Some old sidecar hands replied with some wise advice, and everyone agreed that, dreams or no dreams, giving the Darian Gap a miss is the best idea.

But Scott hadn’t even tried the Ural yet. Once he did, he wrote: "Although I knew that it would be
different, I never imagined it would have been what it was! . . . turning was a monster effort! I had to
dig deep within myself to understand why I would consider driving such
a piece of machinery at all, let alone for a long trip."

Alan Karl wrote, "from what I can tell Eric
Cleveland opted to fly over the gap to Bogata as I did a couple years
back. It’s a treacherous piece of real estate and not for the tame of
heart. There are primitive tribes, drug runners, terrorists and who
knows what else. Why didn’t I do it? Well I was alone and if you see
the pics in Helge’s book, it doesn’t look like a lot of fun."

I thought the toe-in might have been a bit off, and suggested getting advice from a sidecar forum. James Barnwell wrote in to advise reading the manual Driving A Sidecar Outfit and to practice the exersises suggested in the manual, and to take a sidecar safety course. "The pullin-drifting on acceleration/deceleration is normal," says James. "You will get used to it. Thank goodness you have not flown the chair-yet! Good luck! Urals are the most fun you can have on three wheels."

I agree. It doesn’t handle like a motorcycle — there’s none of that leaning, flying feeling. It’s more like driving a handicapped sportscar, one with three wheels and handlebars instead of four wheels and a steering wheel. Why do I love it, then? Well, that’s a complex question. For now let’s just say it’s that je ne sais quoi.