Sidecar Shakedown with a Pup: A Different Way to Travel

Last year I acquired a BMW R1200GSA Sidecar, or hack as it is called. I always wanted one, but found they were a bit on the pricey side. I think I was fortunate to find one at a reasonable price. Being the romantic that I am, I needed a travel companion. My wife will do for many trip, but for many of my travels we both thought it would be great to have a dog to travel with. So, last year we got another Golden Retriever puppy. After taking classes and learning as much as I could about sidecar navigation and construction, I have now decided that it was time to take the plunge and do some more serious off road travel. Oh sure, there has been much learning along the way. Much of what I learned took me some time to apply. In my journey, I found several issues with the hack. Most have been overcome. One particular issue was the poor fender mount design by the company that manufactures the sidecar, DMC. That is, the fender is susceptible to damage and may even fall off or become entangled in the sidecar wheel. This is a known issue on older designs, and DMC seems to have pretty much addressed the issue in their current product line. Being an engineer by trade, I took the next step and designed my own rigid mounts along with a friend, who happens to be an aerospace machinist/fabricator. The results looked good and expedition worthy. So the next logical step was to take the hack out on typical roads that I might travel and see how both dog and machine behave. It was also, my first foray into a wet and slippery road that was a little bit more than a typical logging road found here in the Pacific NorthWest. The results were positive. I hope you enjoy this little adventure as much as my dog, Sakari and I did. We both think this is the start of something more. So stay tuned as I plan to augment my adventures with the hack and my new travel companion. It is a dream come true for sure. Thanks for riding along, ~GrizzLee