The Analog, the Digital, and the Diagonal

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you may be swept off to."
Bilbo Baggins

The Analog, the Digital, and the Diagonal

posted 07/07/03
Years ago a friend asked me to teach his wife how to drive her car. She had inherited a manual shift XK140 Jag and had only driven automatics. My friend was a wise man. He had learned that there are some things that spouses shouldn't try to teach if they want to stay spouses. Driving lessons are a big one. In the modern world, computer use is another. I spent several weekends teaching Marilee the intricacies of the non-synchro, double clutch downshift but in the end, she sold the Jag because the steering was too heavy.

Modern cars aren't like that. New cars are smoothly integrated, computer designed, and digitally controlled. They always start, require minimal maintenance, and are effortless to drive. In a word, they are DULL! Sure, I appreciate the reliability as a mode of transportation but I loved the Essence of Machine that Marilee's Jag represented.

Harley Davidson is the only large manufacturer that still offers a sidecar as an option.

Not as dangerous as it looks and think of the wear on the sidecar wheel I'm saving!

Loaded like an Asian farm bike and still goes to the head of the ferry line!

Modern motorcycles are lagging behind cars a few years but they too are becoming more bland and easy to drive too. I have a 1997 Honda CBR 1100XX. This is a very fast Grand Touring bike. Touch the starter and it explodes into life. It was computer designed and has a mechanical density that can only be engineered on a hard drive. It's solid and when you look at from the side, you don't see daylight through it.

Contrast this with my 1947 Harley Davidson. It was designed by people and bolted together a piece at a time. It has mechanical presence and yet it is not a solid lump. You can see through it, see around the engine at many places. The design is by and for humans and has a strong, visceral appeal. Rather than an integrated unit humming electronically down the road, it is a loose collection of parts moving in close proximity as it rolls across the landscape. Sometimes, that proximity becomes a little too loose and pieces drop off!

I love both of these bikes. I wish the Honda were more mechanical though and the Harley more reliable. Thank god this is 21st century America and as long as I can afford it, I don't have to choose. Recently, I added yet another member to the herd in my garage. I'm happy to say that I may have found the essence of driving that I want that still has all of the reliability. I've discovered sidecars!

The weird stepchild of the early motor era, sidecars flourished in Europe and England because they were taxed at motorcycle rates and not the much higher auto rates. It was also the first step up for a family that couldn't afford a car but needed the extra space for kids. Some even had a completely enclosed convertible top! Sidecars have never been too popular in the US because cars have been cheap but there are a few around.

I bought mine after a friend visited with his BMW sidecar outfit. It wasn't me that was sold on the rig, it was my Fearless Wife! She loved it, considered it a personal carnival ride. Besides, I'd been wanting another motorcycle. She'd been wanting a convertible. This was the perfect compromise…really. She agrees…really.

Driving a sidecar is nothing like driving a car and certainly not like riding a motorcycle. For starters, it doesn't lean. To steer it, you twist, no, make that bulldog the handlebars in the direction you want to go. It takes effort, muscle. It's like my friends old Jag. You either take control or it will.

The hack (as sidecars are sometimes known) is so willful because it's not symmetrical. The drive wheel is on the left (motorcycle side) and there is no brake on the sidecar wheel. Give it gas and it wants to go right. Give it brake and it wants to go left. Changes in road crown affect steering. Weight affects steering. On a motorcycle, you can take your hands off the bars, balance lightly, and the bike moves in a straight line, for miles if the road allows. Do that on a hack and you'll be in the ditch.

Right and left corners are different too. Go left as fast as you want and as fast as muscle allows. Go right about 1/2 the speed of a comparable left turn or the sidecar lifts off the ground!

This effect can be disconcerting at first but eventually it can be used to entertain small children and scare pedestrians. With care, an empty sidecar can be balanced and ridden for a long ways even on a straight away with the wheel in the air. It's a skill that needs to be mastered because it will happen. Of course a passengers weight holds everything down and allows higher speeds in right-hand corners but still the hack will come up if the speed is great enough.

So why ride/drive such a contrary beast? Why have to work all the time with high stakes for a moment's inattention? The best answer I can give is "Sport". Just like skiing requires your full attention, driving the hack is sporting in a way that cars have not been for over 50 years. Call it extreme commuting. Call it a challenge. Call it fun! This is the most fun I've had at or below the speed limit in years. That alone makes driving this refugee from a Rock-o-plane ride worth it.

- The Old Squid

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