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Sidecar and Trike Training
Is it for you?
 There
are many reasons why people gravitate toward owning a sidecar or trike, but even
if you don’t plan to own one in your life, you might enjoy devoting a weekend to
taking the Sidecar and Trike Education Program (S/TEP) provided by the Evergreen
Safety Council.
Driving a three wheel outfit is apples to oranges when it
comes to riding a motorcycle. Washington State has been very progressive in the
last few years with instituting a sidecar and trike training program and
changing laws concerning 3 wheel endorsements. The efforts of David Hough, who
wrote the original training curriculum – and Dave Wendell, who pushed recent
legislation through Olympia, have put Washington at the front of the 50 states
for being the most advanced in laws and available training (some of which will
be subsidized by the state beginning 2003).
First though, let’s look at 10 reasons why people take
sidecar and trike training:
Curiosity. Many motorcyclists are curious about
these three wheel beasts. Most don’t know if they’d enjoy a sidecar or trike.
The training program allows participants to experience both.
Handicap Issues. Either you or someone in your
family has a handicap, making it impossible to operate or ride a two wheel
motorcycle.
"It’s 3 wheels or nothin’" the wife says. For my
money, it’s more fun being a passenger in a sidecar, than on the back of a
motorcycle.
Improved visibility. Sidecars and trikes, being
larger overall – especially in width, are more likely to be seen by oncoming
drivers.
"My 80 year old mother who used to ride motorcycles,
wants to take my 98 year old grandmother out for a ride." This indeed is a
documented case.
Your pet wants a ride. Is it time to take your
dog, cat, anaconda, or otherwise out for rides?
Storage Boom. Do you need more storage than what
you’re able to get with bags on your motorcycle? Three wheelers often provide
far more storage capacity. Some people even add trailers to them.
Stability. Three wheelers have superior handling
ability in rain, sleet and snow. Don’t even think about taking a two wheel
street bike into snowy conditions.
More passenger load. With a sidecar rig, you can
put three, sometimes even four people on the bike and rig making it a great
family cruiser. Imagine heading out to Leavenworth over Stevens Pass in a
sidecar rig, instead of that four wheel fishbowl in your driveway.
Ready for a refresher. Many of the basic
principals of safe motorcycling are covered in the S/TEP class. Safe braking,
cornering, weaving, and swerving are all here along with a lot of standards
taught classroom side.
A look at the program
 Currently
the Evergreen Safety Council provides the Sidecar/Trike Education Program about
every 60 days. You will be giving up an entire Saturday and Sunday to take the
program and if you pass you’ll receive a certificate of completion.
Classes begin in the Classroom at ESC in Seattle on
Saturday morning. Here you’ll go through many of the basics of motorcycling. If
you already ride, some of this will seem a bit tedious to you, but keep your
eyes and ears open because something may come up that you have otherwise allowed
to slip in your riding style. Are you looking through your corners? Keeping
three seconds between you and the vehicle in front of you? Getting your braking
done before you reach turns these days?
In the afternoon it’s off to the range for an afternoon of
riding. Again there are a lot of similarities to the exercises taught in the 2
wheel novice course. The difference is that you’re doing them on 3 wheels, and
if you’re working with a sidecar you have another student as a passenger for
ballast. Starting, braking, cornering, weaving, and more are covered in this
afternoon that features 11 exercises in all. You’ll soon realize the level of
upper body strength required to operate the 3 wheelers.
Sunday morning you’re back in class. Here both general
technique and technique specific to sidecars and trikes, are covered. You’ll
learn to understand what tip-over lines are and how to keep the unit on three
wheels. Hypothermia, heat stroke, and the effects of alcohol are also packed
into this long morning. At the end of the classroom session you’re given the
written portion of the testing.
Sunday afternoon, you grab a bite to eat and you’re back
to the range. Today will be different. Anyone operating a sidecar will not have
a passenger for ballast and thus the handling of the rig becomes different. A
skidding stop (something everyone should practice at least yearly) emergency
swerving, braking, stopping in turns, and other exercises follow today. At the
end of the training you are offered two additional exercises that involve
"flying the hack" which otherwise means to lift the sidecar off it’s wheel and
drive in a circle and straight on two wheels. These two exercises are optional
and are not required to pass the class. When making a right hand turn with a
hack, it’s possible it can come up if you lean to the left and enter the turn
with a bit of inertia, so it’s a good idea to feel what this is like in a closed
class situation.
This is not an easy class and about half the participants
in my session failed the written test (which they can come back and re-take at
no additional charge). Everyone passed the moving exam. As with most vehicle
testing, you must score higher than 80 on both the written and moving tests.
David Hough’s curriculum is first-rate, teaching
participants the basics with well-written text, illustrations, photographs, and
exercises. The Evergreen instructors administered the class well, were sidecar
lovers themselves, and the passion for riding and teaching others showed.
I may never own a sidecar or trike, but I’m glad I gave up
a weekend to learn how to drive one in case I decide to tinker with one later
on. I’m also glad I got a basic refresher on motorcycling, which is something we
all can benefit from about every other year.
To learn more about ESC’s Sidecar and Trike Education
Program visit http://www.esc.org
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