Sidecars I have known
If you read last month’s ramblings about Mick Payne’s time spent as a sidecar scribe, then here’s a few more thoughts about when the UK had a thriving sidecar industry.
Well, relatively thriving, as there were really only three companies producing sidecars in any real numbers. The days of the coach-built, wooden-framed sidecar were over and GRP was the way forward, although Jim D’Arcy would still build the big saloons to special order at Charnwood, these were formally 'The Gemini', as built by Fred Yates.
The only modern coachbuilt sidecar I recall testing was a lovely two-stroke Villiers-powered Panther fitted with a lightweight Briggs chair. With its Earls forks and a fairly torquey 3T engine it was a pleasure to ride on the backroads of Hertfordshire. A completely different beast, however, was one of Jim D’Arcy’s Honda Blackbird and Charnwood Sports combinations.
I wrote at the time that the plot soon became manic; I’d ridden from Jim and Rose’s premises in Hugglescote out to Beacon Hill, a local beauty spot to take the photos. On a long, walled straight I gave the beast its head, it’s certainly the fastest I’ve ridden an outfit and I don’t want to ride one any faster thank you. On one trip to Charnwood, Jim showed me a genuine long range tank from a De Havilland Mosquito. This was wooden, like the ‘plane it came from, and was the ideal object to make a mould from. Now, the Mozzy is my favourite Second World War aircraft, so it became a part of my wish list. To this end I bought a BSA A10 that had formerly been fitted with a chair and rode it from Luton to Leicestershire (on square section Avons) to get one fitted. My Meteor was a very early version and the glass fibre can best be described as slightly imperfect. The chassis was at that time a Watsonian VG21.
Last month I hinted at a rather special outfit built by Watsonian-Squire for the Kremlin. Then, as now, the company were at the forefront of sidecar manufacture with a worldwide reputation, so it’s unsurprising that the Russian authorities turned to them for their fleet of special outfits. In Moscow the requirements for escort machines are greatly different to their counterparts in London. This resulted in, I think, eight BMW and Squire sidecar outfits tailored to their particular needs.
The slightly sinister result was a black BMW KRT fitted with a mildly modified Squire ST1 on the right-hand side. This was fitted with rails in front of the cockpit and rode on studded snow tyres, and because of this I was only allowed to ride it on the Blockley site’s perimeter road.
This was just as well as it felt very skittish on the tungsten studs and resulted in a very fast learning curve what with it being my first ride with a right-mounted chair. Although it begs the question why they didn’t use one of their homemanufactured outfits? Perhaps it was the need to keep up with a swiftly driven ZiL?
It was another right-sided chair that gave me the scariest ride ever on an outfit. More on that, Bart’s bike, next month, and some more I’ve known and even loved over the years plus, probably, the only one I actually disliked. Well, really didn’t very much enjoy at least.
and therefore the decision was made to run with semi-automatic transmission. A centrifugal clutch was activated by pressure on the gear lever which momentarily broke the drive train allowing simple, dramafree, gear changes. This also ensured the resultant machine would be very much like a conventional push bike with both brakes on the handlebars – this would prove to be a huge selling point.
With high quality machine tools to hand, a fresh design free of compromises and, crucially, high end metallurgy from the off, the motor was specified to run without a traditional oil pump. Instead lubrication relied on an extension of the big end eye in the form of an oil flinger which hurled sufficient oil up at the top end of the motor which was, handily, almost horizontal.
The various bearings received a more than adequate supply of oil via partial immersion in oil and/or splash lubrication.
Rugged
Specialists in Honda Parts
sales@davidsilverspares.co.uk www.davidsilverspares.co.uk
The chassis of the machine was made as cheaply as possible whilst still being substantial and intrinsically safe. Pressed steel panels for the frame, swinging arm and leading link front forks were more than up to the job. The very fact that a commuter 50 even had rear suspension was seen as radical at the time. Significant use of moulded plastics for the front guard, side panels and engine cover-cumleg shields kept costs down and productivity up, but that was never any implication of cheeseparing or penny pinching. The allnew Super Cub came with full width alloy hubs, decent uncompromising electrics and, wonder of wonders, indicators! Launched in 1958, the bike was an instant success initially in Japan, then SE Asia before creating a storm in Europe and the US. The combined vision of Honda and Fujisawa had delivered, and the stunningly well-engineered Super Cub gained legions of fans who might never previously have considered a powered two wheeler as a viable method of transport. Given the bikes’ success in Asia, some have argued the C100 variously catalysed, mobilised and stimulated the Asian Tiger economy.
The Super Cub sold in huge volumes as the 1960s dawned, but the factory didn’t sit on its laurels. For the new decade the C100 was upgraded with an electric start to become the C102. That little 49cc engine and transmission proved to be unbelievably rugged and, to prove the point, Honda took on the reliability challenge that was the Maudes Trophy. Previously a bastion of British manufacturers, Honda took the prized award with ease at Goodwood with a team of 20 riders running a C100, C102 and C110 for an entire week, 24/7. The team and bikes completed 15,800 miles and, such was the impact of the achievement, no other manufacturer got close to wresting the trophy for 11 years.
Over the ensuing decades, the C100 would gain overhead cams, increases in capacity, would donate its motor to sports tiddlers and the first Monkey bikes, and be used on a raft of machinery used by businesses, postal services, medical staff… the list simply goes on and on.
Whether you personally regard the C100 as the greatest motor of all time is actually irrelevant, because the facts speak for themselves. The humble Super Cub and its relatives funded Honda’s GP racing efforts, ensured the company’s long term viability and provided Honda with the foundations for one of the most successful automotive firms of all time… and you still think that a 49cc, push rod motor that doesn’t even have an oil pump is inconsequential?