Riding two up ain't always what it's cracked up to be. Don't get me wrong, I love riding with my wife as my backpack. But sometimes, when you head off pavement, what you really want and need is an actual backpack and not a person who subtly shifts their weight around or who can't stand up on the rear pegs. It's not a knock against our partners; it's just physics.
And what happens when you need to make a technical in a battlefield situation? Are you really going to go for something along the lines of a Honda Cub or do you want something with some triangulation to ensure your fortification reduces the felt recoil of your machine gun? Exactly, you want the three points of contact! What the hell am I talking about, you ask? Motorcycles with sidecars, folks, that's what.
As of recent years, the only production motorcycle equipped with a sidecar has been from our friends at Ural, as everything else was an aftermarket afterthought and couldn't really survive the realities of sidecar duty. But Ural's dominance in the sidecar space could be changing, as China's Lifeng just patented what is clearly a Ural-fighting motorcycle and sidecar setup. And it's powered by a CFMoto UTV engine.
It's China vs. Russia, folks! Well, China vs. formerly-Russia-now-quasi-America/Kazakhstan/China...
Our good friends over at UTV Driver were the first to find the patent, which shows a Lifeng Group Regal Raptor DD1000 motorcycle—Regal Raptor is the subbrand to Lifeng, with the DD1000 being the actual motorcycle. As for the CFMoto of it all, the DD1000 is powered by a CFMoto-sourced 963cc V-twin engine, which can be found in both the brand's ATVs and UTVs, including the UForce and ZForce lineups. It also comes with a CVT, which means it gets Park, Reverse, as well as low- and high-range gears.
Moreover, it's 2WD, just like Ural's legacy models—the new Neo, which is also built in China, but by Yingang, is only rear wheel drive. As for propulsion, there's a shaft that goes from the drive unit of the motorcycle to the new sidecar's wheel, giving folks the oomph to get out of sticky situations.
As for performance to match the supposed capability, you're looking at what is like a 71-horsepower spec, which should be good enough for most activities, and comes with an eye-popping 10-gallon fuel tank.
For perspective, the average motorcycle tank is around 3-5 gallons, so a 10-gallon unit is wild. Basically, it means further range, further exploration, and less worry about stowing an extra jerry can on the back of your sidecar. Fancy a Long Way Round, anyone?
As for whether or not this will ever end up in the States, eh, most likely not. While CFMoto's engine is homologated for U.S. sale and purchase, the current tariff situation, along with the niche-upon-niche-upon-niche desire for a 2WD motorcycle sidecar setup, make it impractical to sell to Americans. That said, with Ural's change to the Neo platform, it does open up the possibilities for some company to come in and take that niche segment.
They won't sell a trillion of them, but they'll likely have a few converts.
