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A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle,Oxford English Dictionary - "b. A vehicle designed to be attached to the (near-)side of a motor-cycle to accommodate one or more passengers. Occas. attached to a bicycle." making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. The combination of a motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a rig, outfit, or hack.
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.
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 (the first "e" was dropped to allow for trademarking the name) in Loudonville, Ohio and soon became the largest sidecar manufacturer in the world (the company closed in 1996). 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 plc motoring organisations.
The body typically provides one passenger seat and a small trunk compartment behind. In some cases 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 centre of the road, i.e. with the sidecar on the right for right-hand traffic.
While a sidecar pilot is described as driving rather than riding, the comparison to a car is weak with all but the heaviest rigs. 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 Speed wobble upon acceleration or deceleration.
In rigid mounted rigs, leaning the motorcycle by clamping it rigidly a few degrees away from the sidecar is used along with a few degrees of "toe-in" of the sidecar wheel toward the centerline of the vehicle to allow for road camber and 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.Hal Kendall p. 40 - "Section 2 - SETTING UP AN OUTFIT: A properly set up outfit is a joy to behold and a pleasure to drive. Conversely, an improperly set up outfit handles like a beast, is dangerous, and sheds tires rapidly."
Road racing sidecars began to change away from normal motorcycle development in the 1950s with them becoming lower and using smaller diameter wheels and they kept the enclosed "dustbin fairing" banned in solo competition in 1957. By the 1970s, they were using wide slick tyres with a square car-like profile, the rider kneeled behind the engine instead of sitting on a seat and the motor of choice was generally a 500 cc two stroke. In the late 1970s sidecars began to appear with hub centre steering and later the engines moved to the rear of the rider, to lower the centre of gravity further still, making the sidecar very long. Sidecars raced in the Sidecar World Championship are all hub centre long monocoque framed machines, the most common being LCR, ART or Windle, with 1,000 cc four-cylinder four-stroke engines, the most popular being the Suzuki GSX-R1000.
These at club and national level are known as Formula One sidecars, as opposed to Formula Two. Formula Two sidecars are short front engined bikes, which must have a frame made of steel tube and have leading link forks as monocoques and hub centre steering is banned. Engines are 350 cc two strokes or 600 cc four strokes. F2 sidecars are raced in their own championship but are often on track at the same time as the F1s, but competing for their own points. Since 1990 at the Isle of Man TT, the Sidecar TT has been solely contested by Formula Two sidecars as Formula Ones were deemed too fast, then lapping at average. By 2006 however, F2s were faster than this lapping at .
A solution to this problem was to fit the guns to sidecar motorcycles. This would allow the guns to be moved rapidly between different sectors, and allow them to quickly pursue retreating enemy troops. Clyno motorcycles were initially adopted; these could carry the gun, tripod, water and spare parts, as well as seven ammunition boxes; they were supported by unarmed sidecar motorcycles that carried only ammunition. A number of different motorcycles were eventually used. A special unit, the Motor Machine Gun Service, was formed to operate them, but the static nature of trench warfare meant the unit was infrequently used.
During World War II, German troops used many BMW and Zündapp sidecar motorcycles. On German, Italian, 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.
In the Republic of China (Taiwan), Article 39-2 of the Road Traffic Security Rules prohibits the registration of new motorcycles with sidecars but does not specifically restrict fitting them later.
| + Active sidecar manufacturing companies include ! Manufacturer ! Country | ||
| Inder Exports | India | |
| Inder Auto industries | India | |
| Cozy | India | |
| Divjot exports | India | |
| EML Sidecars | Netherlands | |
| Hongdu, Shineray and Zhuzhou | China | |
| Watsonian Squire | UK (England) | |
| IMZ-Ural and VMZ for IZh | Russia | |
| Premier | Australia | |
| Louis Christen Racing | Switzerland | |
| Wasp Motorcycles | UK (England) | |
| QD-Mobiles Oy | Finland | |
| Motorvation Sidecars and Trailers | USA (Sibley, IA) | |
| Agam India | India | |
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