They are very safe unless you’re using them to fight in a war…and then all bets are off! Besides that, they are very safe especially since our Dapper guides operate the tours at a fairly slow pace of 25mph and under. A weird thing happens as people on the roads of New York City see you in an Ural sidecar. They become super nice and kind drivers – all eyes are on you as people can’t help but admire these beauties. Also, we’re fully insured so you’re covered and good to go!

FAQs Archive - Page 2 of 2 - Dapper Tours | Dapper tours offer personalized bespoke tours of NYC via beautiful vintage sidecar.

Q: Your routes seem very cool! But we may have special requests of things we want to see and maybe even design our own custom tour. Can we do that?

Our routes are pretty dope. You’ll see.. But it’s totally feasible for us to weave in specific places you want to check out. If possible, just let us know in advance so we can coordinate the logistics. As for totally custom tours, we’ve got you covered. The All Day Tour is whatever you want it to be. We can totally plan out the perfect day for you, or you can dictate to us want to do and we’ll put our Dapper touch on that day.

Q: I dig English and all, but I prefer to do the tour in my native language. Is that possible?

Currently we offer tours in English but were working on getting guides for the other main languages. Stay tuned!

Q: We’ve heard NYC can be pretty noisy, especially during traffic time. How will we hear each other on the tour?

What you call noise, we call “exuberant creative energy”! :) But we know some might find that energy…distracting. We have enabled each of our helmets with Bluetooth speakers and mics that will allow you to hear each other perfectly, despite that exuberant energy happening all around us. By the way, all sidecar riders are require to wear a helmet according to NY State law. But don’t worry — you will still look pretty dapper.

Q: My dog is cooler than most people I know ;) Can I bring him/her?

We tend to agree…about the dogs being super cool part…us humans are pretty cool, too, though! :) But for your four-legged best friend, we can take him as long as they are well behaved and reasonable size. Please keep in mind that some places you may want to visit may not allow pets, so that can impact your Dapper Experience.

Q: The bikes seem to only take 3 people including the driver. What if I have a larger group?

You’re correct. They bikes take three by law and out of consideration for space. 1 Dapper guide, 1 guest on the pillion seat, and 1 guest in the sidecar. (Tip-we know everyone wants to ride in the sidecar so consider taking turns!). We have 3 bikes so can accommodate 6 guests. In the future, the group number we can accommodate per tour will increase but for now the maximum size group we can host is 8 persons. It keeps the tour personalized which everyone loves!

Q: Ok, so this looks super cool but what exactly is a sidecar motorcycle and is it safe?

So, the Ural motorcycle is a product of some amazing reverse engineering and 2 countries not getting along. The whole story started in 1939 when Russia’s leader, Stalin, knew that Hitler was up to no good & would eventually attack them even though Germany and Russia had a peace treaty. In preparation of a ground attack he commissioned the development of the Ural sidecar motorcycle. They went to neutral Sweden and bought 5 BMW R71 units, secretly smuggled them back to Russia and started to reverse engineer the heck out of the bikes. In 1941 the prototypes were shown to Stalin and he was so impressed he approved them immediately. The bikes were originally produced in a factory in Moscow but Stalin was so concerned with Germany’s infamous Blitzkrieg attacks that he decided to move the factory further east to a super remote town called Irbit in the Ural Mountain region close to the Siberian steppes. Once the war was over Russia kept producing the bikes for the military and eventually, when the company was sold, they started making bikes for civilians. Ural has been at it ever since crafting beautiful, rugged and utilitarian bikes. We are thrilled that these machines of beauty fell into our hands and couldn’t imagine using another moto for Dapper Tours.