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...a sidecar trials bike in your life, yes you do, you may not realise it but you do and this is where we tell you why. Feel free to disagree.

You may not have realised it, but what is sadly lacking in your shed, garage or workshop is a sidecar trials outfit like the Yamaha Mono in our pictures. With such a beast in the shed a whole new world awaits you – imagine if you could go back to the start of your trials riding yet still know what you know now. With a sidecar outfit then that can happen – a novice with experience so to speak. Problem is, what you’ve learnt after years of solo riding is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard when a third wheel is added.

First off the outfit doesn’t go where it should unless the team – and it is a team – works together. For some reason, the team member in the chair is often referred to as a passenger. This is incorrect as in an off-road outfit there are no such things as passengers, rather both people on the outfit have to work in harmony or it will go wrong. Trust me on that… I speak from experience.

There has been a recent resurgence in sidecar popularity, or at least in the sporting world, and this is largely due to a dedicated band of charioteers who have taken it on themselves to put on events. One such band regularly demonstrates this gentle art at Stafford showground twice a year and it always attracts a decent audience. Quizzing the watchers I found the majority were in disbelief that such obstacles were possible with an outfit, others were aware of such skills but didn’t fancy seeing if they personally could learn them. There were also a few… a much smaller number it has to be said… who thought ‘you know what? That looks fun…’

Pretty much any trials bike can be fitted with a chair, setting one up isn’t particularly diffifificult though advice from those who have set them up is best the first few times. Such terms as toe-in and lean-out are not bandied around these days unlike the old days when a sidecar was the way the family man carted his family about.

Anyway, we say you owe it to yourself to try sidecar trials, if only to prove you don’t want to do it but then again maybe, just maybe, a chair will end up in your shed. )