Sidecars - A Unique Style Of Riding

CarlS

Charter Member #3
Premium Member
Staff
Local time
Today, 01:54
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
29,544
Points
1,218
Age
79
Location
Dania Beach, Florida
First Name
Carl
My Ride
2020 Bonneville T120 Black
Riding Since
1958
History

A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, producing a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a combination, an outfit, a rig or a hack. A sidecar is sometimes called a chair.

Mr M Bertoux, a French army officer, secured a prize offered by a French newspaper in 1893 for the best method of carrying a passenger on a bicycle. The sidecar wheel was mounted on the same lateral plane as the bicycle's rear and was supported by a triangulation of tubes from the bicycle. A sprung seat with back rest was mounted above the cross-member and a footboard hung below.[2] A sidecar appeared in a cartoon by George Moore in the January 7, 1903, issue of the British newspaper Motor Cycling. Three weeks later, a provisional patent was granted to Mr. W. J. Graham of Graham Brothers, Enfield, Middlesex. He partnered with Jonathan A. Kahn to begin production.

Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-12561%2C_Berlin%2C_Fahrrad_mit_Beiwagen.jpg

One of Britain's oldest sidecar manufacturers, Watsonian, was founded in 1912. It is still trading as Watsonian Squire. Automobile producer Jaguar Cars was founded in 1922 as a sidecar manufacturer, the Swallow Sidecar Company.

NSU 601 motorcycle from the 1930s fitted with a Steib sidecar.
NSU_601_OSL_Steib.jpg

In 1913, American inventor Hugo Young, of Loudonville, Ohio, designed a new sidecar which was not rigidly fixed to the motorcycle. Instead, his invention employed a flexible connection, which allowed the sidecar to turn, raise, and lower without affecting the balance of the motorcycle. This was a great improvement over the original design, allowing for much safer and more comfortable experiences for both the passenger and driver. Young opened up the Flxible Sidecar Company (the first "e" was dropped to allow for trademarking the name) in Loudonville, Ohio and soon became the largest sidecar manufacturer in the world. When the motorcycle craze began to fade in the 1920s due to more affordable cars being marketed, as well as the banishment of sidecar racing in the United States, the Flxible Sidecar Company began producing transit buses, ambulances, and hearses. Until the 1950s sidecars were quite popular, providing a cheap alternative to passenger cars; they have also been used by armed forces, police and the UK's AA and RAC motoring organisations. During World War II, German troops used many BMW and Zündapp sidecar motorcycles. On German, French, Belgian, British and Soviet military sidecars, the side wheel was sometimes also driven, sometimes using a differential gear, to improve the vehicle's all-terrain ability.

Schwenker.jpg


Design

A sidecar motorcycle is a three-wheeled vehicle with the side wheel not directly aligned with the rear motorcycle wheel, and is usually powered by the rear wheel only. This is different from a motor tricycle (trike), where both rear wheels are powered and share a common axle. However, either P.V. Mokharov of the Soviet Union or H.P. Baughn of Great Britain seem to have to been the first to employ a driven sidecar wheel in 1929. Baughn two-wheel-drive outfits were so successful in trials events in the early 1930s that there were attempts to have the ACU ban them from competition. A great many companies experimented with two-wheel drive in sporting events and indeed many companies employed them in military vehicles prior to the commencement of WWII. Currently, the Russian manufacturer Ural produces several models with two-wheel drive that can be engaged as desired.

The sidecar consists of a frame (which originally was rigidly fixed to the motorcycle's frame on one side and is supported by the sidecar's wheel on the other side) and of a body. The body typically provides one passenger seat and a small trunk compartment behind. In some case the sidecar has a removable soft top. In some modifications the sidecar's body is used for carrying cargo or tools, like a truck's platform). The sidecar is typically mounted so that the motorcycle is closer to the center of the road, i.e. with the sidecar on the right for right-hand traffic and on the left for left-hand traffic.

A sidecar makes the handling of a bike asymmetrical. Without a brake on the non-driven sidecar wheel, the sidecar will pull towards the bike under braking, and towards the sidecar under acceleration. While a sidecar pilot is described as driving rather than riding, with all but the heaviest rigs, the comparison to a car is weak. Driver and passenger body position affect higher speed handling, especially on dirt or other uneven surfaces. If the sidecar and bike geometry are not coordinated the combination will be unstable, especially at speed, with shimmy upon acceleration or deceleration.

The motorcycle's steering geometry, originally set up for a tilting single track vehicle, is set up to turn slightly away from the drag imposed by the sidecar. Leaning the motorcycle by clamping it rigidly a few degrees opposite the sidecar is used, along with a few degrees of "toe-in" of the sidecar wheel toward the centerline of the vehicle, is used to provide a balance resulting in comfortable, straight line travel. Most sidecars are also fitted with steering damping devices, of either friction or hydraulic type, to lessen the effects of sudden inputs, as encountered on rough roads, upon the vehicle's handling. Another issue, particularly with bicycle sidecar outfits is the problem of applying side-thrust to light-weight components only intended and built to resist radial forces. Attaching a sidecar to a motorcycle will void most manufacturers' warranties.

Experienced sidecar drivers use the steering geometry of a rig to their advantage in turns. With right-hand driving (the hack mounted on the right-hand side), the driver acclerates into a a right hand turn using the drag of the sidecar to help in the turn. Braking slightly into a left hand turn uses the inertia of the sidecar to help in the turn. Obviously, it is just the opposite for left hand drive.

Some sidecars are equipped with brakes on the sidecar wheel. The brakes can be mechanical or hydrailic.

Sport

Sidecar racing events are held in Motocross (Sidecarcross), Enduro, Grasstrack, Trial, road racing and Speedway. The sport has followers in Europe, United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The sidecars are often classed by age or engine size, with historic sidecar racing often being more popular than its modern counterpart. Older classes in road racing generally resemble solo motorcycles with a platform attached, where modern racing sidecars are low and long and borrow much technology from open wheel race cars. In all types of sidecar racing there is a rider and a passenger, called a monkey, who work in unison to make the machine perform, as they would be almost unrideable without the passenger in the correct position.

Photos

db_KOYOTE1.jpg

Sidecar.jpg

sidecar2.jpg

1280px-Motorcycle_with_sidecar_at_the_Beaulieu_Motorcycle_Muster_2010.jpg

My rig
MaeLyneCarlasmonkey3.jpg

full



Side Car Manufacturers
  • Cozy (sidecar), a sidecar line manufactured in India
  • Hongdu and Zhuzhou in China
  • Watsonian Squire in England
  • IMZ-Ural and VMZ for Izh in Russia
  • Harley-Davidson in the USA
  • Premier in Australia
  • Louis Christen Racing in Switzerland
  • GG Duetto in Switzerland
  • Velorex in Czechoslovakia
  • Kalich Swing in Germany
  • Wasp Motorcycles in England
 
Last edited:
cheers Carl
great info. TUP
 
Thanks, will dig photos from my "kneeler" & "Aussie Sidecar" racing days.
 
Thanks for that carl .....brilliant !
 
I am thinking of getting a Ural for me and the wife, thinking the cammo one.....but I think they are EXTREMELY over priced her in Australia, I was on the verge to buy one in SA but my immigration got fast tracked so I cancelled the deal, and the price then new was about 50,000 Rand.
Here in OZ they are about $26,000 that is 260,000 Rand.

@JShitt please put those photos up, my ex boss was a Aussie side car racer, European champion too, he was among the last that still raced at Bathurst with side cars.
 
Thanks for the kudos, guys. Much appreciated.
 
@bullet The Urals with a sidecar are expensive here, too. I think the live drive axle makes them expensive.

@JSchitt GrandPaul did one competitive race as a monkey. It was his first time. The driver's regular monkey couldn't make the race and the driver asked Paul to fill in.
 
Premium

Support TriumphTalk by becoming a Premium Member.

 What You Get

Donate

 

 

Search

Back
Top Bottom