Well, why wouldn’t you?
Cue the blinding spotlight and stern voice as Mick Payne asks some sidecar men a few questions.
Last month I raised the question as to why you would ‘ruin’ a perfectly good motorcycle by attaching a sidecar. I thought an appropriate follow-up might be to question a few enthusiastic owners, so here is the Fed man, a dealer, a rally rider and a builder. They are John Hind, ex-chairman of the Federation of Sidecar Clubs, David Angel of F2 Motorcycles (and current president of the federation), outfit owner Neil Branham and
Ben Matthews of Watsonian. These folk are a fair cross-section of riders involved in the sidecar game; each were asked the same questions but the answers are surprisingly different.
The first question was: “At what age did you start riding outfits?” and the results weren’t quite what I expected. John and David both started at the tender age of 19 while Neil and Ben, both long-time riders of solos, came into the sidecar fold a little later in life. “I started riding a Honda 100 solo on L plates,” explained David. “I had a pannier with the top cut off so I could take my dog along.” Inevitably said dog got a bit big for transporting this way: “A friend offered me a sidecar outfit and I introduced her to the chair to make sure it met with her approval. It did so I handed over the cash.” It’s amazing how often a dog is the reason for fitting a sidecar.
Although John started around the same age his reasons were probably more common. “I could ride on L plates and it was cheaper than a car.” There was a time when a learner could ride any capacity machine with a sidecar attached which led to some fairly strange, home-built concoctions as the sidecar had to have a function, and not just be a bare chassis. This led to all sorts of boxes, some with an array of smelly cushions to give the often inebriated passenger a modicum of comfort; even a few coffins were pressed into use, although John’s mount was a rather more desirable 1960 Triumph 6T with a Watsonian Monza Mark1.
In 2024 loopholes like that have long been closed although it is still legal to pass a test with a sidecar if you have a disability (you are then limited to riding an outfit). The DSA considers a motorcycle and sidecar as a single motorcycle, meaning you must pass the relevant motorcycle test for your age to use one. You can’t ride a combination on a car licence, either – although you can ride a trike if you’re over 21 and have a full car licence. It rather feels like the death knell for sidecars, even the Federation of Sidecar
Clubs recently called an EGM to assure their future!
To check on this I further questioned David and Dan Sager, Watsonian’s PR man, and it appears that younger riders generally aren’t attracted to sidecars. David thought that the most common age for buying a chair is around 50 – mid-life crisis perhaps? Dan also believed that the main customer is the ‘empty nester’ but also felt that younger riders do lean towards them, pointing out that both the Sidecar Guys and the Pizza Pilgrims fall into this lower age bracket and are using their outfits as promotional tools.
I intended this to be concluded this month, but the further I dig the more of interest crops up. So, there will be a few more opinions next time as well as looking into the younger element. I’m getting on a bit (one way of saying I’m old) so I like the fact that my current outfit won’t fall over on me. I bought my first one in my 30s when I rode year-round and it provided a safer winter commute than a solo. Never regretted it… well, almost never!