Delta's Twentea-Twentea Break

[VIVA GT]

I was always a 'car' man and not really into motorbikes but a lot of my school friends were, so their influence kind of rubbed off, plus I was always fascinated by anything with an engine anyway. Being basically lazy & not at all athletic I did buy a moped (from my maths teacher) an NSU Quickly (the Trades Description Act didn't seem so powerful then) and rode it like a maniac everywhere and was lucky to never hurt myself on the many occasions that I fell off it. Deciding that more wheels might be safer for me I decided to copy a mate of mine and look for a motorbike & sidecar (he had a 600cc Panther with a Steib sports sidecar). My first was a 350cc Ariel which had a sidecar chassis with a door fixed to it, and fixed to the door was a tin bath! I kept this at a mates house so I could tidy it up before taking it home but even so, my parents insisted that I got rid of it immediately. Next I had a Triumph TR6 (motorcycle, not car, basically a single carb Bonneville) with a massive double-adult sidecar (which was more like a garden shed). Later I found a Watsonian Palma semi-sports sidecar and fitted that instead. The bike was very unreliable so I finally moved onto four wheels and bought a Ford Anglia estate. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the Ariel...

[Gerard C]

I always considered the side-car thingy as a total mechanical non sense. May be a lack of skill but scary. The worse I rode was a Suzie RV90 with a side-car…
I do remember my first miles, before the legal age of 14, riding a Peugeot BB3 Sport and discovering a new concept: Freedom! This never left me, whatever the travel or displacement. A unique feeling I never felt with any car. Riding gives you wings…

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

A good friend of mine has a couple of Vincent's left to him by his father, his wife even has a Comet A bike that was made a long time ago and still turns peoples heads when they hear them.

I rode a Black Shadow once...years ago...but NEVER forgotten

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

I always considered the side-car thingy as a total mechanical non sense. May be a lack of skill but scary. The worse I rode was a Suzie RV90 with a side-car…
I do remember my first miles, before the legal age of 14, riding a Peugeot BB3 Sport and discovering a new concept: Freedom! This never left me, whatever the travel or displacement. A unique feeling I never felt with any car. Riding gives you wings…

You are right about sidecars Gerard a total nonsense and very challenging to ride. They can be great fun though scaring your passengers by lifting the sidecar wheel away from the ground when going around left-hand corners!

[Gerard C]

Left-hand corners in some areas and right-hand ones in others Viva! We had several attempts here trying to convince the solo riders to the benefit of travelling with their half. Toro built by Side-Bike comes up to my mind. No perfect but fat better. Anyway I find riding to be "un plaisir solitaire" can't find a real pleasure to have what we call "bag of sand" behind you. Neither for the driver nor for the passenger…

Toro here, everything bends in the corners with an easy lock/unlock system:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-Bike

[S griffin]

Yes, I have heard all about the fun of side bikes. More fun with two. But you rarely see any these days. But it’s nice be reminded of them

[justracing]

Side bikes? !!!!

[Gerard C]

Well more likely Side-Bike a french builder, Toro, Zeus, Celtik, all three-wheeler based on existing bikes. Burst in 2013 if I'm right.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by justracing

Side bikes? !!!!

Isn't this a side-bike?

[Gerard C]

Sure it is! Only one problem in case of a divorce who will keep her or his hands on the handlebars?

[zefarelly]

I had a sidecar on my Lambretta many years ago . . . . excellent fun, and definitely an art to riding them.

as for covers Gerard, here's one we prepared earlier!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiIsDXY6dzQ

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by justracing

Side bikes? !!!!

I believe the poster is referring to motor cycle combinations which were quite popular in an earlier age.

[Gerard C]

Nice band Joe! Think we already talked about but I find it sounds a little bit like Indochine, L'aventurier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7X6oYg6iro

[E.B]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

as for covers Gerard, here's one we prepared earlier!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiIsDXY6dzQ

Brilliant cover of a great song. Enjoyed that, thanks Zef.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

I believe the poster is referring to motor cycle combinations which were quite popular in an earlier age.

I always remember "George & Mildred" on the TV many years back. George had an old outfit that his wife was too ashamed to be seen in

[S griffin]

Now you’re going back a bit. Wouldn’t see much of that nowadays

[andy97]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

A good friend of mine has a couple of Vincent's left to him by his father, his wife even has a Comet A bike that was made a long time ago and still turns peoples heads when they hear them.

A family friend is a member of the Vincent owners club and we were invited to a bbq with a bunch of the Midlands branch a few years ago. When I casually mentioned to the friends wife what the bikes might be worth she thought that it might be worth burying him under the patio!

[Lancsbreaker]

I more or less dodged the motorbike bullet - my Dad had a bike and sidecar outfit until I was about to come on the scene when my mother refused to contemplate having my 7 year-old sister and a new baby in the sidecar, nor would she let my sister ride pillion - so the rig went and was replaced with a Ford C-type - although I don't really remember it, as shortly afterwards my Dad became a commercial traveller and got a company van.



I did get an LD50 Lambretta when I was 16 (reg MEN50) which was cheap because the headstock casting was cracked so the clutch lever was semi-detached.....but it did me OK (I think I only crashed once ) for a few months until I passed my driving test when 4 wheels became a lot more of an attractive proposition........


Milady who is somewhat older than me passed her bike test in 1953, getting an AJS to ride to and from her work as a nurse - which apparently didn't go down well with the matron..... Many years later her youngest son arrived back from college with a 200cc two-stroke Suzuki....she asked to have a go on it and when his mates laughed he pointed out that she was the only one with a full bike licence....she dug out her old pudding-basin helmet and, having in her words, thought as it was only a 200 she'd better give it a bit of stick, promptly set off up the road doing a wheely..........gaining instant street cred with the kids, and scaring me silly!


Since then she has offered a few times to get a bike so I could go on the pillion....I've declined


Talking to a mate yesterday he told me that after having a biking holiday in Thailand last year his girlfriend had become a convert to pillion-riding, and said they should get a big touring bike - so he's bought a 1.7 litre Triumph Thunderbird - the mind boggles.

[midgetman]

I was really put off sidecars coming back from the Lands End Trial in the passenger seat of MGD's Midget. There we were, pouring rain, hood up, wipers going 19 to the dozen up the M5. Slowly because of the low ratio trialling diff.

We overtook a combination going even slower, the riders getting even wetter. A trials sidecar is even more rudimentary than your traditional "Wallace and Gromit" set up.....

[Gerard C]

How do you call the passenger of a race side-car? Here, they are called "le singe" aka monkey. Just watch a vid and you'll understand why…

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

How do you call the passenger of a race side-car? Here, they are called "le singe" aka monkey. Just watch a vid and you'll understand why…

Ballast

[Lancsbreaker]

One of my Alfa friends is the sidecar rider in Historic Bike racing....I call him crazy ....... but he tells me its much safer than the modern equivalent - because his sidecar has a big wheel to brace against, whereas the modern ones are more like casters

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

How do you call the passenger of a race side-car? Here, they are called "le singe" aka monkey. Just watch a vid and you'll understand why…

Bonkers

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Gerard C]

Malcolm, ballast in this case is not very nice… OK for bonkers, you must be half mad to accept this, lets say those, position! I guess richard is referring to and old "attelage" when the so called handle bars were almost directly linked to the front wheel. Half mad half brave!

[S griffin]

You must really have needed someone willing to ride with you then. Anything to avoid the dreaded ballast. Those things must have been either fun or scary or both