Elegant and simple enough!
But how does it ride? The Areggers promised that all bumps and
sideforces are absorbed by the sidecar outfit, including rear
wheel, front wheel, sidecar wheel, frame and suspension. They
also promised: "You won't get the (sidecar) wheel up".
Well, the author has put to this to a test during 600 miles on
an BMW R1100 RT equipped with ARMEC's ALS © and their sidecar
flagship the Tremola 2. Highways, twisting mountain roads, off
road, the beach and Northeastern potholes! Promise 1: No more
sideforces They were right! The setup is solid under all conditions.
Potholes here I come. Not that they miraculously disappear, but
they loose much of their "charm".
Promise 2: No more wheelies. Generally they were right, although
there is a way to get the wheel up. Very hard jerking on the handle-bar
while accelerating and going for an even tighter right turn. This
only seemed to work without passengers. It also 'helps' to ride
with an almost empty 8.5 gallon auxiliary tank, which is mounted
underneath the sidecar. Under normal conditions wheelies are not
possible though, or as an expert motorcycle columnist said once:
I can get the wheels on my car up earlier than with the ARMEC.
What about those left curves?
Going way too fast and then accelerating makes your rear shock
feel light, but it never gets to the point of discomfort.
Summary:
It doesn't get any better than this. The setup goes always straight
when it's supposed to, even under acceleration, and even during
full (emergency) braking procedures!!. No one has every been able
to achieve this.
Look Mom, no hands! Cornering par excellence, no more fear that
you are too fast and the wheel rises when you're not prepared.
Responsiveness and ease of steering is out of this world. Even
at parking lot speeds 2-fingers are all that is need to operate
the setup. The tennis elbow, which plagues me on my solo bike
has been demoted to a regular elbow. And my wrists do what they
are supposed to do: Quickly operate throttle and clutch -
I'm having too much fun !
)
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