Mick Payne looks at the pros and cons of ‘chairing up’ a motorcycle you already own rather than buying a whole new outfit in one go.
The theme of last month’s column was how to buy a ready-made motorcycle and sidecar – but this isn’t at all the most popular option.
“We assemble a lot more outfits where the customer supplies the bike than those that are supplied ready-made,” explained Ben at Watsonian Sidecars, and this certainly gives the enthusiast a greater choice.
‘Chairing up’ like this was my own option when I had a Charnwood Meteor fitted to my long-owned Triumph T140. The OIF (oil-in-frame) Triumph and BSA models are considered by some as unsuitable machines for harness, but in reality just about anything can have a chair fitted.
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This Watsonian Bambini sidecar has been superbly colour-matched to an old Lambretta scooter.
In the past I’ve had the pleasure of riding outfits as varied as small Villiers-powered two-strokes and Honda’s mighty Blackbird, and the word ‘pleasure’ is chosen deliberately, because they were all fun.
The reasons for putting a sidecar on a bike varies from wishing to carry a pet dog to using it as a way to continue riding a favourite classic, and there are enough models on the market to satisfy any requirement.
Read more in the September issue of OBM – on sale now!
