Thoughts about a sidecar

[biplanebluey]

Hi Guys

I have questions and queries about a lot of things I have read lately.Now this is no troll.I would appreciate some real sensible answers please. I have the chance to buy a nice looking (and performing) Honda Phantom,but have found out that it has not been on the road for 8 yrs so it is not reg or paid up since then,but he has the original green book..Now,I live in Issaan and the bike has Bkk plate,and the owner tells me there is a problem getting a new green book .Obviously a bike without a green book is no good to me. However if I can somehow get a geeen book and reg it in Udon does this mean it is then classified as a new bike.If this is true then this would open up a whole new world for me. As I am getting old(hate admitting that) it may be possible to get Tiger Motorcycles to fit a new sidecar onto it and they would(I am told) do all the neccessary paperwork to get me legal with a sidecar officially reg to carry a passenger(in this case my wife) My understanding is that you cannot just buy any old bike and get them to fit a chair.Tiger are the only ones in Thailand allowed to do this,and from what I have read they normally sell the bike with sidecar attached at their factory,but they will sell just the chair on its own.but I am not sure how I stand in that case.I suspect that If I just got even a reputable mechanic here in Udon to fit it to my bike I would not be able to get it reg as a passenger sidecar. The last query is---as the bike was originally reg in BKK and I want it reg in Udon Thani why cant I go to my local vehicle reg place here in Udon and get them to do it? If any of you have any details or any serious info on any of this I would really appreciate it Thanks in advance Dougal.

[steve187]

if you change reg area you will not get a new green book, they will use the old book and amend the details.

paying all the back tax will not be that much anyway, a bkk bike cab be registered to an address outside bkk, but it has to be done in bkk, where is the bike and where does the owner live, get him to sort it out and you then buy it, otherwise it will be a can of worms,

[papa al]

I'd say 99% of the sidecar/carts are illegal.

Go.

[jdinasia]

I'd say 99% of the sidecar/carts are illegal.

Go.

Sidecars are nowhere near as safe when cornering. Several years ago we had a long thread about this topic

[guzzi850m2]

I doubt you can get the sidecar into the green book as the Tiger Retro/w sidecar has/had (Tiger is closed now, I believe).

This means you will be riding illegally if you fit a sidecar and no insurance cover either but okay you live in the country side so maybe you can get away with it.

Yes make sure the green book is sorted before buying the Phantom, or walk away and look elsewhere.

[andrewrooney]

After 8 years of no tax it's going to be a major pain in the ass to get the green book sorted. I was once in a similar situation with a second hand KR150 I bought from a local mechanic. Tax hadn't been paid in 6 years. When I went to the DLT they told me I needed to first go to the last place it was registered (in my case Bang Khun Tien), pay all the back taxes there and they would give me a letter saying the taxes had been paid. Then I needed to take that letter to the main DLT in Jatujak and get a new green book issued. As I didn't have two free days to run all over Bangkok, and the bike might not have passed inspection anyway, I simply didn't bother.

[Rhys]

It is certainly cool to have the dog riding along in goggles as well... Too cool for school.

[steve187]

I'd say 99% of the sidecar/carts are illegal.

Go.

so is driving without a helmet, which is enforced by the police, sidecar misuse is not enforced

[tingtongfarang]

Friend of mine for some strange reason bought a brand new wave 125i and had a new sidecar made and fitted...complete with canvas roof, My initial thoughts on seeing this were what a waste of a nice bike,

After riding it i came to the conclusion it was a death trap without question, do anything as drastic as touch the brakes or close the gas completely and it shoots to the right even while counter steering to the left, likewise accelerating and changing gear it dances either left or right,

Go over a pothole above 20kmh and it goes into a tankslapper (if it had one) but giving gas or touching the brakes stops the slapping, the only thing its good at is turning tight circles on full lock but i can feel the wire wheels or the frame/forks of the bike flexing with or without passengers and dogs,

One day when my friend was in the sidecar he remarked how fast i was 25kmh, later i realised most people go around with these things at 10-15kmh and consider them controllable,

[biplanebluey]

OK---Well to those guys who sent in the above replies I say thanks a lot.There is all the info I wanted there and having got the green book sorted (he posted it to me yesterda) now from what I have read here I am put off the idea of a sidecar,as I did not know the Tiger outfit had closed down.The appeal with Tiger was that they were putting out a "legal" combination,but now as they were the only ones there is no way you can fit a sidecar legally in Thailand.Another point I would make is to reply to the last one from Tingtong Farang------As an experienced sidecar user in my home country,I can tell you now that your bad experience was due to the sidecar(or CHAIR as we used to call them) not being set up properly in relation to the bike.Most ideal set ups were for the combination to have about a 10mm toe in,and about 3*lean out. This would set up most combinations to alleviate the problems you were having.Eratic steering can also be cured with a steering damper fitted.Anyway thanks for your input--=----Dougal